This kid has potential. In tonights game against the spurs, I imagine that he will get > 12mins PT. His future with the Rockets and the NBA will be dependent on his performance tonight. Similar to Wiltjer, scouts also questioned D-MO, and Kevin Love's ability to Rebound the ball in the big-league. Lateral Quickness is also something the Scouts say that Wiltjer lacks. Scouts said the same thing about Kevin Love, and worried that Love would be a Liability on defense. Keep in mind, Kevin Love locked down Steph Curry in the finals last year to win a title. Fortunately, rebounding, and lateral quickness can be taught and improved upon. Something much harder to teach is HEIGHT, a SOFT-TOUCH, and SHOOTING. This kid Wiltjer has all that. At worst this guy will be Matt Bonner. Bonner had terrible foot work. WILTJER has good footwork. Wiltjer is comfortable in the post, with his back to the basket. Wiltjer can shoot with his feet set and can SHOOT OFF THE DRIBBLE. I think this kid will end up being MUCH BETTER than Bonner. Even if he turns out to be only as good as Bonner thats pretty damn good considering that Matt Bonner has 2 rings. Wiltjer shot is just as smooth as anyone's in the league. A GREAT SHOT IS COMMODITY in the NBA. Daryl Morey will be dumb to let him go. So, for all you young kids out there... If you're tall, then work your ass off and learn to shoot the ball as good as Wiltjer. You'll always have a job waiting for you in the NBA. Just don't do anything stupid to screw it up. Go ahead and hop on the wagon while there is still time. This kid is legit!
re: the Matt Bonner comparison - Wiltjer is more slight, and less capable of banging in the post defensively. Essentially he has everything required on the offensive end, can shoot, move, can slide to the hoop, snag an offensive rebound, and can create his own shot. The only question is how much hiding he requires defensively. I see him as a more skillful Bullard (sacrilege!)
I agree, he does seem very... Frail inside. However, I think of what Hakeem used to say about playing against Moses Malone. Hakeem was basically frail and not very capable on the boards until he practiced with Malone that one summer while he was in college. So, I think his "frailty" can be remedied. So defensively, as long as he doesn't get stranded in the perimeter guarding smaller players, I think he will be fine.
I hope Wiltjer gets more playing time than Dekker. Although Dekker has many skills, I am doubtful that he will be able to shoot 36% or better from beyond the arc. In my humble opinion, Dekker is not the stretch-4 we have been looking for. Get rid of Brewer and move Dekker to the 3.
I would be upset if he doesnt make the roster. We havent seen much of him since he mostly moved around the 3 point line, but from what Ive seen in other vids he doesnt look like a one dimensional player. I think its pretty obvious he could be one of the best 3 point shooters in the NBA..
Wow, people really got carried away huh lol. People talking about dumping our draft pick or our last draft pick. Like I said, I would cut Brewer but no way would I get rid of Harrell or Onuaku. This team is starving for young talent, and while they are not great they are all we have. The likelihood Harrell improves is far greater than the likelihood Wiltjer is ever going to be playable as a defender. Harrell already has the tools to do what he needs to do. Wiltjer is not going to become laterally quick and there was a red flag about him only strolling back in transition. As for Onuaku, anyone drawing a conclusion about him right now is downright idiotic. Out of roughly 440 active players in the NBA, Onuaku is the 12th youngest. He is 19. There is only one 18 year old in the league. Physically, he is an athletic tank. Pretty f'ing clear that the guy has a strong mind to be able to endure all the jokes about granny style FT's in exchange for a 10% bump in FT success. That's a team player if I ever saw one. He seems no rawer than Capela did when he got here, and how many people were borderline annoyed that Capela pushed to join the Rockets? Wiltjer has an elite skill for sure, but I wouldn't cut Harrell or Onuaku. Brewer, on a per dollar basis, may be one of the worst players in the league at the moment. That's who we should cut and take this hit because we have Dekker and KJ who can compete with Ariza for NBA ROTATION minutes. Wiltjer is not ready to compete for NBA minutes and we are lacking in the big man department.
based on what though? Harrell doesn't have any basketball skills that he's particularly looking to improve into an everyday NBA use. He's strictly an energy and hussle player. There's really nothing that alarming about a player not hussling back in transition. There's not one player in the league that isn't guilty of it at one time or another.
Both Harrell and McDaniel are the same type of players, whose both being young and got amazing body but with ZERO skills for their profession, but that's not the worse thing. The worse weakness for both is so far they demonstrated both are having the IQ of basketball close to a 5th grader.
Energy, hustle, and defense wins games. Tristan Thompson was far more important to Cleveland winning a championship than Kevin Love's scoring and range. Love is more talented from a basketball standpoint, but he was useless in the finals while Thompson contributed every game. As JVG once said, playing hard is a skill.
Zero skills? Well they have actually played rotation level NBA level talent and not just preseason fodder like Wiltjer. They have actually shown they can defend at the pro level, which Wiltjer hasn't had a chance to do yet. Wiltjer has only proved one side of the ball against weak competition.
I like Wiltjer but I've been around long enough to not fall in love with puppies every pre-season. We have a crowded front court and he should be in the DLeague.
Harrell can score inside and is an incredible offensive rebounder. He plays decent defense by moving his feet, even though he gets impatient at times. He runs FAST on transition defense and offense. Aside from that I'm sure the stats show that he's excellent at securing loose balls and getting deflections. He has one year of NBA experience. Most importantly, he is 22 years old. He is not "strictly" anything right now. If he improves his understanding of defensive rebounding by September 2017 and then the offensive game slows down for him by September 2018 he will be a really good 24 year old athletic young NBA rotation player at the cost of a 2nd round pick in whom we will have invested $5-6m who will be an RFA that the team will get back at a fair price. Also consider that this is his second season and second coach with a fairly new offensive system and totally new defensive system. He has looked like he has slightly improved since last season. It would not be surprising at all if he got better as the system became instinctive to him >> which is typical for big men in a D'Antoni offense. Still, the coach, who prefers vets, has given him rotation minutes in preseason. This is not something to sneeze at. You are right players sometimes take plays off, but I don't find it acceptable for it to happen as often to an undrafted rookie fighting for a contract on a playoff team as it would to a vet who is carrying the team. He corrected this in the last game, but it is 100% a red flag for him to be caught strolling back in transition at this juncture of his career. @heypartner was spot on in his post about this. Particularly in our case when we are trying to wash our hands of the terrible culture we had last season where people didn't understand that this kind of thing is unacceptable in a cohesive team committed to winning. That's minor though. I think chances are he will not be a player known not try hard enough. What I am more worried about is whether he will have the discipline and work ethic to mitigate his lateral slowness with solid fundamentals and IQ. I haven't seen that yet, and I'm hoping to see it.
At this point in time, without exaggerating, I would say we can't trade Brewer and OUR second round pick for anything. Right now we have to give up a late first to get rid of Brewer. That's why I'd rather cut him. He has 2 years on his contract, so next summer is what it would affect most. With the current cap numbers, a $6m hold is minor and I don't think worth giving up a pick over. If we're now having to pass on young guys with potential while we have Dekker/McDaniels/Ariza, I don't understand why we're keeping him.
Why would we be getting rid of Dekker or Harrell for Wiltjer!?! Seems fairly obvious that, of the 18 we have, Bobby Brown and PJ Hairston won't be on the final 15 roster, and I imagine one of Prigs or Payton are the final cut.
