Garuba is like the exact opposite of a stereotypical "Euroleague player". Aren't European players suppose to be really fundamentally sound in most aspects, great footwork, good bball IQ, good handles no matter what position, decent freethrows and jumper. Players like Jokic, Doncic, Sengun even is what I imagine. Garuba looks like someone picked out an athletic WR from a high school that barely knows how to play basketball. He is just strong physically, but is overall stiff, low level of ball handling, can't really shoot, low awareness on the court, gets lost etc. With that said, I never watched Garuba outside of the NBA, but I just don't know why he was projected to be so high. He is just so stiff and uncoordinated.
I can’t really consider Garuba a miss until a combination of a few things happen. He needs to be given a couple years of development because he is only 19 years old after all (maybe he’s 19, I don’t feel comfortable using that as a defense when as previously noted, his pushback is giving me 39 vibes) but, I digress. Also, he needs to be given actual consistent minutes, and then it has to be determined who we missed out on by drafting him. I don’t care about any of the guards like Cam Thomas, Bones Hyland, Miles McBride, etc. I weigh those against Josh Christopher. If you think Grimes could’ve been a small forward for us, I’m listening, but I think he’s a SG and we have plenty of those. Right now that leaves a guy like Herb Jones. A long, athletic guy that defends multiple positions at a high level. Garuba has a ways to go to show the kind of impact defensively in the NBA that Jones is showing. Offensively, well let’s just focus on defense right now. Only caveat at the moment is Herb Jones is 23 years old and nearly 3 and a half years older, but this guy is like another Scottie Barnes Swiss Army knife type of player with less bulk, but a little more fluid athleticism and he fell to the 2nd round somehow. Nobody was talking about this guy. Obligatory Herb Jones highlights. Low key outplayed Evan Mobley last night in my opinion.
The rockets have 4 rookies and other young players. They have not made any trades yet to open up playing time. Can you give the dude at least a little time to let him adjust to a new country and the best league in the world at 19 years old. sheeesh
O’rly He played 12 games his rookie year, extremely limited minutes, but his first 6 games he went 0-10 from the field, 0-8 from the FT line, 3 turnovers 1 assist I remember thinking, holy **** this guys is never going to score lol, but he had the breakout game against Raps with Pablo diming him up and he was solid ever since
This thread will look silly, and I’ll bump this post. If Garuba can stay on the floor offensively (I.e. hit open 3’s and free throws) he can anchor a defense on the other end with his wingspan, size, footwork and motor. Thus far in his career (since he was 12) he’s crushed every hurdle where he was playing with more developed players than him, started within a year, airways started slow. My optimistic outlook is: Draymond with less passing but slightly better shooting touch and lateral quickness.
I’ll eat crow if Garuba turns into a solid role player. I’ll eat a 5-star multi course meal of crow if he turns into one of the best defensive players of the generation if he reaches Draymond level.
He needs floor time and to work on his jump shot. He and Sengun should really work on that 3-ball, It's really key for their future.
Garuba is raw man. I'd definitely give it some time. He isn't in the rotation right now, but the guy has a lot of length and a high IQ. He played a crucial role for Spain. Its way too early to make assessments in him, especially when he isn't getting any run.
Underrated fact is how much Spain sucks now. 6th place team in Tokyo. I mean, the Gasols, Rubio, Rudy Fernandez are a good squad - if you're trying to get a silver medal at London 2012. Not so much now.
I’m sure the GM had an idea of the talent that Garuba has. The trick is extracting that talent and applying it to the NBA court and play. Will every talented individual translate their own talent and apply it to the NBA demands? Well, of course not! But I think expecting Garuba to be the biggest bust is on the same line of thinking that he will turn into the next Defensive Mutumbo. The Truth is that Garuba will likely be somewhere in the middle. Now, it’s on him to follow the instructions of the Rockets development team, and accept with humility his role on the team. For its the guys who demand to be featured with average NBA potential, that generally never reach their full potential (living in the imagination of being the next MJ, Hakeem, etc. will thwart any longevity in the NBA for the average NBA player). Garuba if he allows himself, can grow into a defensive oriented star like player. But he was never drafted to be the offensive focal point of any unit.
Garuba needs structure, on both ends, and we have neither. Our offense lacks a true PG and the ball-movement is generally not great (aside from some high points during the win streak). And he's more of a glue-defensive guy in that his value should come from being able to switch and make plays on a cohesive 5-man unit, rather than say, a classic 7-foot rim protector who doesn't need as much help to make his impact (though his teammates would obviously matter too). So while Green, Sengun and Christopher can excel (to varying degrees) in this open, low-structure style of play, Garuba is going to look worse than he actually is. This isn't to say he's not raw; he clearly is, especially on O. But I think his confidence and play will get better as our team gets better in the next few years. I will say that a quality PG would help his development a lot. He also looks to be pretty disgruntled on the bench, and disinterested when he comes in. Hopefully that'll change.
I disagree that this "could not be further from the truth", because it is the truth. Capela was raw as can be and showed massive growth on offensive and defensive funadamentals (minus shooting) before plateauing again. Of course we need to define "showed potential". He caught some lobs and got some blocks, so there's that.
He was purely a defensive player in Spain, and quite frankly a defensive stud. He was the youngest player to ever start for Real Madrid at 17. I agree he isn’t a stereotypical European prospect as he has the physical traits but none of the solid fundamentals. I still like the pick in the early 20s. I wish they would just keep him down on the Vipers so he could get consistent playing time.
