How will Zhou Qi be viewed by the end of the season?

I’m ready to retire his jersey

 

The Qiraffe

 

he's already got nba level skill in one attribute: shot blocking. nothing else he does is nba ready, but i'd say he's ahead of schedule by having at least 1 nba ready skill.

his next closest nba level skill is 3pt shooting. if he's able to hit the 3 consistently he will find himself on the rockets bench next season.

in year 3 i think we'll see his body fill out, but i'm not sure he'll ever be an above average rebounder. the added muscle will help with post defense, but the biggest gains in year 3 might just be defensive iq (rotations, help d, positioning, etc...). I think at this point he'd be a rotation player with about 20mpg backing up the 5 and 4.

year 4 will be his last on his rookie contract, and the year after ryno's contract ends. i think if he achieves the above (which isn't a big stretch) he can potentially replace ryno as the starting 4, and then backup clint as we go to smaller lineups. his 3 point shooting will allow him to fill the stretch 4 role on offense, while defensively he has the lateral quickness to keep up with prototypical 4's, and the length to recover if beaten off the dribble by smaller 4s. the fit next to clint is great since clint will cover up joe's average rebounding, while joe's weakside shotblocking will be great next to clint's post defense.

i see him as a poor man's ibaka... 3&D 4/5, weak rebounding, but good overall defense and elite shot blocking. i say poor man's ibaka because ibaka was a borderline all star at his peak, joe will be a borderline starter but probably best as a 6th or 7th man taking all the 4/5 minutes off the bench.

 

He plays smart basketball and is fun to watch but i fear he will be a little too slow to play the 4 and a little too weak to play the 5. Different games but very much the new DMo.

 

needs to add on weight to survive in this league but you can't teach that length. definitely a good project

 

To me, it is more than just length. He is very mobile as he was guarding the 3 spot most of the time. He stayed in front on all of those one on one plays and either blocked or caused a missed shot.

 

If Jordan was 7’2”

 

Seriously though ... I think like DMo his first year or so, he’ll struggle to get involved at the 4 right away and as a 5 he’s in the middle of the floor and can get more active in the offense. I think physically it’s hard to see him being ready to play the 5 at all this year. Think we don’t see him much at all till next season.

 

I want to see if he can play pick and roll with Paul and Harden.

 

His NBA debut...

 

Somebody call BJ Armstrong, he has a new client.

 

Unfortunately he will be stuck with the 3rd stringers......I hope he cracks the second team.

 

He needs to be a stretch 5. Too

Me too. I am dying to see him at C rolling to the rim.

 

You know back in the day, they never made a highlight reel unless you had at least 20 points

 

Zhou Qi should be put on the PJ Tucker diet.

 

Needs 6 months just to try to challenge for minutes. Language, tactics, fitness. There's so much going on with him right now, but he does seem to belong. If he can block shots and hit the 3 while using his height to offset his strength disadvantage he could be a VERY useful player in a year.

 

His shot blocking already gives him an additional dimension dmo never had.

And dmo wasn't shooting 3s his first year... Like non

 

I will be happily surprised to see enough of him to make any substantial decisions about him.

 

Chow Key needs to hit up the $5.99 all you can eat Chinese buffets with Daryl and greasy KJ

 

He needs to start that Houston diet asap and I think we have a Asian unicorn