This is a fun one per nba draft net. It will give Yao someone to perhaps look up to. The guards can always practice entry passes to 7'6" guys. This would be wild. ************************ Slavko Vranes Birthdate: 1/30/83 NBA Position: Center Ht: 7-6 Wt: European Team: Buducnost Hometown: Beograd, Serbia Telebasket Profile Euroleague Profile Stats Strengths: Height is one of his major positives ... It's not every day a decently coordinated 7-foot-6 player comes along ... Despite his size he has above average mobility, capable of running the floor ... Has enough of a shot blocking presence that he causes many players to redirect their shots ... Does a good job of taking up space to congest the lane ... Above average help defender ... When one of his teammates gets beat off the dribble he is mobile enough to rotate over ... Shows soft touch around the basket in that he can convert on flip-in's or tip-in's ... Possess natural shot blocking instincts ... When receiving the ball in the low post he is does a good job of keeping the ball up high ... Aggressive player who will not back down from a challenge ... Smart, understands what his limits are on the court and rarely attempts to exceed them ... Above average rebounder due to his long arms and size ... Weaknesses: Upper body strength must be added to ... Fundamentally he is a work in progress that is still learning the game ... Like most young shot blockers Vranes lacks discipline in terms of understanding what shots to go after ... Because of his over aggressiveness he has a tendency to be foul prone ... Post footwork is in need of refinement ... This could be a reason why he doesn't always get good position on the blocks ... Doesn't have great court awareness and his concentration can wavier at times ... Free throw shooting is below average at this point ... Needs to improve on his lateral movement. Too often he gets beat with simple pivot moves ... Has solid timing on his blocks but tends to bite on a lot of pump fakes ... Hands are decently soft but he needs to work on catching the ball more effectively ... Lacks the high level experience that many of his European counterparts have ... Offensively he needs to continue to develop his back to the basket moves ... Below average passer from the post ... -Matthew Maurer
Sounds like Yao but not as good. He was supposed to be a first rounder..... I don't know now. Sure...draft him. Why not? It would be neat. WHY IS HIS WEIGHT : BLANK?
I say go for it. It's not like anyone else we draft is gonna be any good. The only question is if they draft him would they even bring him into camp? For some strange reason the Rockets have a habit of drafting european centers and then never even bringing them in.
Yao isn't great because of his skills, he's great because of his basketball IQ. He could be five foot nothing, and he would still have the same impact to the game of basketball as he does now. There are several seven foot players who might make an impact because of their size, but very few will be able to impact the game the same way Yao does. To sum up, we don't need any more "star" or "potentialy star" players, we have more than enough in Steve and Yao.
Like who? Zwikker? I can think of a few American big men drafted in the 2nd round by the Rocks the past few years who never saw the time of day. A couple even went to Europe to work on their games. Why would this Serbian drop? I know nothing about him but if he does have a couple of skills and his size, you would think he'd be a lock to go around the end of the lottery.
I agree, I want Luke Walton. He will be the steal of the draft. I would not mind drafting this 7-6 Bradley clone either.
While I agree that one of Yao's greatest assets is his basketball smarts, the other two are his skills and his height. I think you greatly underestimate the value of his skills and height.
supposedly the guy can't walk and chew gum at the same time, i heard he makes shawn bradley look like yao ming If he had shown any skills or athleticism in workouts, don't you think he'd be hyped as a lottery pick instead of the 2nd round? It doesn't matter cause he'll be taken before 44 anyway. the rockets should think about walton, perkins, or troy bell if those players are available.
I would be afraid that the Rockets might become being thought of as some kind of freak show than a solid NBA team. We could trade for Earl Boykins and have him as our point, Moochie can come in and play besides him, and don't forget about our veteran leader, our starting 3 Glen Rice. So that gives no, not the youngest team with the most potential in the NBA, but the freakiest starting lineup ever. C - Yao Ming 7'5" PF - Serbian 7'6" guy SF - Glen Rice, fatest player in the NBA SG - Moochie, buggest hair in the NBA PG - Earl Boykins, shortest player in the NBA Get The Ringling(sp) to be our next coach and look at the ratings go throught th eroof. AC
which centers from europe have the rockets drafted over the last ten years? not any, i believe, unless you're talking about the pick we traded to the knicks (turkcan?) and even he was a forward not a center. they drafted some centers like talbak and zwicker i believe, but they were on the team in the 90s.
Although I don't like Luke Walton. He does have a better chance than most propects given that his father is Bill Walton. Most people think that is nonsense. And it sounds like like nonsense. Until you do the research. You can't underestimate the influence of a father. Most childern of prodigies follow two paths. They either try to imitate their father's work or they try to complete the one thing there father never could. For example Bush tried to finish the Iraq War because his father did not. It's a pattern that you can trace throughout history. Plenty of good books on it. Given that Luke Walton has followed in his Father's gootsteps you can safely assume he has commitment to becoming his father's image. That's a good bet in my opinion. a safer bet than some other player in the second round.
No it was Podlodkiwhatever...Same height but bigger and with more potential(such a vague word). BTW,he was Russian. ALA