BTW, before Ingram went to Duke his competitiveness was in question as well..by none other than Schmitz This sort of analysis is basically trying to look inside of kids that are still maturing and project what they will be, always a toss up, always flimsy, thorough, but flimsy. And with both players having had their demeanor and competitiveness in question, they're both still about to go 1 and 2 in the draft regardless because they're just kids.
They are kids it is true but they're kids about to receive unmentionable amounts of $$$ so we expect certain things from them. Not the least of which is character. That born of the ethos of hard work. And so per this Givony/Schmitz group they both have known flaws. At 6'10" and 245lbs Simmons has the more NBA ready body but with a more modest 6'11" reach At 6'9" and 190 lbs Ingram is wispy and may not hold up in the NBA but comes with a crazy long 7'3" wingspan. Simmons has the higher FG% at .560 because he played the 5 more often with shorter shots to the basket but he sucks at the 3PG because it's not who he is. He's a paint player. Ingram has a really sweet 3P% of .410 which is likely born of his playing further from the rim in general because wispy guys tend to get bull dozed by the Barkley's of the world. Randal already displays some of the big shoulders we need in a Simmons whereas Ingram as a shooter is not going out of vogue So let's hope Philly picks Simmons
The " he's a paint player " and " fit " part, he's a kid, game is still evolving. What if West had passed on 17yr old Kobe because he didn't fit with the Lakers' vet group or passed because he already had 2 all-star caliber guards and didn't really need another guard? What if West had traded the pick for a better fit? What if West had passed on both Kobe and Fisher that year because of Van Exel/Jones? The fit theory is just off to me regarding Simmons, but it is better than the Simmons is the devil theory, I'll give it that much.
Interesting story on the Kobe trade. http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on...-the-draft-day-trade-that-changed-nba-history
West was perhaps Nick's biggest supporter and Nick basically gave his spot to Fisher. West was down to do whatever for what he thought was a spectacular talent
http://www.lakersnation.com/lakers-...er-with-second-overall-draft-pick/2016/05/23/ Let the Bender hype begin
Very interesting. The premise that the Lakers can get more bang-for-their buck by drafting Bender and signing a wing player, as opposed to drafting Ingram (assuming Simmons goes #1) and looking to sign a center makes a lot of sense on paper. The article mentions his outside shooting, but does anyone know how developed his post game is? The Lakers just aren't the Lakers to me without an impact player in the middle.
Bender is 7'1" but what is his wingspan? and the Israeli league isn't really such a promising testing ground overall either
His outside game is currently more refined than his post up game from what I understand, needs to get stronger. His best attack in the post is facing up, not yet strong enough as a back to the basket guy, but facing up is right up his alley considering the shooting you mentioned, should have a quicker impact there whenever he does post. But yeah a young center can have a great impact for a long time and Jim does have the history having hand picked 17yo Bynum once upon a time. Might have to wait a tick longer to see Bender bloom, as he's younger than Porzingis was, but he's been called more advanced than Porzingis @ 18yo, and we know how many LAL fans wanted to jump off the DLo wagon early in conjunction with what Porzingis was doing with NYK. Rumors of LAL liking him @ #2 are picking up, we'll see. Agreed, 5 men that can walk and chew at the same time are still kings of the jungle, especially for LAL, just haven't seen one dominate the big stage since Pau unless you wanna count Dirk in 2011. Rare commodities. On paper, agreed, could easily see a scenario where LAL decides not to pass on another Porzingis type and just dips into the FA market for one of the SFs instead. With all the stressing over immediate fit, even those people would have to admit that a Harrison Barnes or Nic Batum would be the best immediate fit @ SF over Ingram, especially since Barnes is a Luke guy + one of Bender's best attributes right now is his ability to space out because of his shot leaving Randle room. He could also conceivably grow to 7'3" like Zinger, just grew another 1.5 inches over the past year. Dragan might be a dragon for real.
Dude, Boogie has been described as such and using all variations of the word, including this one.. In fact, if not mistaken somebody here called Boogie a punk just the other day. Lol
