Maybe WAS should try to post him up vs allowing him to go heliocentric. They really screwed up their chances at that Summer League championship!
I had never seen Sarr play before summer league. Yikes. Going 0-15 isn't the worst part. Even Hall of Famers can have historic off nights and long slumps. But he was drafted to be a 7 foot defensive presence. He's been playing with the defensive awareness and physicality of Andrea Bargnani. He refuses to put a body on anyone. He was invisible last night. Against us, he gave up the inside position to Orlando Robinson every time. Zero effort on his contests. People aren't going to miss just because he's got long arms. Sarr needs to at least put in the effort. Lack of size and strength are no excuse. Holmgren was 25lbs lighter than this guy and would still battle and box out.
Gotta wait 47, you don't want to give up too soon on guys who will turn into SUPERSTARS in their 46th season.
Not that I was advocating to go up to get Sarr, but he's definitely showing why a lot of people had him #1 in the rankings. He's 7-2 and moving like a bigger wing. His defensive upside his huge and on offense his shooting form looks better than most bigs. He's just unbelievably raw. If this was year 1 of the Rockets rebuild, I'd be a lot higher with the Rockets taking him.
Chet never had a questionable motor. My issue with these French guys. Wemby included. They're Charmin soft and want to act like 7 foot wings. They don't have to deal with physicality that way so they don't chip their nails. Luka, Jokic, Sengun and Sabonis are different. They want to punish you. Wemby and Sarr would rather do photo ops with Chanel.
Biggest red flag in basketball is "motor issue" especially for big men. Some players love the game, others play it because they're huge and someone told them basketball could make them rich. Not saying Sarr will never be good but he needs a motivational speaker as much as he needs a trainer.
Sarr is a project who is not ready to play full-time minutes. This is why the Wizards signed Vuc. It's obvious the Wizards told Sarr to go bomb's away because it's summer league. They may continue this to a lesser extent during the regular season since none of their games will be meaningful. Sarr has way more ability than Kwame Brown. No comparison. While he could end up a complete bust, putting his career in the grave now is silly.
The only reason the rebuild upside would be higher is because he is so awful that you're guaranteed last place for a couple years. He's competing with Bronny for the worst SL player. Lazy, soft, poor IQ, can't finish at the rim, can't shoot despite thinking he can.
Somewhere on the Wizards message board there's a coterie of people arguing what you're arguing and another faction saying "he just turned 19 three months ago STFU" I'll definitely take Sarr over Bronny, that's for sure.
Something I keep thinking about is Sengun was literally MVP of the pro Turkish League and got drafted number 16. Sarr was a bench player in the Australian league, a league that on every list I can find is ranked lower than the Turkish League, and went number 2 overall. That's just wild to me. I don't feel like a project should be going that high, even in a weak draft.
They have him now so they just have to hope he can mentally grow into wanting to be a big in the NBA. And definitely Sarr over Bronny. Bronny is awful with no NBA talent at any level.
If Bronny is doing exactly what he's doing now except he's 7-2, he'd at least be a lottery prospect. Height matters.
Sarr is already projecting to be an elite defender, we're talking DPOY level impact. Like Wemby, he has to learn the NBA is no joke. The PF's are very fast and athletic. He has to simplify his shot diet and get comfy grinding inside sometimes. He has the advantage at C, he has to understand that and set his ego aside. On defense he has to protect the rim. On offense he should only be taking shots within 15 feet of the basket. I would also ask him to take a couple of 3's per game since he'll be working on it. He's already making 70% of his FT's so it won't take more than 2-3 years. Just needs the jumper. His passing and decision making is already quite good. It will be 5-7 years before his offensive game is more diverse but he can be functional in 1-2 years. Now the red flags: 1)It all depends on him being a hard worker and being coachable. 2) If the Wizards culture is really bad he's screwed. He needs fundamentals and good habits. If they just let him take 20 shots a game, like we did with Jalen, it will mess with his development.
Many teams draft for upside or archetype over accolades. Al P was a 6'9" center at the time (he's listed at 6'11" now) with questionable defensive footspeed and rim protection. He shot 19% from deep, so floor spacing was also a concern. In today's NBA teams like bigs that can block shots, guard the perimeter, and shoot. Drafting a player with Al P's measurables and weaknesses is a risk at the top of the lotto. I'm sure some teams were worried he'd be like Enes Kanter. Heck, in this year's weak draft Edey went 9th and he's 7'4" and one of the most dominant college players ever. We'll see how he turns out.
Sarr is nowhere near the defensive prospect of Wemby. Not even in the same conversation as Chet. Hell, not even in the same conversation as Clingan. He’s a project, he measured as an average athlete, below Edey. He might develop, but there’s a higher likelihood he doesn’t
