Absolutely, but you hear the same things about Chet and Jabari too. It’s what the elite guys do. Even still, some can’t lose weight and some can’t gain weight.
I have a close friend that's a high school athletic director in Seattle and he's known Paolo and his mom for years. All he tells me is Paolo works and trains really hard. He's consistent and all about adding to his game week by week.
If Jabari can be a much better version of Jerami Grant, that is amazing value at 3. Just because I personally don’t see his upside as high as the other two doesn’t mean we wouldn’t end up with a fantastic player. Efficiency and intangibles aside, he’s still impressive as hell.
People talk about Banchero because they expect Chet and Jabari will be taken 1 and 2. Last year, few people talked about Cade because everyone knew that he would go #1. The discussions were mostly about whether we should take Mobley or Green. This year, the Rockets don't seem to have any choice other than taking Paolo.
I know this is blasphemous to say on this forum, but if Paolo could play the 3, I'd be very interested to see how a KPJ/Green/Banchero/Wood/Sengun lineup fares.
This is what makes me excited about Paolo, the ability to play the 3. I wouldn’t want Wood, but he does fit with outside shooting.
Defense be damned right? It goes against every fiber of my being, but I'd be highly intrigued about watching that lineup too.
I wouldn't mind the Rockets sort of forcing that development in Banchero. The flexibility long-term would make roster building a hell of a lot of fun.
Paolo slimming down and adding more agility and explosiveness sounds good to me but I’m not going to feel good about our (eventual) lineup if we don’t have personnel that can both guard the perimeter at a high level and provide shot blocking. Hard to imagine accomplishing that if Banchero is slotted at the 3. Ideally, we can get someone who can be an offensive 4 and defensive 3 to counter Paolo. Maybe Sochan?
One thing about Banchero, illustrated in the "Banchero Analysis" thread I hijacked from Reddit, is that he seems to be very competent on switches and playing isolation defense on the perimeter, but leaves a lot to be desired in the pick and roll portion of the game. Perhaps playing him more on the perimeter is a solid way to hide him a bit. Random thoughts: In today's NBA, a forward is a forward. Gone are the days when you can hide an old-fashioned PF. If we draft Banchero, we need him to become a versatile plus defender everywhere on the floor. If we TRULY don't believe we can get that out of him, I'd take a long look at my options. (Sochan would be ****ing sick)
At the very least he will come in from day one and be a much better rebounder. Grant is an interesting comparison. His 2 pointers and three point volume is very similar to Jabari. He also is a very limited playmaker. He again averaged the same assists as Jabari. Not only that Grant is pretty bad a dribbling and he takes a lot of midrange shots just like Jabari. Even the way they create shots is similar. Grant averaged close to 21 ppg the past two seasons. He scored more points than Jabari at pretty much the exact same field goal percentage. He was better from midrange but Jabari is infinitely better from 3 it would seem. I also think Grant’s defense suffered a lot in Detroit having to shoulder the load. That didn’t seem to be the case for Jabari. I’d bet money on it he’s going to be a better defender than Grant. That comparison gets me excited about him a little more. There is a path for these kinds of guys to average 20 creating for themselves. Grant was an all star. If Jabari is an improved version of that, he’d be a star. I guess he could have star potential after all. I can’t believe Grant hasn’t been compared to him. The shot selection and playmaking is identical. So many similarities. I’d still prefer Paolo or Chet but I can definitely see why people and scouts would go Jabari. I personally don't see Kawhi Leonard though. The defense and shooting could be there and Kawhi historically averaged low assists. The thing about Leonard is that he' not only an elite shooter but he's also an elite slasher thanks in part to his ball handling. This is a big component of his overall game that I don't see in Jabari. Not yet at least.
Why? Banchero can both play good enough defense on the perimeter and guard the rim from help positions due to his ridiculous vertical explosion. He needs to get a better feel for timing and switching among the bigs more than anything. His "bad defense" narrative is really overblown. Cool to see Paolo say it himself that his weight of 250 wasnt set in stone and look how he's worked into slimming down in such a short time. It really is a game changer. Thats work ethic man - you cant teach that. If you can play Banchero at the 3 then you dont need Eason at 17. You can grab one of the "rim protectors" at the 5 with Koloko being my preference and get to work. KPJ Green Banchero Sengun Koloko
What happened to team defense and not needing rim protectors? Green-Banchero core will need both. Switchable rim protector AND elite 2 way wing. Tari Eason should be Stone's priority with 2nd FRP, then sign a Bamba type center in FA. Tank for Wembanyana in 2023.
I remember last year (before college season started) people posting videos of banchero and hoping we have first pick in the draft and select him ! Well it looks like it might actually be a reality but with the third !!! How sweet it is
Theres more than one way to bake a cake. Roster construct is a malleable exercise. Constantly shifting. If Banchero was going to be relegated to being a 4/5 then you needed that dynamic wing defender next to him and Sengun. Banchero being able to play the 3/wing opens up a world of possibilities. Nobody ever said rim protection/interior defense was not important and I always doubted how much rim protection Tari Eason was going to give you anyway - Banchero being bigger and just as athletic could end up being a better defender in terms of being able to contest shots at the rim from a help position vs Eason while maybe being slightly less effective on the perimeter. Im not touching Bamba myself. Would much rather draft and develop that guy. This new wrinkle should actually make guys like you more comfortable since it could provide the defense necessary to maximize the offense. Maybe still cold feet and short selling a lighter Banchero on defense? Sengun not going to get ANY better defensively? Maybe not sold on Koloko? Cool - any of the other names mentioned for that "rim protector" archetype would work just as well - I only mentioned Koloko because he shocked everyone at the combine with his 3 point shot. Im down to tank for Wembanayama.
Honestly I’m just buying into the hype. I’m going to just lean into it at this point. I don’t think we’re drafting Jaden Ivey so I’m moving on. the other 2 bigs seem to be off the board by pick 3. I need to see it to believe it. I want him to be able to play 3-5 instead of just 4-5. If he can do that, my opinion of Paolo goes way up. If he can legitimately give minutes at small forward I’d probably rank him higher.
