That seems the most impressivr thing, his ability to change direction and beat his man. Could be just that he is facing a C, and Dleague help defence is notoriously absent.... I read somewhere that he added 15 or 25lbs before his senior year. Maybe that is up from 189? Hopefully it wasnt to get him there....
I was waiting for a thread about this kid to start. :grin: Forget the stats... Montrezl Harrell, Will Cummings, and KJ McDaniels are studs in the D-League, to put it in perspective. And yeah, this kid needs to put some crazy weight on himself. Here's an interesting take on him from earlier this year that mentions some of his positives and shortcomings : http://www.ridiculousupside.com/201...-breakout-season-in-d-league-while-eyeing-nba Not sure it's been posted, but I was searching for info on him when the Rockets picked him up back in 2014 and saw this dunk he threw down : <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/L3uorwKh_qw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Why was DeAndre drafted in the 2nd round? Why was Isaiah Thomas the last pick in the draft? Why did Whiteside go in the 2nd round? Parsons? Harrell...? People slip, and some people fall completely out or go un-noticed as a whole. Who all has gone to UMASS? Marcus Camby? Besides Dr. J, not too many big names come out of there. I wouldn't be surprised if they've had less than 10 NBA players come out of there in total. My point is, some people take alot longer to develop than others. NBA Caliber players tend to put up big numbers in the D-League, but he's putting up ridiculous numbers. He's better than Brewer and you know it.
I think he added 20-25 lbs while at UMass. When he started college he was only around 165. I think he's still around 185-190 now.
I see his ability but I see it against a lesser opponent. We've all been there - we've seen good players put up ridiculous numbers in D-League only to bust or turn out mediocre. However, there are some players that do make the leap and do pretty well, so I don't judge until I've seen them play in an actual NBA game. Of course, it doesn't help their cause if they ride the pine waiting on the chance to shine. But players like this will not get significant minutes in the NBA unless they're on a bust team - e.g., Covington, Sixers.
Put it this way: Harrell is good in the NBA, correct? He hasn't done that in the D-League. Nor did Covington and he's a great player aswell.
Not quite Giannis.. Raphiael is older so he won't see that kind of potential. But he can be a solid backup SF in the league for a good 6-7 years considering he's 25 now.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but are you saying these guys didn't put up good numbers in the D-League? Covington was one of the best players in the D-League. A couple of seasons ago, he was averaging 23 points, 9 rebs, and 2 steals on a team that had a ton of people that would go off for 20+ on any given night during that season. Oddly enough, Montrezl is averaging about the same in his short stint in the D-League this year.
sorry for a tangent post, but I don't get this story that Covington is doing great in the NBA. Is it because he shot 6-9 3s against us this year, so we remember that? He is shooting 6 threes per game in 27 minutes at .312 this year, which is 11th worst in the league (qualifying). And if you take away that one game against the Rockets, he's shooting .292, which makes him 3rd worst in the league. He's regressed this year pretty badly. Like Brewer bad. (His TOs are up to 2.4 a game, too, as a three-pt specialist on offense.) He's also 25 yrs old.
That's not how it works. Some guys have games that are better suited for the NBA. For instance, when this guy DOES NOT have the ball in his hands, will he still be good? Can he carve himself a role out of minuscule touches? Defending/Boxing out/Taking charges... Those are the things that will get him on the floor. Exhibit A: Anthony Randolph Exhibit B: Terrence Williams Guys that DOMINATED but were simply not able to become role players, which is what matters. Patrick Patterson would not come close to dominating DLeague, but he is a FAR superior NBA player...
Both Porzingis and Putney are slim built, but a force to rekken with. Porzingis doesn't have amazing defense, but it's getting better game by game. I can see the same qualities with Putney.
Nice comparison. The more I think about Putney's game, the more I'm understanding he could be a gem. Think about it this way: imagine Putney with a poor 3pt shot, hitting 30% on low number of attempts. What on earth would he be good for? By all accounts he is not a defender of any sort. He's not strong enough to post up as a SF or PF, or have the handles to score from inside or outside as a SF. Absolutely useless player you can pick up from the FA pool any day of the week. This is exactly who he was as a rookie after 4-5 years of college. That's why no one bothered with him. Especially being an older rookie with potentially lower potential, there was no reason why anyone would even look at him. Fast forward two years. The guy has some NBA level coaching now. He's a more mature person. Has an average ability to drive to the basket, rebound, block shots for his size/position. But add to that a 3pt shot where he's attempting 7 per game and hitting 40% of them. Wow. Suddenly you have a guy who can catch and shoot around star players without demanding the ball, and his driving ability is a very useful counter move, his rebounding and shotblocking ability enough to hold his own against shrinking backup NBA Forwards. I'm sure we're not the only team looking to give this guy a shot. I don't see miracles happening, but he could end up being an athletic Steve Novak or a younger Channing Fry and we can REALLY use someone like that.
Forget how much he weighs, Putney has elite length, athleticism and 3 point shooting. Sign him already.
Putney's D-League highlights look pretty good but you're not likely to get any NBA prospects playing in Western Australia's SBL. The only NBA player I can recall ever playing in the SBL was Paul 'Snoopy' Graham, who played 10 games for the Goldfields Giants in 1990, averaging 43PPG. For you youngsters out there, Snoopy played college ball at Ohio, averaging 19 and 5, and after his stint with the Giants in WA, played 179 games with Atlanta, averaging 8 and 3 in 18 minutes per game. Looking at Putney's stats in WA, he only played 9 games and had a bit of a slow start. He seemed to get a groove on towards the end of his stint though, and had back to back 30 point games in his last two. http://www.foxsportspulse.com/team_...200265278&client=1-5011-83374-357507-23096636 I couldn't find any video of Putney out there, but this dude, Jordan Swing, could be a fair comparison to show the standard of the SBL - played for Canton Charge in the D-League and Lakeside Lightning in the SBL, where he averaged 30PPG <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SyUMKbcE0Hk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> For more context, I play in a rec league against a dude who was also SBL All-Star last year, averaging 25 and 13, and he hasn't come close to getting an NBL game, let alone making it to an NBA court. So while Putney looks good in the D-League, he would likely have had to have improved a LOT since last year if anyone thinks he's going to have an NBA impact.
