I must be looking at different stats, or you guys must be looking at career stats or something. Looking at his stats from Illescas this season, he averaged 21 minutes a game. 9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.9 blocks, and 3.2 turnovers. Either way, his overall stats aren't necessarily what people should be looking at. It's a different game that they are playing over there. I think the fact that he only averaged 1.9 blocks tells you that they probably aren't playing down low a lot. Scouts and GMs are just looking at the skill set and seeing that he possesses skills that could translate to the NBA game. Some things like free throw shooting (50%) and the tournovers are not good. But he shot 58.8% from the floor, which was the highest on the team. In his last game with the team, he had 17 points (6-8 FGM, 5-10 FTM) 13 rebounds, 1 block, 4 TO in 30 minutes. Again, we see that he isn't getting the high number of blocks that you would expect. As we all know, European bigs are better shooters than NBA bigs, for the most part. So just being given the opportunity to defend down low will increase his value to an NBA team. One thing that seems certain from what I have read, he will no doubt work hard to improve his game. I think once he is given the opportunity to play in th eNBA, he will learn to adapt and figure out a way to be successful.
There's no question that Biyombo is a one-way player. The question is how good is he going to be on that end of the floor. I'm glad to hear his stock is plummeting. Hopefully he's there at 14 as an option and we'll see how Morey feels about him if we haven't been able to trade up. In my mind, he's a great risk at 14. All the rumors about his age, doesn't matter to me if it's true. (And I suspect it is.) And his bad hands and bad shooting. (Sounds just like Deke on both counts....age and bad offense.) 1. He's got a definite NBA big man body. 2. He's got definite athleticism. 3. He's got NBA defensive talent. (This doesn't mean he's ready. It means he's got the talent, the ability, to play D in the NBA, and play D big time in the NBA.) 4. He does fit a need we have, the biggest hole on our team right now. That gives us some extra onus if he is there at 14 and he is part of the group of best rated available players at 14. He's at least the third or fourth best center prospect in this draft behind Kanter and possibly that Jonas kid. He may be the second best center prospect in this draft behind Kanter that will be available to play next season barring some strange offseason injury. I'm hoping he's sitting there at 14 when we draft and we actually have the chance to get him without giving up anything. Then pick up Jimmy Butler at 23 and call it a day worse case. This kid would get to come to camp and learn from Hayes and hopefully Yao not to mention McHale and CD.
Who are you? BTW, should I trust tests to check if the growth plates in Biyombo's wrists had fused together when he was 16 or the word of an anonymous poster who has yet to graduate grade school and does not know a basketball is round. I think I'll except the scientific test that has proven to be accurate. At most, Biyombo is 20 and this is not disputable.
I see. One of the draft sites was listing the other as his European team. But it really doesn't matter. My point was that it's such a different game over there that you can't really look at his stats or if he's better or worse than Euro Player X. The style of play is so different that good players in Europe won't necessarily translate to the NBA. By the same token, I don't think Biyombo is able to show his full potential in that style of basketball. One thing that stands out is that he averaged 1 more blocked shot per game than the next best player on both of the teams I looked at. I think it's safe to say that he is going to be able to do that in the NBA.
Best case sees to Ibaka or Ben Wallace Worst case looks like another dorsey although he seems more mentally mature already
I don't see the Ibaka comparisons, besides both coming from Congo. Ibaka was shooting 3s over in Euro land. His offense was way more advanced. Ben Wallace, yes.
Ibaka might be the congo version of Dirk, which is basically the elite-once-upon-a-generation idealized version of that player. I'm not sure we'll ever see that combination of defensive tenacity, high IQ, athleticism, upside and shooting skills ever again just as we'll probably never see another Euro who can perform like Dirk.
more like an less offensively talented Ekpe Udoh someone will bite early on this 23 year old and save the Rockets from making the mistake.
I really like Biyombo and I will root for his success but I prefer some one with more offensive upside at the 14th pick, defense is great but guys like these usually move around in the league(Chandler, Camby, Ben Wallace) and they will go to your team if you give them enough $$$. I don't think we should use our 14th pick on him there's just too many question marks and as the draft draws nearer it's gonna weight more and more in peoples minds and im sure some executives will be nervous to pick him too high. If he falls I would be glad to roll the dice with him with our 23rd pick.
So if this is the case and we finally drop the silly comparisons to Ibaka, where does that leave Biyombo? In my opinion, he might become Reggie Evans with shot-blocking ability and it will be at least a couple of years before he's worth a dime in the NBA. If they draft at #14, I would rather the Rockets go for a developmental player with a big upside. The best thing Biyombo will ever be is a backup PF. He's a late 1st round pick at best IMO.
