The crazy thing is I watched BBV make 3 straight 3s in his first ever game here. That was 3 years ago at this point, and we haven't seen anything since that makes me believe he can shoot, but I still hesitate to view him as a low post only big.
Sounds great if I'm on a
️ courseYeah, I mean the examples you're naming are much more of an apt comparison to Coleman at the 4. None are similar to Dainja-Kofi, unless Dainja is more mobile than I'm thinking. You need someone at that position who can move with guards well enough. Holmgren, Banchero can do that, and Manek looked to be a pretty solid defender down the stretch, coming up with a lot of blocks against guards. As for Kansas, Wilson at 6'8" is not center-size, obviously.
If you actually read the conversation you were replying too, which I started, we weren't talking about BBV being Kofi's backup, we were talking about him being a great third guy, and that is going to be hard to replace with the transfer portal.
I recall BBVs first year, first exhibition game. I believe he dropped in a couple of threes. Has he forgotten how to do that?
I replied to Nappy who mentioned "BBV was ideal to back up at the 5 that knew the system". I actually I was saying BBV as the back up wasn't what I pictured as ideal. We may add someone or we may not. I never mentioned adding a 5. I dont expect that. I gave an example if someone that Dainja has been compared to in Williams. I didn't say we could expect that from Dainja but simply BBV isn't an ideal back up.
He is also a very good interior passer.
BBV is only 6’8”, maybe 6’9” at most, so also not exactly traditional center size. Think your earlier point about mobility is the key differentiator. Dainja with his HS workout routine was pretty darn mobile — I could see that improving before next season, allowing him to play some 4 next to Kofi (shooting dependent). Otherwise, if you’re going to play two traditional centers that aren’t shooters next to each other, they both gotta be super mobile and long. I saw some minutes from Arizona where they put both Kaloko and Omar Ballo next to each other and it worked b/c they were an absolute terror on defense. BBV unfortunately doesn’t have that level of speed/length/hops to have any benefit pairing with Kofi.
Yeah that's fair. BBV feels bigger because he's slow lol. I'm thinking of Dain as slow because of his weight, probably. Agree that if he slims down he could add some mobility and it could work for stretches. Still think his best/primary role is backup 5.
Yes - Omar is in the portal as of maybe 4-5 days ago.
Yes
Kind of like a Barge formation, but for basketball?
Hot take, but Hawkins has NBA potential written all over him and could be a first team All-Big Ten guy even next year if he makes a big offseason jump. As you said, it’s all up to him; his build and raw talent is there.
I remember the team raving about him during the Italy (?) trip before his injuries started to derail things.
Matchups.
