Yabu Sucks, should have taken Ellenson

[Alleyoopster]

 His Defensive awareness is pretty bad non-existent. Needs to improve that big-time.

This is how I see him. Watching pre-draft videos on him should have raised major red flag. If he doesn't improve, Yabu could go down as Danny's worst selection by draft order.

[Granath]

*sigh*

Two points to the doom-and-gloom crowd.

(1) The defensive schemes Yabu's part of are abysmal. They were last year for his European team and they are almost non-existent this year. It's impossible to judge Yabu's defense in context with a mismanaged/over-matched team. Until he's part of a team that actually emphasizes defense with some decent defensive players around him there's no way to judge how he can perform on that end of the floor.

(2) Stop saying Jimmer got 33/8/8 and using it as a comparison. Fredette is in the absolute prime of his career (27), has years of prior NBA experience and dominated the D-League. Yabu is 20 with no NBA experience. If Yabu is putting up stats anywhere near comparable to Jimmer then you have to look upon those as a win and not a negative given the age and experience differential.

------------------

On another note, I have no idea where the narrative came that Yabu was going to be like Draymond Green. No one else is like Draymond Green and Yabu wasn't drafted to be his clone. Their games aren't comparable. Even if they were, Green didn't even start at Michigan State until he was 20 and was a 4 year college senior and still didn't play even 20 minutes per game at Golden State until he was 23.

Using that as context, trying to pass judgement on the prowess of a 20 year old kid who joined a Chinese team 2 months ago is absurd. The fact that he's actually performing well is something to be encouraged about. Complaining that he's not dominating the league like the next Charles Barkley is an entirely unreasonable expectation. When taking everything into consideration, it's hard to argue that Yabu isn't meeting or exceeding expectations.

We all know that some people don't like Yabu. They didn't like the pick on draft night. We know that they want to continue to justify their dislike. We know that they like to think Ainge's drafting record is poor despite all evidence to the contrary that Ainge (at worst) is no worse than average in his drafting and most evidence points to him being quite a bit above average). We understand they have a right to their opinion even if we don't agree with it. But if someone's complaint is that on a night Yabu went for 24/12 is that the defense of his overall team was poor, then they have nothing.

[rollie mass]

imagine just going to china and the confusion and communication problems,now you got to go the other way and play a nba team-jet lag lasts and a huge time difference
 a game like this will show him how hard he has to work for next season
he showed a good motor and his mid range shot is nice-i was quite satisfied with his game  and he had a good run

[anewframe]

*sigh*

Two points to the doom-and-gloom crowd.

(1) The defensive schemes Yabu's part of are abysmal. They were last year for his European team and they are almost non-existent this year. It's impossible to judge Yabu's defense in context with a mismanaged/over-matched team. Until he's part of a team that actually emphasizes defense with some decent defensive players around him there's no way to judge how he can perform on that end of the floor.

(2) Stop saying Jimmer got 33/8/8 and using it as a comparison. Fredette is in the absolute prime of his career (27), has years of prior NBA experience and dominated the D-League. Yabu is 20 with no NBA experience. If Yabu is putting up stats anywhere near comparable to Jimmer then you have to look upon those as a win and not a negative given the age and experience differential.

------------------

On another note, I have no idea where the narrative came that Yabu was going to be like Draymond Green. No one else is like Draymond Green and Yabu wasn't drafted to be his clone. Their games aren't comparable. Even if they were, Green didn't even start at Michigan State until he was 20 and was a 4 year college senior and still didn't play even 20 minutes per game at Golden State until he was 23.

Using that as context, trying to pass judgement on the prowess of a 20 year old kid who joined a Chinese team 2 months ago is absurd. The fact that he's actually performing well is something to be encouraged about. Complaining that he's not dominating the league like the next Charles Barkley is an entirely unreasonable expectation. When taking everything into consideration, it's hard to argue that Yabu isn't meeting or exceeding expectations.

We all know that some people don't like Yabu. They didn't like the pick on draft night. We know that they want to continue to justify their dislike. We know that they like to think Ainge's drafting record is poor despite all evidence to the contrary that Ainge (at worst) is no worse than average in his drafting and most evidence points to him being quite a bit above average). We understand they have a right to their opinion even if we don't agree with it. But if someone's complaint is that on a night Yabu went for 24/12 is that the defense of his overall team was poor, then they have nothing.

TP!!! Well said sir.

[Sixth Man]

TP for Granath, thank you for the great post.

[Snakehead]

Having seen his performance, this thread is ridiculous, aside from the few not doom and glooming him.  Yabu is looking quite good.

[moiso]

TP for Granath, thank you for the great post.

And another one.

[Ed Hollison]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daBLJI4sUvQ

Looks solid in finishing in the rim. Jump shot looking good too.

Watch the video. This guy is 20 and already has a few very useful NBA skills:
1) finishing at the rim with either hand
2) shooting from distance
3) ball handling

Can he rebound? Will he be a liability on defense? I dunno but again, this guy is 20 and was picked #16. He's got a boatload of talent and physical ability. I'm mind boggled that anyone can be upset with this pick.

[gift]

It would be funny if Yabusele was picked mainly for roster flexibility but still manages to become a better player than the other prospects around his draft position.

[The One]

I don't think this opinion can qualify as a "hot take"...there has not even been enough time for the opinion to "warm up".   

[green_bballers13]

 This could easily have been our big man rotation this year. Don't sign Zeller. Could have dumped Jonas if necessary.

 Horford/Ellenson/Olynyk
 Amir/Portis/Jonas

 That would have made the team better.

I'm a huge Bobby Portis fan. Ellenson, not so much. After Sullinger and Olynyk, I think we were OK with drafting less than athletic bigs. Yabu has shown flashes of bounce, at least in the limited videos I've seen. I'll take Amir Johnson over Ellenson all day. Ellenson's extremely high ceiling is prob Kevin Love, a guy that I didn't want the Celtics to stretch on.

I'm coming around on the Rozier pick. He's looked very solid of late. I'm excited to see what he can do in an NBA game.

[mmmmm]

(stuff that earns a Tommy Point.)

Well said, sir.

[Surferdad]

The Draymond comparison is because he's a PF who can hit the 3.  Otherwise there is no similarity.

Yab seems to have nice form on his jump shot.  I like that he has a high release on it.  He also managed to create some space off the dribble.

[Quetzalcoatl]

This thread is hilarious.  Anyways, he looks good.  The thing that really impressed me was his chemistry with the rest of the Sharks.  They have played together for like a month and he was rolling to the rim right on point with the rest of his team over and over.  It looks like they all really trust each other and it shows.  I have high hopes for him.

[footey]

I love the Yabu pick, especially after watching him in summer league.