Smith is not supposed to be an interior defender he is a big wing so I don't know why you are citing his interior defense. Are you using that same metric to ding Holgrems perimeter defense? Since when should a team be prioritizing a shot blocker at the top of a draft and since when does Smith not compliment Sengun? Why do I even care who compliments who because nobody has earned the right to be built around. When is the last time a team with a "rim protector" won anything, anyway?
Last year: Giannis and Brook Lopez. Year before: AD, Javale, Howard Before that: Ibaka, Marc Gasol I know what you're saying though, It's difficult if not impossible for a defensive star to carry a team. Shotblocking and rim protection are still important, and it can be found in later parts of the draft. However, those late round guys tend to be limited in some way. The idea is that Chet can provide high level defense in multiple lineups while providing decent (or better) offense. This was the argument for Mobley. Whether you find the two comparable is another conversation. Anyway, this thread is about Ivey. Watching him attack the rim is fun. Definitely see the Morant comparisons, but college Morant had better point guard instincts and handles. The shot is a big question. Davion Mitchell vibes, given his FT% is the same as last year, and his mechanics are..awkward. But +40% on 5 attempts is still promising. I don't doubt his intangibles either. Do you take him over someone "safer" like Bennedict Mathurin or "toolsy" like AJ Griffin?
Holmgren is not as fluid as Mobley and will not be able to defend the perrimeter as well. Can he provide high level defense in multiple line-ups? That is what I am questioning, and if he has to guard guys on the perimeter, what use is his rim protecting? The argument for Mobley was that he was a big wing, and I am not hearing that argument for Holmgren. Ok I am done we can move it to the Holmgren section if you want.
As long as the multiple lineups are Holmgren on a PF or a weak center, yes. On perimeter, he's great at playing weakside and helping in the paint. Holmgren is going to be able to defend on perimeter as well as Smith and Paolo. Holmgren is not Mobley, but criticisms on his defense should be more versus the other two PFs at top of the draft.
If Ivey is the real deal, I say take him. Ideally if it were one of the bigs that was rated the superior talent, I’d prefer to go that route. But I’m not about to take a big just because the Rockets have some talent at the guard positions already. Nobody said team building is get the exact ingredients you want, because things have to fall precisely as the stars align. But team can always trade excellent redundancy talent to strengthen another area of a team. But I have seen Ivey going as high as #2 on some mock drafts.
Holmgren can defend perimeter well above average. Not quite as good as Mobley, but Chet is a better interior defender. Similar level weak side. There really isn’t that much difference between Mobley and Chet defensively
Mobley's latteral quickness for his height is nearly unheard of. Chet can handle the perimiter simply because his length requires guards to beat him by a much wider margin than usual. Chet can stay hip-to-hip with most forwards, and within arms-reach of most guards, Mobley simply stays in front of them at all times.
Right, but to say Chet isn’t capable of staying in front of guards or wings isn’t accurate either. He’s not as quick as Mobley but not a weakness either. The end result is similar
He reminds me of D Wade. Jaw dropping speed and impressive strength. I’m not sure if he’s a true point or if he’s a consistent enough shooter, but he can play.
I don’t know about that d wade was Uber athlete and absolute deadly from the midrange not to mention defensive beast
He looks a lot like Westbrook, very dynamic I have not watched him play at all but I will search out Purdue to watch him. A little Morant as well. I likey.
others seem to have responded. when I watch Chet in college he seems as fluid as Evan did in college. The key thing here is “in college”. Evans translated to the nba. Maybe Chet’s won’t as well. It should be as easy as watching and being like “this will translate!” But sometimes it’s not. Maybe Evan had another gear. Maybe he had special bball iq that allows him to take angles etc. idk. Chet SEEMS to have all of this as well to me. Truly the main difference to me is that Chet loons like a f’ing twig and Evan looked skinny but perhaps capable of bulking up. Well Chet also has been even more efficient a scorer and crazy crazy good from 3 while rebounding better than Evan did. I used to be in the yes Chet camp. Then I was in the no Chet camp. Now I’m back in the yes Chet camp lol. he strikes me as more the PF (potentially even SF) version of Mobley yet perhaps even better defensively on the interior. He seems to have very high bball iq. He’s efficient af. His defensive stats have got to be close to all time bests for a high mpg player on a relevant team. He is a f’ing 70 (!) defensive rating. 70! Mobley’s was 90. He has better dbpm, higher blocks per 100, meaningfully better defensive rebounding % than Mobley had in college, etc, etc. he’s just so insanely skinny. to the extent Mobley was a unicorn, statistically and via eye test Chet is a dragon/unicorn combined lol. Truly one of a kind. I know this isn’t a Chet thread but responding as it’s relevant. @D-rock im rocking with you this year lol … how you envision Chet relative to Mobley?
I don't think Chet is as fluid as Mobley he looks a little stiff and Mobley is just as good as a rim protector IMO he played against a notch up in competition, Mobley having a natural instinct for defense is what sets him apart, don't know if Chet has that. I have not seen Chet guard anybody on the perimeter because he is not asked, my biggest question is will Chet be able to be the rim protector he is in College because he is so thin people are going to try a go through him, but maybe he knows how to play the angle as well but the huge issue is are you gonna park him in the lane like Gobbet because if not his rim protection is just a novelty like Bradley. And I keep coming back to the fact that BPG is not that important a stat, especially if you can't bang down low, who was the last NBA champ that had a great shot blocker? IMO, it's a bit of a fools gold stat, do you really draft a guy #1 because he is a high level 3 and D guy? And that D is mainly as a shot blocker? I have to admit that I have not really watched him an entire game because they are usually blowing out midgets, but I did watch the Alabama game and his lack of girth was noticeable when he went up against high level athletes.
Chet and Mobley are very comparable. Both fluid athletes with high IQ. Chet is a good athlete while Mobley is a great athlete. Mobley is better on the perimeter while Chet is better on the interior but both are elite at all levels defensively. Chet has slightly better handles and more range on offense. Mobley has a better back to the basket game. Other than that they’re very similar.
