You are seriously going to pursue this argument? Seriously? Blair is just as much a project as Hassan ing Whiteside?
L M A O.
All I am trying to say is both players entered the league (hassan soon will be) having one particular element to their game where they excelled at in college. Is this wrong? Please tell me you are not one of the posters who think blair will be an all-star PF at 6'6?
Jesus. Blair was an exceptional college player for a nationally ranked program at Pittsburgh and was one of the top players -- as a sop re -- in the Big East. Whiteside is a longterm project with a marginal school in a marginal conference who can do one thing well and everything else not so well, plus is possibly a headcase.
I would say that you are underestimating Blair's readiness for the NBA. He demonstrated excellent court awareness, great hands, and very good passing skills.
He also possesses one intangible critical for success at the next level and that is confidence. Blair was sometimes overwhelmed by more experienced, more skilled players, but he was not overwhelmed by the situation. He believes that he belongs and that is clearly evident to even a casual observer.
I don't know how Whiteside measures up in areas outside of shotblocking, but Blair's NBA readiness can't be reduced to his rebounding prowess.
Agreed. I got film from Whiteside, looking forward to watch it.
I agree with all of this. But, you are giving me current characteristics of blair that were not talked about prior to his rookie season. I do not ever remember seeing blair being a good passer and having good court awareness prior to his rookie season. There are gonna be things that some of these rookies do well that they did not have to do in college. All I am saying is Whiteside's defense is already NBA level, his offense on the other hand is not. At #20, you cannot expect a player with the total package and sometimes you need to take a risk. If all the sf's that we like are gone, I would gladly take on a big with 7'7 arm length and can run the floor.
Whiteside = Blair....Parker for Beasley....ST is starting to round itself in to fine offseason form.
If Henry, Hayward, George and Babbitt are all gone at #20, Whiteside seems to be a damn good option.
Holy , no. Better trade the pick away if that's all you have.If Henry, Hayward, George and Babbitt are all gone at #20, Whiteside seems to be a damn good option.
I agree with Bruno-- depending on who is already gone, Whiteside would be a good option. I don't see him as having any similarities to Blair at all in terms of skill set, at ude, etc, but some of the threads around here about Blair are pretty ridiculous too-- people love to say he "could" become the next Wes Unseld, which would be nice though incredibly unlikely-- Wes was ROY & MVP in his first year and considered one of the best defenders in the league. Blair's a great rebounder, a smart scrappy scorer, a defensive liability, and a foul machine... he's good, but he'll never be the mvp of the league.
Whiteside has issues, but so did Rodman, Artest, and Stephen Jackson. Chad Ford called him naive for saying he thought he could someday be Defensive Player of the Year in the NBA.... but what would Ford have said if he'd interviewed Whiteside before his freshman season at Marshall and heard him say he wanted to lead the entire NCAA in blocks and block/foul ratio and be Freshman of the year and defensive player of the year in his conference? Because that's what happened. His block/foul ratio is something Ian Mahinmi could only dream of, and yet I don't see spurstalk veterans mocking other 10,000+ post spurtalkians for hanging their desperate homer hopes on Mahinmi, aka The Savior.... I'd take the potential of Whiteside over Mahinmi anyday.
Incisive analysis.
, thats about how most of us feel at this point...
So did Leon Smith and far more 'talented' players than you could ever name.
Yes, some players have at udes. Some turn out to be very talented and some do not. I don't see your point.
Ed O'Bannon came from a big time program, was player of the year, and led his team to a national championship-- a better résumé than DeJuan Blair or Tim Duncan, but he still had a career less impressive than that of Keith Bogans.
Last edited by Mr Bones; 06-01-2010 at 09:49 PM.
Mountainballer mentioned this in another thread...and I agree with him if it comes down to taking Whiteside.
If all the "desirable" SF prospects were gone I'd like to see the Spurs talk Memphis out of both of their late picks...#25 and #28...for #20. Then they could still likely draft Pondexter and pick up another good guard prospect in Dominique Jones. That has much better payoff potential than waiting until Mr. 7'7 is 30 years old to learn the Spurs system.
Also from a Mountainballer post:
"he also talks about Whitesides immaturity but what a beast he could become if he falls into the right environment. exclusively mentions the Spurs as the right situation for him."
Last edited by Mr Bones; 06-02-2010 at 03:58 AM.
please notice: I just quoted Jonathan Givony, because he was talking about the Spurs. this doesn't mean I share this opinion at all. to be honest, I hate this idea. as benefactor said, before we use the pick for a guy like Whiteside I would use it as trade bait for a NBA proven player. (or trade down)
Beat me to it.
You mentioned like three players with bad 'tudes who had some success. By far, far, far, far the larger group is players with bad at udes who can't even sniff the NBA anymore, after teams invested time, effort, and money in them. The likelihood that Whiteside is in the second group is nearly 100%.
