Garuba is 6'8" and around 230, but he has more length than he's typically given credit for due to his wingspan. It's between 7'2" and 7'3". I've seen both several times in the media. The Athletic has him at 7'2". He's an underrated passer and a good rebounder. I'm really encouraged with how his 3 has developed. The kid already has terrific defensive chops, and will keep improving there, in my opinion, as he continues to adapt to the NBA. Real Madrid, one of Europe's top pro teams, invested a lot of time developing him. He was with them for 3 years, played in nearly 90 games with their top team as a teenager, and he played for Spain in the Olympics. Clearly, they saw something there. We're lucky to have Usman, in my opinion. I expect the kid to level up next season and make an impact. We'll see.
Like Sengun, Garuba will do a lot better under a good NBA coach. Hire the Italian who coached Spain to the European title. He was an assistant with Toronto when they won the title.
Really I’m starting to see Garuba as a future starting 5 on some NBA team. Like when we started Tucker at the 5, but with better shot blocking and length. Need him to drop some fat and gain some muscle this summer. Polish the 3pt shot. His passing is more Horford and less Draymond. He would be the #1 backup off the bench for Dallas, Philly, Golden State, Sacramento off the top of my head. There are no big men who play defense and hit the 3 and don’t make a rotation. Just doesn’t happen even though some people don’t like it. Can’t see him as a 3/4 at all, he won’t develop the requisite skills for all of that. He’s a not so small 5 in the era that plays most small ball. Defense is at least 49% of the game, of all possessions. A 28ppg/6 assists player with negative defense is failing at half of all possessions (defense). An excellent defender who can hit a 3 is passing the minimum standard of not hurting your teammates on the floor offensively while being an A- on defense. Coupled with open 3pt makes, Garuba is doing well. Defense alone is the equivalent of scoring, passing, 3pt shooting, handling and offensive rebounding COMBINED. If you don’t understand this, I wouldn’t be surprised if you can’t see why players like Garuba always make it in the NBA.
Garuba needs to be a Chuck Hayes / PJ Tucker type to add value. Limited on offense, undersized at center, make up in intangibles other ways. Hayes was a post defender who can move his feed guarding outside the paint. Garuba is more opposite, a good rotation defender who can disrupt passing lanes & recover into the paint Garuba's passing ability was demonstrated & praised, but he still hasnt shown much of that in the NBA yet. He's not having ball in hands like Sengun passing the ball, but he could polish his passing still. Dont see him adding moves to his offensive "bag" (if he even has one). Needs to improve finishing ability. The encouraging part is his improved 3's so far. Needs to keep it sustainable on higher volume. On a team SORELY needing defensive tenacity, would like to him to be a viable player.
Maybe if he cleans up his offensive fouls and develops the ability to score in the paint, Right now he’s in the correct role given his performance.
You kinda need to do more than just defense unless you are locking people up on D. Draymond is a good example, he is already one of the best defenders but he complements that with passing, 3 pt range (even if not that accurate), rebounding and enforcer/dirty player duties. I've seen Garuba play 20+ mins but he is a no stats all star out there, need to wt least collect rebs and score on gimmes to get PT.
Garuba is, well we still don’t really know. He needs a better coaching staff around him. Things I think I know about him. He is a team first player and will stay with in his role. I don’t think Garuba is going to do anything more then he is told to do. Garuba has not shined because he hasn’t been asked to shine. Because of this, we don’t know what he is capable of here. I truly believe we only seen the floor of his entire game.
I see people saying Garuba is a good defensive 5… what evidence is there for that?? Other than his pre-draft reputation and trying hard. His foul rate is super high, he has very poor rim protection stats, our defensive rating is 120 with him on the floor (mostly minutes against backups and with Tari and Tate supporting him), and eye-test wise I haven’t seen him have good moments against center sized players. I think Garuba can be a really good defender, but as a 4. I don’t see it evidence of it as a 5 except for wishful thinking that he’s the new PJ Tucker (a super unique player who still needs to play most of his minutes with a true 5 on the court). That makes the offensive requirements for Garuba much higher — there are very few spots in the league for 4’s with such offensive limitations, if any.
If by right now you mean post-Fernando trade I'd agree because that bumped him up to the bottom of the regular rotation. Maybe being a 3rd string/bench player was a justified beginning but I also believe Garuba outplayed Fernando for most of the season. Sengun and Garuba only fans uniting to wonder why Fernando got minutes this season:
He's the kind of guy i want to see in the starting lineup, but then again so is Tari. I mean..i know Tari was 6th man at LSU, but i believe KP still has the best potential to be a very good 6th man, and if Alpi is your pg, why not go big with Usman, Bari, Tari and Jalen in the starting unit? We'd take the L at the 5 spot. We're just not big enough to defend that spot against the teams with an actual C.
PG: Alpi SG: Green SF: Tari PF: Usman C: Jabari They should try that in one of the remaining games, because why the heck not?! Also, KPJ should never play for the Rockets again, and neither should Nix. But the reality is nothing will change this season, as long as Silas and his gang are still here. They will waste the last 8 games of development opportunity, like they have wasted the last years.
One of the positive stories of this year. He’s actually a 3 pt threat from the corners now. Uses his body very well. Very switchy defender, but I think he can even be better if he trims down. Garuba was our rawest prospect from that 2021 draft and he’s made a lot of progress in just 2 years. If we’d actually make some tough decisions and consolidate our roster, he’d be a guy I’d love to keep as a developing prospect. He’s still young and apparently works hard. He’s got a lot of skills that can get him on the court. Definitely not part of our core, but continued patience with Garuba is paying off. He actually has real value as a prospect now.
