Minnesota Sports Forum

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

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."

Q12543 wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

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.