Myck Kobongo's NBA Comparison is... Rajon rondo!

[NoPropsneeded]

http://www.nbadraft.net/players/myck-kabongo

found this on nbadraft.net. What do you guys think of this comparison? and do you think we should draft him if we're in the right position?

[Joey]

Regardless of how Bayless plays this year, I'd love to see the Raptors draft him.
I've been high on this kid for a loong time and can't wait to see what he does for Texas.

[Red and White]

From what I have seen, he is not an amazing rebounder at point guard, but he has tons of potential, but I think Texas will be able to bring out most of that potential, and hopefully prepare him properly for the NBA.

[stretch]

I am wondering why Kabongo is not the starting point guard for the senior national team right now. Cory Joseph's bolting to the NBA (it was a gamble that paid off $$$$) might of had something to do with Kabongo's arrival at U of Texas this fall. Kabongo is a true pg and superior decision maker, not to mention qucker, while Joseph is really a combo guard.

[Joey]

I am wondering why Kabongo is not the starting point guard for the senior national team right now. Cory Joseph's bolting to the NBA (it was a gamble that paid off $$$$) might of had something to do with Kabongo's arrival at U of Texas this fall. Kabongo is a true pg and superior decision maker, not to mention qucker, while Joseph is really a combo guard.

Kabongo has been committed to Texas for alot longer than Cory Joseph knew he'd be declaring for the draft.

I believe they were actually hoping to play Myck and CJ together, with Kabongo on the ball and CJ playing off.

Either way, Kabongo is going to be great player for the Canadian Team and there's no point in Rushing it. If Jonas isn't a sure thing on his team than Kabongo (who is younger and less experienced) certainly shouldn't be either.

We have guys like Jermaine Anderson and Denham Brown who already know the system and would likely be more effective than Kabongo at this point in his development.

[NoPropsneeded]

i think we should grab a 2nd first round pick and grab him

[Soft Euro]

How is his wingspan? If it's not more than his height he'd better be real, real, real good to become a valuable pointguard in the league. Right now I can only think of one undersized pointguard that's any good, Chris Paul (and he's more than any good). Almost all undersized pointguards get into trouble on the defensive end in the nba.

[Joey]

How is his wingspan? If it's not more than his height he'd better be real, real, real good to become a valuable pointguard in the league. Right now I can only think of one undersized pointguard that's any good, Chris Paul (and he's more than any good). Almost all undersized pointguards get into trouble on the defensive end in the nba.

I guess that really depends on what you consider 'undersized'.

At 6'1" I wouldn't say Kabongo is 'undersized'. Ty Lawson, Rajon Rondo, Chris Paul, Raymond Felton and Brandon Jennings are all Starting Calibre Point Guards and are all 6'1" or Shorter. Could probably find more but those are just off the top of my head.

Though it helps to be 6'3" - 6'4", a good point guard is generally not deemed successful, or unsuccessful, due to his size.
It's his smarts and his eyes that will make him great.
Kabongo's got them in spades.

[Soft Euro]

I guess that really depends on what you consider 'undersized'.

At 6'1" I wouldn't say Kabongo is 'undersized'. Ty Lawson, Rajon Rondo, Chris Paul, Raymond Felton and Brandon Jennings are all Starting Calibre Point Guards and are all 6'1" or Shorter. Could probably find more but those are just off the top of my head.

Though it helps to be 6'3" - 6'4", a good point guard is generally not deemed successful, or unsuccessful, due to his size.
It's his smarts and his eyes that will make him great.
Kabongo's got them in spades.

You're right about Lawson's size, but Felton has a 6'4" wingspan and Rondo's wingspan isn't listed on draftexpress, but we've all seen his long arms.

I don't agree that size isn't that important in guards. I'm very high on the importance of size (not only height, but also reach/wingspan) for defensive purposes. I think a pointguard has to be incredibly skilled to overcome size. Let me list just some draftyears for size (top 30 picks) in pointguards in two random years (lazy...):

(height w/o shoes/wingspan/reach)
2008:
1 Rose 6' 1.5"/6' 8"/8' 2.5"
3 Mayo 6' 3.25"/6' 6"/8' 3.5"
4 Westbrook 6' 2.25"/6' 7.75"/8' 4"
9 Augustin 5' 10"/6' 3.5"/7' 10.5"
11 Bayless 6' 1.75"/6' 3.5"/8' 1"
26 Hill 6' 1.25"/6' 9"/8' 1.5"

2007
4 Conley 5' 11.75"/6' 5.75"/7' 10.5"
11 Law 6' 2"/6' 6.5"/8' 2"
15 Stuckey 6' 3.75"/6' 7.25"/8' 4.5"
19 Crittenton 6' 3"/6' 5.5"/8' 2"
26 Brooks 5' 10.5"/6' 4"/7' 10"

Being a 6'1" pointguard, if he doesn't have great wingspan he'd have great trouble with pointguards that can shoot it and he'll have trouble getting his shot off on the other end. That's why I wondered what his wingspan was...

[Joey]

You're right about Lawson's size, but Felton has a 6'4" wingspan and Rondo's wingspan isn't listed on draftexpress, but we've all seen his long arms.

