Papa G in action overseas

Too much of the instant gratification era kicking in for some people. It's a slooooowwwwww process here with Papa
 
ESP47 said:
I think skill wise, Papa is a lot closer to Gasol than he is Koufos. What I mean by that is if Papa develops into a good player, he's going to play a lot more like Gasol than he will Koufos. He's already made shots, post moves and passes better than Koufos could ever do. His problem is that he hasn't been able to do anything consistently other than maybe shoot free throws. The skills are there, we've seen them but they've been few and far between. I'm not talking about a lucky shot here or there either. You can tell he works on them in the gym, he just struggles to know when and where to use them within the speed of the game.

If Papa had never shown us nice post moves, a good touch on his hook, 3 point range, excellent free throw percentage, shot blocking abilities and decent passing abilities....I'd say that he has no chance to ever become Koufos, let alone anything like Gasol. But we've seen those flashes out of him and that in itself requires us to be patient and wait it out.

Did he deserve to be picked 13th? No way but look at the guys picked from 14th on. There wasn't a whole lot to choose from there. I'd rather take a flyer on him than on Denzel Valentine or Wade Baldwin. His ceiling is much higher. He just doesn't have a big chance of reaching it.
Click to expand...


I get what you're saying but I think we had forgotten how good Koufos was as a prospect. He dominated the U18 European Final - the young Koufos could post up, put the ball on the floor, and hit jump shots in addition to protecting the paint. With all due respect to Papa, he has never put up the kind of game that Koufos did in similar big stage. At no point in Papa's professional career could you just throw the ball to him and say, "Go put it in the hole!" like Koufos could do. Koufos is the better player than Papa at the same age.

Watch the highlight from the Final, there are things Koufos could do at ease that you'd be surprised if Papa does the same.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1PoFEVY4zo
And therein is my point - Papa is behind Koufos at the same age, so what is the logic that makes someone come to the conclusion that he is the next Marc?

Speaking of Marc Gasol, the scouts and his highschool coach all agreed that he was already tremendously skilled as a teenager. His coach said he was as skilled as the guards on the team. He was just fat and slow so the NBA bypassed him. When I see Papa plays, tremendously skilled is not how I'd describe him. Not that I don't want him to turn into the next Marc Gasol, but that's not a reasonable projection and I think basically setting up expectation that is unrealistic.
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beb0p said:
I get what you're saying but I think we had forgotten how good Koufos was as a prospect. He dominated the U18 European Final - the young Koufos could post up, put the ball on the floor, and hit jump shots in addition to protecting the paint. With all due respect to Papa, he has never put up the kind of game that Koufos did in similar big stage. At no point in Papa's professional career could you just throw the ball to him and say, "Go put it in the hole!" like Koufos could do. Koufos is the better player than Papa at the same age.

Watch the highlight from the Final, there are things Koufos could do at ease that you'd be surprised if Papa does the same.

And therein is my point - Papa is behind Koufos at the same age, so what is the logic that makes someone come to the conclusion that he is the next Marc?

Speaking of Marc Gasol, the scouts and his highschool coach all agreed that he was already tremendously skilled as a teenager. His coach said he was as skilled as the guards on the team. He was just fat and slow so the NBA bypassed him. When I see Papa plays, tremendously skilled is not how I'd describe him. Not that I don't want him to turn into the next Marc Gasol, but that's not a reasonable projection and I think basically setting up expectation that is unrealistic.
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Click to expand...

Wtf, why doesn't kosta do any of that now? The shooting in particular
 
beb0p said:
I get what you're saying but I think we had forgotten how good Koufos was as a prospect. He dominated the U18 European Final - the young Koufos could post up, put the ball on the floor, and hit jump shots in addition to protecting the paint. With all due respect to Papa, he has never put up the kind of game that Koufos did in similar big stage. At no point in Papa's professional career could you just throw the ball to him and say, "Go put it in the hole!" like Koufos could do. Koufos is the better player than Papa at the same age.

Watch the highlight from the Final, there are things Koufos could do at ease that you'd be surprised if Papa does the same.

And therein is my point - Papa is behind Koufos at the same age, so what is the logic that makes someone come to the conclusion that he is the next Marc?

Speaking of Marc Gasol, the scouts and his highschool coach all agreed that he was already tremendously skilled as a teenager. His coach said he was as skilled as the guards on the team. He was just fat and slow so the NBA bypassed him. When I see Papa plays, tremendously skilled is not how I'd describe him. Not that I don't want him to turn into the next Marc Gasol, but that's not a reasonable projection and I think basically setting up expectation that is unrealistic.
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Click to expand...

