He's a 4, but can he play some minutes as a 3-man next to Yao/Scola, Yao/Chuck or Scola/Chuck at the 5/4 spots? He seems to have some of the abilities: 1. Decent quickness. Perhaps he can stay with some 3-man? 2. Decent shot. Good midrange shooter, and was said to have worked on a 3 pointer... Yeah, ideally, your 1/2/3 should all be able to shoot from range, but it's not like Bonzi Wells didn't suck at shooting jumpers from mid or long range. Perhaps he can play some minutes in relief of either Shane or McGrady-- as a Al Harrington/Larry Johnson type of 3 man?
As far as I can tell his main handicap is his handle. Don't think he has the dribbling abilities necessary to be a small forward.
Agreed, handles are the only thing holding him back. I think he needs a huge improvement...maybe I'm wrong.
The only time I could see Landry playing SF for us is if Chuck is on the floor and they cross-match on defense. In other words, it probably won't happen.
i like landry as a 4 because he'll usually have a quickness advantage against whoever's defending him. if he plays the 3 he'll have some problems. he's not a terrific shooter but he can hit the midrange shot.
I was curious to see if he could play a few minutes at the 3 as well. The Bill and Bull and said in the past that he was working on his range, which led me to think that they may have been considering making him more or a 3/4 swingman instead of a straight 4. I suppose his handles do need some work though. Haven't exactly seen him leading a break or anything, but based on the fact that he was mainly a back to the basket 4 in college, I would imagine that his ball handling wasn't emphasized.
http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Oden,-Cook,-Landry-at-Champions-Academy-2077/ I think you'll find that Landry has all the tools. He just hasn't gotten the opportunity to show off yet. In terms of skills, the stunner was a beautiful jump-shot. Landry looked comfortable taking shots out past the college 3-point line, and has exactly the type of form you want to see from an undersized power forward who will need to step outside and force opposing big men to come out and guard him. The high release will do a lot to make up for any disadvantage in the height department, and his effortless stroke should allow him to come in off the bench and knock down the occasional jumper without having to shoot himself into a rhythm. This ability to stroke the outside shot improves his value to an NBA team as a role-player dramatically. Given what players like Craig Smith and Paul Millsap did in the training room last summer and their respective immediate impacts, Landry has a chance to really turn some heads in a draft camp environment that is perfectly suited for him to display his aggressive, physical style of play. Landry still has work to do before he is ready to make the immediate impact of a Smith or Millsap, but his production, on-court mentality, and willingness to work are very similar. On the whole, there was very little not to like from Landry this weekend.
I think he needs to. He's got great quickness, but mediocre strength. I think he can be a solid defender at the SF, and can do a little on offense as well.
That's what I was thinking. Shane cannot handle the ball well at all for a SF. What he does have over Landry is 3 point range and a high IQ for defending wing players. I think Carl *could* become a guy who could play some SF in a few years but not now.
Yeah, Rasheed Wallace has 3-pt range. So does Amare. Aldridge has a beautiful jumpshot. So does Malik Allen, Mark Blount, ...(infinity) So, that automatically makes them all small forwards. NOT thread fail.
