I must say that Eddie is right regarding Rakeem Christmas and his age.
It's not an uncommon thing that older players are dominating in the NCAA, where the competition mostly consists of young players between the age of 18-21 years. Rakeem had an easy time last year given that his body was more mature compared to the players he was facing hence that he easily scored a lot of points.
I'm not saying that he is bad, but he is basically a case of "what you see is what you get" like Eddie pointed out too. With that being said don't expect him to get much better than he is right now.
Look I know being older is a minus. But we are not talking about a Luke Harongody like prospect here. A guy that had a good college career, but has very little transferable skills and worse has almost non existant athleticism/quickness to hang even with the worse nba players.
Christmas in terms of size, length, explosiveness is at the top level in comparison to other nba pfs already. Also good weight at 245 pounds.
Skillwise, his post skills are impressive. Will he be able to do what he did in college in the NBA? likely not at will but his running hook, faceup and dribble past slower guys should translate. Add a mid range J now. His defense or what he has learned from playing zone D is a concern but can be reworked (especially considering his physical tools). He graduated with good marks and is known as a hard worker
When I add all of these things minus age , this is still a solid prospect imo.
Yes, Christmas throwing up running hooks and taking guys off the dribble is going to be exactly what a team wants.
Alexander and Mickey are prospects and the difference between us is that you don't realize that and think Mickey is ready to give a team rotational minutes next season. I think they both need to hone their skills in the D-League where they can become familiar with our schemes. I favor Alexander's upside more, not only because he's a year younger, but because his game (powerful, excellent rebounder, high motor, good finisher) is one that transfers well to the NBA. Guys like Haslem have made a career out of this style. On the flipside, a guy like Mickey (weak finisher around the basket despite his good leaping ability, average rebounder, low motor) I've seen fail countless times. Now this doesn't mean that this is full proof, but simply my opinion based on certain comparables.
Christmas is a different case entirely. The guy is turning 24 in 5 months. His ceiling is limited. Not only is that the case, but he doesn't have the skills, despite your beliefs, to be a rotational player in the league just yet. He too needs D-League time. Yet in this thread alone there are posts that say his potential is the next Ibaka and you said "not likely the next Ibaka". Not likely? Not ever is more like it.
See how my expectations are more grounded? I don't overrate Alexander at all. I just think he has the highest potential of the bunch.
By comparison here are the player comparisons for each player by draft net :
Christmas - Hilton Armstrong / Cedric Simmons (No Ibaka here)
Alexander - Thomas Robinson/Jeff Adrien
Mickey - Andre Roberson
See the difference between those and yours?
Topic: CB article: Rakeem Christmas may have what the Celtics are looking for (Read 8948 times)