You are right about that-- it just comes down to what a "bad" at ude is. I think Chad Ford was put off by Whiteside saying he thought he could someday be the defensive player of the year in the NBA, because he made a remark in his scouting report to the effect of "oh yeah, tell that to Dwight Howard" (I'm quoting from memory so I'm sure that's not perfectly accurate)-- implying he thought Whiteside was naive or pompous for saying so, so my impression was that Ford had a bit of the at ude. To me, a young shot-blocking center who dreams of being defensive player of the year is a good thing-- it shows he knows his strengths and limitations. Whether or not that dream is anywhere in the realm of possibility I don't yet know, but if the Spurs were to draft him, I'd trust that they'd done their homework-- as they usually do-- and would be happy with the pick.
To Mountainballer-- didn't mean to imply that that was your opinion, rather than a report that you had simply posted... sorry it came out like that.
no problem.
Add 20 lbs, get some Mutombo training. Could become a beast
SLAMonline Mock Draft: Hassan Whiteside, No. 20
Spurs begin the search for the heir apparent to Duncan.
by Sean Ceglinsky
Tim Duncan, is this guy for real?
I mean, come on, he’s an ageless wonder.
Seemingly, that is.
Duncan defied the odds during the 2009-2010 season, essentially proving that Father Time’s got nothing on him. He was as durable as they come, playing 31-plus minutes a night while shooting 51.9 from the field and netting a respectable 72.5 clip from the free-throw line over the course of a 78-game regular season stint.
Can’t forget to mention the fact that Timmy averaged 17.9 points, 10.1 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.5 blocks per game.
That’s getting it done. Straight up.
Keep in mind, we’re talking about a cat that’s been in the League for what seems like forever, 13 years, to be exact. Hard to believe.
But when looking closer at last season’s numbers, you notice his stats, across the board, were down a bit from his career averages.
The decline was expected, of course.
At some point, it happens to everyone.
Don’t think, not even for a split second, that the Spurs brass isn’t mildly concerned. Duncan, after all, has endured plenty of wear and tear over the years while protecting the paint in San Antonio. Protecting the Alamo, if you will.
Now is as good a time as any to start thinking about the future, time to begin formulating a back up plan to eventually replace the irreplaceable cagey vet. Let’s keep it real, Duncan is going to call it career sooner rather than later.
Might as well prepare for the inevitable.
And with the 20th pick in the 2010 SLAMonline Mock Draft, the San Antonio Spurs select…
Hassan Whiteside from Marshall University.
With Duncan on the downside of his career, Gregg Popovich & Co. can consider this pick as insurance policy, of sorts.
An insurance pick with plenty of upside.
In fact, the Spurs should consider themselves lucky that Whiteside is still around at this stage of the game. Once he slipped, the selection was a no-brainer. A done deal. Mail it in. Signed, sealed and delivered.
Think about it, Matt Bonner isn’t the answer underneath the basket for the Spurs.
The same can be said about the effective, but aging Antonio McDyess.
As for Ian Mahinmi, inexperience continues to hold him back.
DeJuan Blair certainly has the heart, no one disputes that notion. But size matters in the NBA. Unfortunately, Blair doesn’t always measure up.
Given time, and the proper tutelage, Whiteside could end up being the answer in the middle for San Antonio. At the very least, a part of the long-term solution.
In the meantime, the Spurs get a whole lot younger with 20-year old in the mix. And while Duncan casts a large shadow, to be sure, learning from the best power forward the game’s ever seen certainly won’t hurt the rookie’s development.
Make no mistake, the Spurs had other options with the 20th pick.
Kentucky’s Daniel Orton was still on the board and would have been a nice fit in the San Antonio frontcourt. A colleague of mine, Jacob H. Pollon, said it best: “Orton is the sexy pick for the Spurs. You can’t go wrong with the kid.”
Florida State’s Solomon Alabi was still available.
Another intriguing prospect was European Kevin Seraphin.
Ultimately, however, Whiteside was too good to pass up.
He’s a legit 7-footer, 230-plus pounds, with a freakish 7-7 wingspan. Moreover, Whiteside is extremely agile for his size, an attribute that allows him to crash the boards with reckless abandon and alter shots, seemingly at will.
Offensively, his game is a bit raw. Then again, San Antonio doesn’t need him to come in right away and score, not with Duncan in the lineup.
The only thing the Spurs need from Whiteside is for him to be an attentive understudy. Face it, the pupil can learn plenty from his teacher.
No one does it better than Duncan. No one.
The hope is that Whiteside will be the heir apparent.
The spurs will be lucky if this guy is still on the board. They need to overhaul the frontline( get rid of Bonner and push McDyess back in the rotation) and bringing in another young big with potential is worth the 20 pick. But I doubt he is still on the board at 20.
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