Vitor > Oden

[blink]

For some reason I wanted Oden to sign with the Celtics, but now after seeing Vitor, I am really happy he didn't.

What is your thoughts on Vitor. I don't think it's a fluke.

Hey, Oden played yesterday. And he even had a dunk! There's a whole article on Y!Sports about the one basket he scored for his 4 minutes on the court.

i'm shaking my head for all the media hype about his dunk... while our own Vitor draining 3s, dunking and blocking the ball got little attention 

I don't think theres any media hype about the dunk.  It's more just nice to see the guy back on a court ... he hasn't played since 2009.  Some thought he'd never play another game.  He still might not... it's just baby steps and he's months away from being a real contributor.  The dunk wasn't the relevant part... it was the fact he suited up and got on a court at all.

Also I don't really see the point in comparing a borderline d-leaguer to a dude who had superstar potential and has had his career destroyed by injuries.  Apples and Oranges.  Vitor might end up a nice bench contributor some day.  Could be solid role playing NBA journeyman.  Oden could have been a dominant big in this league and has been crippled more or less since 2007.  It's like saying Fab Melo > Bill Russell.  Russell is 79 years old... give the guy a break.

I think that Fav is a more than a 'borderline d-leaguer".  He may not ever be an all-star center, but he has the skills and potential to be a contributor to the re-build.

[SHAQATTACK]

Fav .....gonna be a quality backup up center

Would look nice behind Asik

[manl_lui]

For some reason I wanted Oden to sign with the Celtics, but now after seeing Vitor, I am really happy he didn't.

What is your thoughts on Vitor. I don't think it's a fluke.

Hey, Oden played yesterday. And he even had a dunk! There's a whole article on Y!Sports about the one basket he scored for his 4 minutes on the court.

i'm shaking my head for all the media hype about his dunk... while our own Vitor draining 3s, dunking and blocking the ball got little attention 

I don't think theres any media hype about the dunk.  It's more just nice to see the guy back on a court ... he hasn't played since 2009.  Some thought he'd never play another game.  He still might not... it's just baby steps and he's months away from being a real contributor.  The dunk wasn't the relevant part... it was the fact he suited up and got on a court at all.

Also I don't really see the point in comparing a borderline d-leaguer to a dude who had superstar potential and has had his career destroyed by injuries.  Apples and Oranges.  Vitor might end up a nice bench contributor some day.  Could be solid role playing NBA journeyman.  Oden could have been a dominant big in this league and has been crippled more or less since 2007.  It's like saying Fab Melo > Bill Russell.  Russell is 79 years old... give the guy a break.

I think that Fav is a more than a 'borderline d-leaguer".  He may not ever be an all-star center, but he has the skills and potential to be a contributor to the re-build.

I tend to agree with this. It's kind of unfair to Oden because this guy has so much talent. When he played, this guy showed glimpse of a superstar. Guy was a beast on the floor when he played, but too bad his career was basically destroyed by injuries.

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

Just thought I'd put this here b/c it doesn't need a new thread.

Fav's back is fine and he is still able to be a beast!

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/celtics/post/_/id/4707679/mri-negative-for-faverani

[crimson_stallion]

Fav .....gonna be a quality backup up center

Would look nice behind Asik

Umm...behind Asik?

Asik is one of the worst contracts in the NBA.  He's barely a starting calibre center and has barely any upside.  I'd rather keep Fav and KO for development purposes that have Asik.

[billysan]

When is the last time the C's had an international big that panned out?  Krstic?  No.  Im sure we had someone but actually I cant think of one.

The immortal Dino Radja, PF extrordinaire.

[mgent]

Encouraging but too early. Certainly better than Fab, better than an injured Shaq a few years back, and he appears to be better than some of other old or young stiffs Danny has brought to play center the past 8 or so years. Check the list of centers DA has brought in these past 8 years and besides Perk everyone else has pretty much sucked with no talent or being old and injured.

I am hopeful Fav is really as good as he looked last night when he faces some real talent but it's a nice start ....maybe DA finally found a "Center" - at least for a rebuild year.

Danny has been picking from the bottom of the barrel, and while they have all sucked, I don't think it's fair to say that they all didn't have talent/weren't worth a look at (he saves those for 1st round picks like Melo and Johnson).

More likely than not, Fav is never going to produce as much as guys like Stiemsma, JO, Semih, Sheed, Wilcox.  The minutes just aren't there.  Bass and Sullinger are 30min per night guys and that only leaves 36 minutes for Humphries/Olynyk minus the small-ball time with Green and Wallace. 

Maybe if one of our guys has a season-ending injury he'll have an opportunity (like Stiemsma or Semih) and we can revisit this. 

[PhoSita]

When is the last time the C's had an international big that panned out?  Krstic?  No.  Im sure we had someone but actually I cant think of one.

The immortal Dino Radja, PF extrordinaire.

Never understood why people disliked Krstic so much.  He was a quality center.  We didn't hold onto him because of the lockout (and we probably couldn't afford him).

[PhoSita]

Fav .....gonna be a quality backup up center

Would look nice behind Asik

Umm...behind Asik?

Asik is one of the worst contracts in the NBA.  He's barely a starting calibre center and has barely any upside.  I'd rather keep Fav and KO for development purposes that have Asik.