Maybe Koufos was compared to Gasol as well and came up short? Who knows. The point isn't that everyone is thinking we have a 19 year old Marc Gasol. It's just that he has shown flashes of being able to do Gasol like things. He probably wont reach that potential but there are a ton of players out there who never even garner the comparison because they have never even shown a flash of being able to do some of the things that Papa has already done.

You can't compare Papa's rookie season to a highlight reel of Koufos. That's not fair to Papa. Now Koufos was a better prospect at the time and for whatever reason he didn't reach his potential. He took a couple of 3's a game in college and hit them at a 35% clip. Fast forward to 2017 and he doesn't even shoot the ball in a regular shooting motion unless it's a free throw. He just uses a one handed flip. Is that because coaches beat him down into a one dimensional defender with a flip and a hook? Is it because his shot wasn't effective enough to be used in the NBA? Were his post moves and ball handling stymied by NBA defenders? I have no idea what happened with his game but if we were talking about a 19 year old Koufos right now, we'd could possibly be comparing him to Gasol as well.

It's Papa's ceiling that people are talking about. Koufos had a high ceiling as well but like Papa, he had a low percentage chance of reaching it. I just wouldn't get caught up in the comparison because it's easy to see the two names mentioned and immediately think that people are saying that he's the next Gasol, when in fact they're just saying that they've seen some Gasol type skills here and there.
 
Shamrock said:
Uh yah, but that doesn't mean I don't have a opinion. To me it's an obvious one based on his skill level.
Click to expand...

There is a difference in "skill level" and executing in a game. Plenty of players have skills that have not translated to NBA games. Quincy Douby was said to shoot the lights out on the practice court in the afternoon. In a Game not so much.

It is like you were expecting Papa to show Veteran moves in his Rookie season??? This seldom happens in the NBA. Most NBA Players take 3 to 5 years to translate their skills to NBA games.

I'm not expecting Papa to be an All Star but he could be in time. I do expect he will be a good bench Big who can set picks, rebound and bang with the best of them.
 
miltonap said:
Wtf, why doesn't kosta do any of that now? The shooting in particular
Click to expand...

Still one of the biggest NBA mysteries to me. He also can dribble and pass.


As with every thing, I blame Karl.

---
Edit: I actually looked it up. It seems like it was indeed during Koufos time under Karl that he restricted himself to the paint. His % of fg at the rim got waay up and all shots from distance went down.
 
King Baller said:
There is a difference in "skill level" and executing in a game. Plenty of players have skills that have not translated to NBA games. Quincy Douby was said to shoot the lights out on the practice court in the afternoon. In a Game not so much.

It is like you were expecting Papa to show Veteran moves in his Rookie season??? This seldom happens in the NBA. Most NBA Players take 3 to 5 years to translate their skills to NBA games.

I'm not expecting Papa to be an All Star but he could be in time. I do expect he will be a good bench Big who can set picks, rebound and bang with the best of them.
Click to expand...
I expect him to contribute and not be a turnstile. He actually reminds me of Shawn Bradley in how awkward he looks on the court. Brandley never grew out of it.
 
beb0p said:
I get what you're saying but I think we had forgotten how good Koufos was as a prospect. He dominated the U18 European Final - the young Koufos could post up, put the ball on the floor, and hit jump shots in addition to protecting the paint. With all due respect to Papa, he has never put up the kind of game that Koufos did in similar big stage. At no point in Papa's professional career could you just throw the ball to him and say, "Go put it in the hole!" like Koufos could do. Koufos is the better player than Papa at the same age.

Watch the highlight from the Final, there are things Koufos could do at ease that you'd be surprised if Papa does the same.

And therein is my point - Papa is behind Koufos at the same age, so what is the logic that makes someone come to the conclusion that he is the next Marc?

Speaking of Marc Gasol, the scouts and his highschool coach all agreed that he was already tremendously skilled as a teenager. His coach said he was as skilled as the guards on the team. He was just fat and slow so the NBA bypassed him. When I see Papa plays, tremendously skilled is not how I'd describe him. Not that I don't want him to turn into the next Marc Gasol, but that's not a reasonable projection and I think basically setting up expectation that is unrealistic.
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Click to expand...
I know it's only the U18s.. but holy ****. Wtf. Koufos was out there straight up dominating them.... wow.

biltalent said:
Still one of the biggest NBA mysteries to me. He also can dribble and pass.



