lipoli390 wrote:It's skills plus either athleticism or length (overhead reach & wingspan). You don't need both athleticism and length. You just need one of those coupled with elite skills. Durant has freakish length (mainly long arms) -- the length of a PF or C -- coupled with the shooting a ball-handling skills of a top SG. He's a great shooter.
Of all the athletic attributes tested at the combine, I consider sprint speed the most important, but it only matters if the ball-handling skills are there to make the player fast with the ball. But even the sprint time doesn't necessarily reflect a player's quickness. And quickness with the ball is critical to NBA success -- especially among guards.
Nevertheless, there's no substitute for performance on the courts as the basis for predicting a college player's NBA potential.
Durant has freakishly long arms... and height.
I think it's generally accepted that he's 7'0."
Yeah, I think wingspan and overall length has some value in terms of assessing prospects, but the athletic stuff, including vertical, seems pretty meaningless to me.
lipoli390 wrote:It's skills plus either athleticism or length (overhead reach & wingspan). You don't need both athleticism and length. You just need one of those coupled with elite skills. Durant has freakish length (mainly long arms) -- the length of a PF or C -- coupled with the shooting a ball-handling skills of a top SG. He's a great shooter.
Of all the athletic attributes tested at the combine, I consider sprint speed the most important, but it only matters if the ball-handling skills are there to make the player fast with the ball. But even the sprint time doesn't necessarily reflect a player's quickness. And quickness with the ball is critical to NBA success -- especially among guards.
Nevertheless, there's no substitute for performance on the courts as the basis for predicting a college player's NBA potential.
Durant has freakishly long arms... and height.
I think it's generally accepted that he's 7'0."
Yeah, I think wingspan and overall length has some value in terms of assessing prospects, but the athletic stuff, including vertical, seems pretty meaningless to me.
Agreed. IF...you actually care about athleticism I'm more interested in what I see on tape than how high a guy can jump or run between some cones etc.