Said like a person who doesn't appreciate the immense value that a high quality defensive center can have.

[LarBrd33]

For some reason I wanted Oden to sign with the Celtics, but now after seeing Vitor, I am really happy he didn't.

What is your thoughts on Vitor. I don't think it's a fluke.

Hey, Oden played yesterday. And he even had a dunk! There's a whole article on Y!Sports about the one basket he scored for his 4 minutes on the court.

i'm shaking my head for all the media hype about his dunk... while our own Vitor draining 3s, dunking and blocking the ball got little attention 

I don't think theres any media hype about the dunk.  It's more just nice to see the guy back on a court ... he hasn't played since 2009.  Some thought he'd never play another game.  He still might not... it's just baby steps and he's months away from being a real contributor.  The dunk wasn't the relevant part... it was the fact he suited up and got on a court at all.

Also I don't really see the point in comparing a borderline d-leaguer to a dude who had superstar potential and has had his career destroyed by injuries.  Apples and Oranges.  Vitor might end up a nice bench contributor some day.  Could be solid role playing NBA journeyman.  Oden could have been a dominant big in this league and has been crippled more or less since 2007.  It's like saying Fab Melo > Bill Russell.  Russell is 79 years old... give the guy a break.

You seem really down on Vitor

I'm not down on him.  He hasn't played a single NBA game and looked like an adequate bench player during preseason.  Not sure if he'd make every NBA roster. 

When Oden was healthy, he looked like a force.  He just couldn't stay on the court... either due to injuries or foul trouble.   

[bfrombleacher]

Just thought I'd put this here b/c it doesn't need a new thread.

Fav's back is fine and he is still able to be a beast!

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/celtics/post/_/id/4707679/mri-negative-for-faverani

Just saw that.

Hopefully the nickname (El hombre indestructible) holds up for Vitor.

[billysan]

When is the last time the C's had an international big that panned out?  Krstic?  No.  Im sure we had someone but actually I cant think of one.

The immortal Dino Radja, PF extrordinaire.

Never understood why people disliked Krstic so much.  He was a quality center.  We didn't hold onto him because of the lockout (and we probably couldn't afford him).

I actually had hoped we would hang on to Nenad Krstic, but it just didnt happen. I think the whole deal was part of an attempted salary dump. For some reason he went to Russia and never came back. Was he waiting for a Danny Ainge phone call that never came?

There was a perception he was soft defensively. I think he was still a rotation level big and could certainly run the floor. I know he wasnt a big time post defender, but I would rather have had him than the JO experiment.

Vitor is giving an effort level we havent seen since Perk and it is refreshing. He may not ever be in the league wide discussion of top centers, but he is certainly going to have a few big games for us based on effort alone Just like Perk did.

[bfrombleacher]

When is the last time the C's had an international big that panned out?  Krstic?  No.  Im sure we had someone but actually I cant think of one.

The immortal Dino Radja, PF extrordinaire.

Never understood why people disliked Krstic so much.  He was a quality center.  We didn't hold onto him because of the lockout (and we probably couldn't afford him).

I actually had hoped we would hang on to Nenad Krstic, but it just didnt happen. I think the whole deal was part of an attempted salary dump. For some reason he went to Russia and never came back. Was he waiting for a Danny Ainge phone call that never came?

There was a perception he was soft defensively. I think he was still a rotation level big and could certainly run the floor. I know he wasnt a big time post defender, but I would rather have had him than the JO experiment.

Vitor is giving an effort level we havent seen since Perk and it is refreshing. He may not ever be in the league wide discussion of top centers, but he is certainly going to have a few big games for us based on effort alone Just like Perk did.

My impression is Krstic was the one who called it quits (he has been in Russia since his stint in green, homesick apparently).

I've said this many times but Krstic is a very overlooked part of the trade. A skilled, legit 7 footer at 27 (or whatever his age was) would certainly have helped KG and/or at least have been a nice trade chip.

[LooseCannon]

I actually had hoped we would hang on to Nenad Krstic, but it just didnt happen. I think the whole deal was part of an attempted salary dump. For some reason he went to Russia and never came back. Was he waiting for a Danny Ainge phone call that never came?

He left mainly because of the uncertainty of the lockout.  He has stayed because he gets to be close to home as one of the highest-paid players in Europe.  When you add in that he gets things like car, housing, and other amenities on top of his salary, you might have to offer him as much as $10 million/year for it to make sense from a purely financial perspective for him to go back to the NBA.

[billysan]

I actually had hoped we would hang on to Nenad Krstic, but it just didnt happen. I think the whole deal was part of an attempted salary dump. For some reason he went to Russia and never came back. Was he waiting for a Danny Ainge phone call that never came?

He left mainly because of the uncertainty of the lockout.  He has stayed because he gets to be close to home as one of the highest-paid players in Europe.  When you add in that he gets things like car, housing, and other amenities on top of his salary, you might have to offer him as much as $10 million/year for it to make sense from a purely financial perspective for him to go back to the NBA.

Agreed, but we also could have resigned him out of the lockout because of owning his Bird rights. We chose not to and used that 10 million or so you mentioned to spread around between other players like Bass, Lee and Jason Terry over the past couple years.

I just happen to think we needed a big like Krstic more than them.