King Baller
All-Star
Hey I'm a Kings Fan so I hope Papa works out great. That said I would have picked Wade Baldwin at that spot.
Hey I'm a Kings Fan so I hope Papa works out great. That said I would have picked Wade Baldwin at that spot.
Hey I'm a Kings Fan so I hope Papa works out great. That said I would have picked Wade Baldwin at that spot.
I think Vlade may have made a mis-step here, not necessarily in taking him but in building him up to the media and creating unnecessary expectations.Realistically, if he becomes a solid backup, it's not a bad pick. You always draft and hope for more, but the standard isn't historically that high.
As far as fitting with cuz, that's a problem that we hope will happen, because that means he becomes a player of value.
I don't see wcs type minutes this year, maybe by year 3 he can be in contention for real minutes.
fyi Wade Baldwin isn't exactly lighting the Summer league on fire either... and summer league is a GUARD's league.
Games of shooting 1 of 7, 2 of 10, and 4 of 13. Overall shooting 28%, and 0% from 3 pointers , 2.5 assist/game. This is playing 25 minutes a game too.
I came to post the same thing. Baldwin was who I wanted but his SL performance was nothing to write home about. 28% shooting when he is jumper was supposed to be a strength. And I believe more TOs than assists too
For you to say he can't shoot, shows your lack of knowledge about him. Laughable. Then to say he can't penetrate? LOLyeah a point guard who can't shoot and already doesn't have advanced handles/penetration ability is a big red flag. Ray McCallum anyone?
For you to say he can't shoot, shows your lack of knowledge about him. Laughable. Then to say he can't penetrate? LOL
I've been down on this pick, but just heard someone talking about Steven Adams with the Thunder and how he's only 22 and what a great piece he's become for them. Big George is only 18. He's far from a finished product. For someone his size, he's got a ton of potential. I don't think it's a pick for now... but there are 4 years before he's 22. What can the organization do with that potential in 4 years is the key. In the past we've wasted that potential, so a lot rides on this staff and this GM to follow through, but Skal and Malachi looking like they can contribute earlier than expected sure relieves some of the pressure there.
He's clearly not ready now, but we won't know about this pick for 2-3 years. I see the potential.
Adams switched from wanting to be an All Black to being a Tall Black. I thought he would be a good rough and tumble typw if player but he may very well be more than that.It remains to be seen if anyone picked after 13 becomes a star but right now I'm okay with the gamble on Georgios, especially with Skal looking so good.
But the difference between Papagiannis and Adams is that Adams always had that rugby mentality. He's a very physical presence. I'm not seeing any of that from Papagiannis so far.
I don't know that he'll be the kind of interior defender or rebounder (not to mention enforcer) that Adams has become for OKC. The ceiling for GP looks to be more on the Rik Smits, Brook Lopez side of things. Maybe I can squint and see Marc Gasol but he needs to embrace a more physical game to ever evolve in that direction
It remains to be seen if anyone picked after 13 becomes a star but right now I'm okay with the gamble on Georgios, especially with Skal looking so good.
But the difference between Papagiannis and Adams is that Adams always had that rugby mentality. He's a very physical presence. I'm not seeing any of that from Papagiannis so far.
I don't know that he'll be the kind of interior defender or rebounder (not to mention enforcer) that Adams has become for OKC. The ceiling for GP looks to be more on the Rik Smits, Brook Lopez side of things. Maybe I can squint and see Marc Gasol but he needs to embrace a more physical game to ever evolve in that direction
We just have absolutely no evidence of the sort of skills that a Smitts, Lopez or Gaosl had. I mean basically none.
And the lack of physicality is, as I have noted, my real concern. You don't learn that. Not even at 18. That's something you just are. You either like to bang or you don't. You either are aggressive or you aren't. Now just because of size/relative coordination it doesn't mean Papa can't eventually become an ok rebounder or defender. But its not in the blood, and even at 19 it should be. You know who those guys are from an early age. People don't learn that. They learn how to shoot or not. Not how to bang or not. Papa's physicality is "vague" at best. He looks like he's generally trying to avoid contact. And sometimes that makes all the difference. Now IF he had an advanced skillset, you tolerate that. If he had post moves, if he had a jumper, then that's his focus and he is just a make do player on the other end. But without those apparent skills, being a physical factor is almost a must, and he's not. Leaving him basically as just a tall guy who does exactly what the tapes showed him doing -- set a big pick and roll to the hoop for soft catches and finishes. Even if we'd seen that in Vegas that's not enough to actually matter.
We just have absolutely no evidence of the sort of skills that a Smitts, Lopez or Gaosl had. I mean basically none.
