Quote saints91 wrote: View Post
I would have to agree with Huskies2raps. I have nothing against euro players, but I think we should pass on Kanter. I have watched a lot of tape on this guy and he doesn't have the height or the athleticism to be a good NBA centre. He plays below the rim, and he prefers to be a PF. I think we have one of those already.

Yes he does have a strong build and a nice shooting touch, but I don't see it transferring to the big leagues.

Lastly, if history is proof, there isn't a long list of european Centres that are all-stars, or franchise players. Divac, Smits, Zeke, Sabonis? There are good players eg. Okur, Rasho, Pryzbilla, but lack greatness


I think if we get the #3 we try and trade down for two picks (Utah, Charlotte, or Washington). I think we should go for Knight and Leonard or Walker and Leonard. I'm not the biggest Kemba fan, but I think he is worth taking a chance on. Kanter is as much of a wild card as Kemba is in my mind.
As joey_hesketh, he's got just as much height as several very good NBA centers, and his athleticism, while not great, is more than adequate, especially for the center position. In fact, I'd say he's similar in athleticism to guys like Brook Lopez and Andrew Bogut.

As for him preferring to play PF, firstly, he never said that. What he said in the interview is that he wants to improve his skills so he can play PF, TOO. Secondly, who cares if he does want to play PF. The players don't pick the position they play. The coach does and it's my guess that most coaches would put him at center. And really, what is the difference between the two positions? Davis is more of a shotblocker, anyway, so the Raptors need a more positional defender at center, and that's Kanter.

As for your logic about few European centers not becoming All-Stars, I can't tell you how flawed it is. The first flaw is that the number of European centers that have come into the league is much, much smaller than American centers, so obviously you're going to have fewer All-Stars. In fact, I'd hazard a guess that the percentage of European All-Stars is around the same percentage, or possibly more, as American centers.

Besides, according to your logic, Houston shouldn't have selected Hakeem #1 because there had never been an All Star African center. And San Antonio shouldn't have selected Tim Duncan because no player from the VIrgin Islands had ever been successful. Dallas should have kept RObert Trayor instead of trading him for that German guy because no Garman had ever been a successful NBA player. Really, what were those teams thinking!