The Baz

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

What an interesting write-up.

Folks might recall that Kevin Love shocked NBA pundits and GMs when he posted a vertical of 35-inches at the pre-draft combine. That's about 5+ inches higher than anyone thought he could jump. Guess what Derrick Williams' vertical was? 34.5 inches. Wait! You mean that Kevin Love out-jumped D-Will!? Yeppers.

But the article above hits on a really important point, which is how quickly one gets off the ground. Love needs to gather himself big time, while a guy like D-Will can elevate relatively quickly. As the training guru above says, he'd rather have a quick jumper than a slow jumper that can get up higher.

Me thinks that the poster child of this phenomena in this year's draft is Cody Zeller. Just based on watching him, I hardly ever saw him go up with power and explosion around the rim at Indiana. And in fact, he struggled around the rim in the Final Four.

Good stuff.

[Coolbreeze44]

Very interesting article. Remember I was the first one to say how Bazz was going to shine in Vegas. Looking forward to seeing him go to work.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

That was the article that completely turned me around on Muhammad when I read it a month ago. Before reading it, I was down on him mainly because of his subpar lateral quickness and his reluctance to use his right hand. There was a lot to like about him, but those two weaknesses combined with his poor assist record at UCLA told me he would never be a SG in the NBA. After reading Ford's article, and especially the part where he described him as perhaps the best scorer and most underrated player in the draft, I began warming to the idea of the Wolves drafting him with the 9th pick. So you can imagine my delight when the 9th pick turned into Muhammad....plus Dieng.

My excitement level has increased as I have watched Oladipo in summer league. I recognize they are very different players, but they have one similarity: VO was as uncomfortable with his left hand in college as Shabazz was with his right. If Shabazz can show the same improvement with his right hand as VO has shown with his left since the season ended, it will make him a much more dangerous offensive player. Muhammad is not the most likable player, but a lot of that is due to his drive to be the best at all costs. We aren't going to get a Jonny Flynn/Wes Johnson smile out of Shabazz, but I'm hopeful we will get a very good NBA player.