As with every thing, I blame Karl.

---
Edit: I actually looked it up. It seems like it was indeed during Koufos time under Karl that he restricted himself to the paint. His % of fg at the rim got waay up and all shots from distance went down.
Click to expand...
digging in further................Koufos was a 34.9% 3pt shooter at Ohio St! what in the hell............... somebody seriously screwed up Koufos' development along the way.

In his lone college season, he averaged 14.4pts 6.7rebs 1.8blks on 50.8/34.9/68. Who would've ever known he was a legitimate 3pt shooter....
 
He still looks like such a baller on instagram. Honestly, if WCS doesn't meet expectations, it doesn't hurt me to see him starting for the next several years. I think he's underrated, and a solid starter around other offense
 
206Fan said:
I know it's only the U18s.. but holy ****. Wtf. Koufos was out there straight up dominating them.... wow.


digging in further................Koufos was a 34.9% 3pt shooter at Ohio St! what in the hell............... somebody seriously screwed up Koufos' development along the way.

In his lone college season, he averaged 14.4pts 6.7rebs 1.8blks on 50.8/34.9/68. Who would've ever known he was a legitimate 3pt shooter....
Click to expand...

During College and with the U18 Greek NT team Kostas was amazing. He could shoot from 3pt (he had more than 1.5 attempt per game), we would dominate the paint, he was much quicker and despite his height and build could play a hybrid PF/C role.
One of the two big greek teams offered him 3 year contract with net 5 Mi $ so that he would sign with them (all that prior to the draft) .

Then he chose a bad manager (long story).
Then came Jerry Sloan and Utah Jazz, they didn't trust him that much and also focused on making him an "old cut" Center, thus not allowing him to shoot from outside, bulk him up without focusing on agility and switching him between D-League.
They didn't allow him to shoot any 3 pts (after having 35% n college with more than 1 attempt per game)
George Karl was actually the first to trust him and made him a starter (81/81 in 2012/13) and when he started gaining some confidence back, Karl is fired and Kostas is traded for peanuts to Memphis.
After that he became the honest, rotation player he is, but never fulfilled his potential.
 
Nightfall said:
Somehow we remembered that we play basketball and destroyed Lithuania in the Round of 16: 77-61.
PapaG was a starter and was positive but was caught in foul trouble
Some highlights.

Rejecting Valanciunas:

Alley Oop dunk:
Click to expand...

Still much better than a year ago.. baby steps..
 
And a bonus image:
Kn3Mwji.jpg
 
Dig the fire in that pic.

I still have no expectations, but I'm definitely rooting for the kid!
 
Nightfall said:
Somehow we remembered that we play basketball and destroyed Lithuania in the Round of 16: 77-61.
PapaG was a starter and was positive but was caught in foul trouble
Some highlights.

Rejecting Valanciunas:

Alley Oop dunk:
Click to expand...

I enjoyed your game against Lithuania! You played great... I guess this win will raise your confidence for the rest of the tournament. PapaG started great again, but coach obviously has more confidence in Bourousis when the game is close. In that case (game against Lithuania), he made the right decision, Bourousis made some big plays.
 
"The Serbian Sniper" said:
I enjoyed your game against Lithuania! You played great... I guess this win will raise your confidence for the rest of the tournament. PapaG started great again, but coach obviously has more confidence in Bourousis when the game is close. In that case (game against Lithuania), he made the right decision, Bourousis made some big plays.
Click to expand...

Thanks.It was the first decent came we played. Sloukas was on fire and that helped a lot. The most difficult part was the beginning of the 4th Q when we had a black out and they came close to 4 pts.
Also Valanciunas, while most of the time he dominated both paints, defensively he was bad and there were periods he disappeared completely.

We really have to up our game to stand a chance against Russia. Good luck against Italy, while for us it would be much better for Italy to qualify in case we beat Russia, I am routing for Serbia all the way :D

Serbia - Spain is the most probable final and what a game it will be...
 
dude12 said:
I like it....then again I liked Boogie doing the same thing yet it's somehow wrong when he did it.
Click to expand...

Considering the one who did it was our cornerstone player and that it was detrimental to the team compared to a player who is a future journeyman or out of the league within the next 3-5 years.
 
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