http://www.lostlettermen.com/jim-weber-column-biyombo-the-latest-african-big-man-to-fool-nba-gms/ Biyombo the Latest African Big Man to Fool NBA GMs They say insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results. If that’s the case, then “18-year-old” African big man Bismack Biyombo is the latest proof that NBA general managers have lost their minds. I want to start by saying that I understand how prospects like Bismack Biyombo become lottery picks; it’s a byproduct of the fact the NBA draft is completely different than the NFL draft. First of all, many of the top prospects have only played one year of college basketball. Before 2007, many never played college basketball. As a result, the NBA draft is a complete guessing game based less on results and more on “upside” – a word you’ll hear 462,481 times during the draft’s telecast on Thursday night. Second of all, because there are so few spots on the floor and NBA careers last so much longer than those in the NFL, most picks outside the top five never become stars in the league. If a player turns out to be the next Tony Parker or Rajon Rondo – both stars taken outside the lottery – then general managers are hailed as geniuses. And if you happen to roll the dice and select a future Hall of Famer like Kevin Garnett or Kobe Bryant, you are immortalized. Kevin McHale and Jerry West are still living off the fact they snagged those high school players on draft night who now have a combined six NBA title rings. On the flip side, if a general manager lands an effective role player in the draft, it usually gets completely overlooked by the player the team could have had instead. J.J. Redick has had a better NBA career than most expected but instead of focusing on his success, pundits point out that Rondo was taken 10 spots later. As a result, NBA general managers with picks outside the top five are willing to take wild risks with the off chance they connect on a home run. Enter the African big man. Ever since Hakeem Olajuwon went from a 15-year-old soccer player who had never played basketball to the top overall pick of the 1984 NBA draft, everyone has wanted their own “Dream.” As a result, African big men have had scouts and general managers drooling for decades with their raw athleticism, nimble feet and ability to send opposing shots 10 rows deep into the crowd. A year later, 7-foot-7 Manute Bol was taken in the second round of the 1985 NBA draft despite just one year at Division II Bridgeport. He never became a star but did last 10 years in the league and blocked over 2,000 career shots. And when Dikembe Mutombo had an even more meteoric rise than Olajuwon – becoming an eight-time NBA All-Star and four-time Defensive Player of the Year after arriving at Georgetown to become a doctor only to end up the fourth overall pick in the 1991 NBA draft – the gold rush for African big men was officially on. It appeared that anyone from the continent who was seven-feet tall and could walk and chew gum at the same time could become the next great NBA center. Try as they might, NBA general managers routinely bombed picking raw players who were born in Africa. Despite Yinka Dare (No. 14, 1994), Michael Olowokandi (No. 1, 1998) and DeSagana Diop (No. 8, 2001) all falling well short of expectations, the Seattle SuperSonics made one of the worst draft picks in recent memory by taking Senegalese big man Mouhamed Sene one slot ahead of Redick in 2006. Here was a player that had averaged just 4.0 PPG in Belgium before being a lottery pick but was projected to be a star in the league because of his freakish athleticism and a 7-foot-8 wing span. Well, to date he has played in a total of 47 NBA basketball games, and it doesn’t look like he’ll add to that total after averaging just over 10 PPG last season in France with a team whose star is former North Dakota State baller Ben Woodside. And now comes Bismack Biyombo, the “18-year old” from the Congo who plays like he’s on a pogo stick and has been mentioned as a lottery pick. Instead of hoping he will become the next Olajuwon, NBA general managers are now looking for the next Serge Ibaka, the Oklahoma City star also from the Congo who has become an NBA starter after being picked 24th overall in 2008 and playing his first organized basketball at the age of 17. Just like general managers thought any seven-footer from Africa could be their own version of “The Dream,” scouts and GMs are comparing Biyombo to Ibaka and foreseeing a similar impact in the NBA from his fellow countryman, instead of realizing that Olajuwon and Ibaka are once-in-a-generation talents that don’t grow on trees. Yes, it’s very impressive that Biyombo was playing in Spain’s top league last year as an “18-year old” (like Mutombo, there are rumors he could be years older than that and possibly even 24). But he hardly dominated at that level, averaging just 6.4 PPG and 5.1 RPG last season. Then Biyombo’s stock officially blew up at the Nike Hoops Summit in April when he collected the game’s first triple-double in history (12 points, 11 rebounds, 10 blocks) while playing for the World Select Team against the United States. Keep in mind that this game was against incoming freshman like Duke’s Austin Rivers and Kentucky’s Anthony Davis and Michael Gilchrist. Putting up a triple-double against high school seniors is a far cry from doing it against the likes of Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. Things got so nutty that the debut mock draft from ESPN’s Chad Ford projected Biyombo to go seventh overall to the Detroit Pistons ahead of the likes of San Diego State’s Kawhi Leonard, Texas’ Tristan Thompson and Kansas’ Marcus Morris. Some dismal pre-draft workouts – one of which Ford described as “Clang. Clang. Clang.” – have dropped Biyombo’s stock. He’s now seen as a mid-first round selection but could still go ahead of players like Kansas’ Markieff Morris and Morehead State’s Kenneth Faried. That’s despite the fact one NBA general manager had this to say to Ford about a Biyombo workout: “Bismack Biyombo just played a game of one-on-none … and he lost.” Yes, everyone will agree that Biyombo is a project. The problem with that is many pundits overlook the fact that first-round picks given guaranteed two-year contracts usually only get a year-and-a-half to prove themselves worthy of being part of a franchise until they are shipped out and eventually find themselves out of the league. The NBA is not a patient league, especially with plenty of uber-talented prospects like Biyombo in every draft class for scouts and general managers to fall in love with. Ask Hasheem Thabeet how much time you get in the league to show your stuff. While question marks surround Biyombo, Markieff Morris has proven himself to be a bruising rebounder and defender during three years in the Big 12 as an absolute moose in the paint at 6-foot-9 and 240 pounds. Yes, his “upside” isn’t as big as Biyombo’s, he’s not a polished offensive player and he talks way too much. But he has the potential to be an effective bench player in the league right away and eventually a Udonis Haslem-type starter. And Kenneth Faried has only become the leading rebounder in NCAA history who is a high-energy player that can run the floor and thrive in the new up-tempo, undersized version of the NBA. Critics moan about the fact he’s only 6-foot-6 with his shoes off and completely ignore the fact he’d be the perfect fit for a Run ‘N Shoot team like the Knicks, Suns and Warriors that desperately need big men who can keep up with the pace and clean up on the glass. But instead of being enamored with Morris or Farried, the Warriors are said to be locked in on Biyombo with the 11th overall pick. The scouting report on him? A freak athlete that spent just 14 games in Spain’s top division last season and was mediocre, could be as old as 24, can’t pass or shoot and his biggest claim to fame was dominating high school players a couple months ago. Gee, where do I sign?
