Yeah, Onuaku ...The way I see it..It's a safe bet that he'll be at minimum, a rotation 5 off the bench. That was always a given. How much upside is the question...definitely has the talent/body/pedigree...for a long career.
I told you this guy is a Capella body double. The kings announcer keep referring to him as Capella the entire time he has been on the floor... We like body doubles. Dwight Howard had Joey Dorsey to fool them opponents. lulz...
I think the ideal scenario for the rox next season is for Dekker to be able to play 3 and Harrell to play 4 . Ariza is getting up there and we're going to need a long term replacement sooner rather than later. Hopefully with another good offseason Sam can take a leap.
i think that's Harrell's only shot in this league. Either he gets a 3 point shot and plays the stretch 4 for us or we send him to a traditional team and he plays PF there. He doesn't have the size/length to defend or rebound at the 5. Onuaku is a Center all day so his spot is secure. Whether he becomes a starting center depends on how he and Capela progress, and how much $ Capela demands for his next contract. If he's asking for $25 mil, i could see Morey going with Onuaku if he thinks the drop off is minimal.
Yup . I hope they do . If they can just get consistent when open , then I think their athleticism projects them as really solid , long-term players .
Nanu has every needed skill for this offense EXCEPT the alley-oop game. Don't be fooled by a few dish dunks. It takes a long reach and good hang time to be a consistent alleyoop threat and it's desperately needed with Harden running that pick and roll. Not saying the guy can't get up, but not every pass is perfect, and you need to be able to catch the ball with 2 hands around the top of the square consistently to be a real threat. That will keep him from being OUR consistent starter.
I watched every minute he played very carefully. He had a really good game. Just from Phoenix to Sacramento he picked up a lot. Thinking faster, moving well. Someone needs to teach him how to set better picks though. He rolls to the basket early way too often. This kid is going to be good. Between him and Capela, we can stay calm at C and focus our $$$ on getting better defensive forwards who can still shoot.
100 percent agree. His rotations, IQ and overall demeanor are promising for a 20 year old big man. I am in love with the lower body strength and nimble feet on switches and pick and rolls. He has all the makings of a cerebral, 15 year NBA lifer. Dork Elvis strikes again. What I really like is that Nanu compliments Clint perfectly. What Clint brings in rolling to the rim and catching lobs, Nanu brings in strength, defense and intellect.
I don't see what you guys are unfortunately. His lateral quickness on defense doesn't seem NBA caliber, really bad PnR defender from what I've seen, never is able to get back to the paint quick enough to contest a shot or get rebounding position, takes too long to close gaps. He just seems too slow, I think he will have to put in some tremendous work on his body to ever be a rotation player.
I love his underhand free throw money he swallowed his pride and did the right thing. Deserves to retire a Rocket
those points count lol...Vlade Divac certainly appreciated it. I'd like to see the guy come out with his hair on fire. He's only getting a little run here but he still seems timid, maybe that's just the NBA game getting the better of him but his effort level seemed low to me. As for the future, I've never been super high on Harrell. Didn't think he would make the team even, certainly don't believe he's got a chance to be a stretch 4 and as a 5 his size is going to make him the odd man out right at the jump. What is he, 6'6"? Even with go-go-gadget arms that's really a hindrance. Capela/Nene/Onuaku could be a legit 5 position for this team next year and allow them to focus on getting some help for Anderson and Ariza.
Well tbh given how good Nanu is now if he can also play above the rim there's no way he would have been picked up in the 2nd round. I'm really impressed with him given how young he is. If Nene decides to leave, I can totally see Nanu take his spot even over Harrell.
A center is expected to be a good PNR defender and be quick and agile? Newsflash not all centers are quick like Capela in fact most centers are actually slow, plodding dudes I don't see guys like Cousins, Gasol and Horford guarding Steph Curry on the PnR or showing near the 3 pt line and then running back to the paint to fight for rebs. I like him as the center counterpart of Capela, when Capela goes up against traditional centers who push him around in the paint then you can put Nanu in and he'll bang with the heaviest of them.
Yes a NBA rotation center is supposed to be quick and agile enough to be a decent PnR defender. Or else defenses will just run PnR's all day and burn us. In the Suns game it seemed every time they ran a PnR on Nanu his man either scored or got the rebound if the ball handler didn't make a shot. He doesn't have to guard Curry one on one but he has to be able to run out to him or run back to his man and box out in time or else he'd be hurting us on defense. Onuaku isn't super tall, he doesn't have any offensive skills, he doesn't stand out as an above average rebounder, he doesn't look like a quick jumper to catch lobs like Clint, which means his role is to be a solid defender using strength, and to finish in the paint. Kind of like Nene's role (just without the jumper). I believe he can finish in the paint if he learns the proper footwork, how to use his body etc. But due to his quickness, his defense and rebounding will be a problem. To give you an example on why his quickness looks like a problem at the NBA level to me, Chinanu got 20 minutes combined between the Suns and Kings games. Onuaku rebounded well at the college level, he rebounds well in the DLeague. But guess how many combined rebounds he got? 1. The reason for that was him being too slow and not jumping quick enough to get on the boards. I want Chinanu to prove me wrong and pan out, I'm hoping he just has bad conditioning, or isn't putting in max effort for some reason. His defensive quickness just honestly stands out to me as an issue when I'm watching.
Or maybe the reason is he's just 20 freaking years old and a complete rookie going up against grown ass men in their prime in the best basketball league in the world. Why are you comparing Capela's minutes to Chinanu when Capela is 2 years older and has been in the league for around 3 years already? How many minutes did Capela play during his rookie year? We don't know if Chinanu will pan out or not, calling him too slow now is just dumb because he hasn't even started doing proper training yet, what if he's just confused on whats going on and he hasn't adapted to the NBA speed? Dude's a blank slate you can't say what he can or can't do, I remember some posters were saying before how much Capela sucked and what a wasted pick he was during his rookie year well look at him now. Again, please show me clips of Pau Gasol or Marc Gasol showing at the top of the key to guard Steph Curry and then sprinting back to the paint to grab rebs. Not everyone can run around the court like that, it depends on the body type of the center a PF/C like Capela can easily do that but you won't see guys like Bogut, Yao Ming, Cousins etc. sprinting on their side of the court. You can guard PnRs just by staying in the paint, and honestly you don't want Yao Ming, Gaosl etc. to run around because they're gonna get tired in just 1 quarter if they do that and they get more wear and tear on their knees which can lead to injuries. You're confusing switching with PnR defense, if you're switching that's when you show at the top of the key and then you come back in the paint to get rebs but if you're not switching then it doesn't matter whether it's Steph Curry or Draymond Green with the ball you stay in the paint and defend whoever tries to drive in. The only reason we see Capela do the switching is because we have Anderson as the PF and Capela is playing small ball center. If we had Chinanu at the C and we had a more traditional PF like Harrell then Harrell would be the one doing the switching, not the center.
