Sarr vs Segun - who would you take long term at Center?

asking your extremely efficient ball handling passing 6’11 center to sit outside and shoot 3’s is peak clutchfans.

 

The one thing about post players you don't really know until you know is how they handle the physicality. If you're a phenom post player, you probably have physical gifts and size that make it easy until the NBA. One of the Sengun traits that does not get talked about much is how he enjoys the physicality of NBA post play. Sure, bigger guys are going to give him problems sometimes, but he doesn't back down. He loves knocking guys around, including his teammates. Even his harshest critic cannot claim that he is soft. Plus, he wants to dunk on everyone. You can tell a lot of guys do not want to play against him. (He does whine too much at the refs though.) If Sengun had grown up in the United States, he would have been in every youth football game he could find.

How anyone could think of replacing a top-tier NBA center who takes hits and dishes out pain with an unproven rookie is beyond me. Sarr might end up being great, but I think the odds are greater that he will be a serviceable NBA player who lacks high-end physicality.

(I also think a lot of folks aren't recognizing a similar situation with Edey--he knows he's a big post player with a primary job of owning the paint and is happy with it. That mentality is rare these days.)

 

Segun is a future all-star at 22 and you don't trade that.

Sarr has the tools to be a star, he shows great defensive tools both in lateral and vertical contesting. He has shown the ability to put the ball on the floor, pull up jumpers, or fade away, and he has a shooting touch that can be improved with time. He went from 195 to 225 lbs in the past few years also for strength.

He'll likely get a three-point shot down the road. I say you draft the BPA and work things out as time passes, he is agile enough to play PF with a shot as well in later years next to Sengun. His defense will help make Sengun's job easier as well, Jabari can slide to SF in certain situations and we can play a huge lineup for bigger teams.

 

BPA is Sheppard.

 

If Sarr performed at 18 how Sengun performed at 18 the talk around this draft would be drastically different.