And the lack of physicality is, as I have noted, my real concern. You don't learn that. Not even at 18. That's something you just are. You either like to bang or you don't. You either are aggressive or you aren't. Now just because of size/relative coordination it doesn't mean Papa can't eventually become an ok rebounder or defender. But its not in the blood, and even at 19 it should be. You know who those guys are from an early age. People don't learn that. They learn how to shoot or not. Not how to bang or not. Papa's physicality is "vague" at best. He looks like he's generally trying to avoid contact. And sometimes that makes all the difference. Now IF he had an advanced skillset, you tolerate that. If he had post moves, if he had a jumper, then that's his focus and he is just a make do player on the other end. But without those apparent skills, being a physical factor is almost a must, and he's not. Leaving him basically as just a tall guy who does exactly what the tapes showed him doing -- set a big pick and roll to the hoop for soft catches and finishes. Even if we'd seen that in Vegas that's not enough to actually matter.
He reminds of Smits in the sense of his height and more importantly length, his soft hands, ability to change ends well for his size, the flashes of a jump shot we've seen and of course in the lackluster rebounding, not being quick laterally and the overall finesse game.
He has a long way to go but Smits was also a freshman at Marist at the same age.
Papagiannis scares me as I never like prospects that enter the league without a translatable skill that they can fall back on. But if he can even get to the level of being a serviceable backup center he's a decent pick and a bargain under the new CBA.
I'm willing to cut him a fair amount of slack for his terrible summer league showing - speed of the game, adjusting to rules changes, always very guard oriented in SL etc but I honestly still don't know what the Kings have in GP.
We'll learn a fair amount about him when camp opens though. If he has a passion for the game and some real drive he'll be able to learn from his failings and make some real gains over the rest of the summer.
His knee had an MRI before he started playing. Do you think it's possible that this made him exceedingly tentative, given that this is practice, and I'm not sure he had even quite signed his rookie contract yet?
Maybe he just wanted to make sure, make double-triple-quadruple sure... that he didn't get hurt badly before he even got introduced into an NBA game?
Wow....way premature to call out the kid with some of these labels. What we do know is he's very young, he's not NBA ready, he has to work on his body and he's inexperienced in the NBA game. 90-95% of the draft picks are not ready for the NBA. Most of those picks shot under 40%. Patience man patience.
Wow....way premature to call out the kid with some of these labels. What we do know is he's very young, he's not NBA ready, he has to work on his body and he's inexperienced in the NBA game. 90-95% of the draft picks are not ready for the NBA. Most of those picks shot under 40%. Patience man patience.
His knee was stiff and because NBA teams have a huge investment in these young guys, they did an MRI with symptoms that normally would not call for one. The MRI predictably showed nothing. Now, perhaps all this medical attention for a symptom that he never fussed about in the past may have rattled him. I hope he is not so tentative.His knee had an MRI before he started playing. Do you think it's possible that this made him exceedingly tentative, given that this is practice, and I'm not sure he had even quite signed his rookie contract yet?
Maybe he just wanted to make sure, make double-triple-quadruple sure... that he didn't get hurt badly before he even got introduced into an NBA game?
In terms of being tentative, Vlade specifically mentioned him holding the ball too long and needing to make decisions quicker. NBA basketball rather than the European basketball style. I'm not sure it is so black and white with him as Brickie would make it.His knee was stiff and because NBA teams have a huge investment in these young guys, they did an MRI with symptoms that normally would not call for one. The MRI predictably showed nothing. Now, perhaps all this medical attention for a symptom that he never fussed about in the past may have rattled him. I hope he is not so tentative.
As to the willingness to bang, I see him frequently try to set picks but will look more closely to see if he makes contact. I wonder if a little banging with Cuz will bring out some latent hostility. If it doesn't, it just is not there. The latter sems likely.
In terms of being tentative, Vlade specifically mentioned him holding the ball too long and needing to make decisions quicker. NBA basketball rather than the European basketball style. I'm not sure it is so black and white with him as Brickie would make it.
In the interview I copied (someone had posted it earlier in a different thread) on post #60, Vlade indicated that HE WOULD work with him. Hopefully not teaching him how to smoke. But that was just my interpretation of what he said.Hopefully Vlade will get into practice and work with GP And show him what it takes to be a big man in the NBA.![]()
I am NO expert but I did find this illustrating the differences.is there a 5 second rule in European basketball? Mind explain why he holds the ball for so long in the post
CLOSELYGUARDED PLAYER / 5-SECOND VIOLATION FIBA: Player holding the ball for 5 seconds; actively guarded within 1 m (3'); anywhere on the court. NBA: No closely guarded rule, but illegal to dribble with dribbler’s back to the basket for 5 consecutive seconds while between the endline and the free throw line extended.