I don't agree that size isn't that important in guards. I'm very high on the importance of size (not only height, but also reach/wingspan) for defensive purposes. I think a pointguard has to be incredibly skilled to overcome size. Let me list just some draftyears for size (top 30 picks) in pointguards in two random years (lazy...):

(height w/o shoes/wingspan/reach)
2008:
1 Rose 6' 1.5"/6' 8"/8' 2.5"
3 Mayo 6' 3.25"/6' 6"/8' 3.5"
4 Westbrook 6' 2.25"/6' 7.75"/8' 4"
9 Augustin 5' 10"/6' 3.5"/7' 10.5"
11 Bayless 6' 1.75"/6' 3.5"/8' 1"
26 Hill 6' 1.25"/6' 9"/8' 1.5"

2007
4 Conley 5' 11.75"/6' 5.75"/7' 10.5"
11 Law 6' 2"/6' 6.5"/8' 2"
15 Stuckey 6' 3.75"/6' 7.25"/8' 4.5"
19 Crittenton 6' 3"/6' 5.5"/8' 2"
26 Brooks 5' 10.5"/6' 4"/7' 10"

Being a 6'1" pointguard, if he doesn't have great wingspan he'd have great trouble with pointguards that can shoot it and he'll have trouble getting his shot off on the other end. That's why I wondered what his wingspan was...

Great points, and you're right, you did mention Wingspan; I guess I neglected to touch on that in my post.
I'm really not sure if there any type of measurements on the kid.

And I didn't actually mean to disagree with what you are saying, as I do agree to an extent, but I think there are more than a few things that a PG can do to overcome his lack of size and length.

If you look at guys like Iverson, Chris Paul, Isiah Thomas; Three of the Best defensive PG's to ever play the game in my opinion, and none had the advantage of exceptional size or length. Generally they have the 'quickness' advantage, and that cannot be understated. Especially in a game where milliseconds often determine possession.

If they are talented enough, and smart enough, they will find a way to work with what they have. The great players always do.

Whether or not Kabongo can, or will, is yet to be seen.

[Soft Euro]

If you look at guys like Iverson, Chris Paul, Isiah Thomas; Three of the Best defensive PG's to ever play the game in my opinion, and none had the advantage of exceptional size or length. Generally they have the 'quickness' advantage, and that cannot be understated. Especially in a game where milliseconds often determine possession.

If they are talented enough, and smart enough, they will find a way to work with what they have. The great players always do.

To overcome the height disadvantage they have to be really exceptional and only a few are. Nash, who I believe hasn't great wingspan (can't find it anywhere though) does this only offensively. Paul does this on the offensive end and with great footwork on the defensive end. He also has a very reasonable wingspan of 5" more than his size with good hands. That makes for the quick hands. His reach isn't very good compared to other pg's (7'9") and it's a wellknown weakness of him on the defensive end; pointguards can make use of this, but that's about the only thing anyone has on Paul.

The point is that a pg has to be exceptional to overcome his size disadvantage; if he's not, he will never become good enough. That's why I'm not too high on Bayless; he has a considerable size disadvantage in relation to a lot of the starting guards in the league and he lacks the vision on the offensive end to compensate. I hear lots of times on this forum that he's pretty good defensively but in my opinion he lacks the natural ability to be a good shotchallenger and isn't good enough at the other things to compensate. I expect his defensive ppp on spot-up shooters will always stay too high which should mean he'll never be an average (let alone above average) pointguard. But he might be a good bench option.

[RAPresenting]

I'd definitely be interested to know what his reach is (he looks very long in the pic at the top). No question he has some kind of handle and is quick but he's very slight. I can't help but see a little TJ in him which obviously brings up good and bad memories. I look forward to seeing how he does this year but I'm on the fence as of now.

[Joey]

I'd definitely be interested to know what his reach is (he looks very long in the pic at the top). No question he has some kind of handle and is quick but he's very slight. I can't help but see a little TJ in him which obviously brings up good and bad memories. I look forward to seeing how he does this year but I'm on the fence as of now.

TJ Ford is absolutely the Comparison I've been sticking with.
And seeing as they both will be longhorns, should be interesting to see what happens with this kid.

TJ Ford should be good memories, and should be considered a good thing.
When TJ was running this team as a Full-Time starter, he was KILLING it.
It's a real shame he's got the back-issues that he does, because I think TJ could have been something VERY special.

[RAPresenting]

TJ Ford is absolutely the Comparison I've been sticking with.
And seeing as they both will be longhorns, should be interesting to see what happens with this kid.

TJ Ford should be good memories, and should be considered a good thing.
When TJ was running this team as a Full-Time starter, he was KILLING it.
It's a real shame he's got the back-issues that he does, because I think TJ could have been something VERY special.

Good memories are easy to remember with TJ for sure. A lot of ppl didn't like him but I was definitely in his corner. I loved how he got into the heart of the defense and some of the ways he found teammates for buckets was down right silly. He was a big time player for us and hit some huge shots. Some wanted TJ out of town but when you boil it all down when he left so did the playoffs...

Agreed he could have been special if it weren't for the injuries. That's what i mean by the bad memories!