i don't think leaf has great nba potential really, but he at least has some and might get drafted. bryce alford definitely has zero and i don't think anyone thinks otherwise
Quote:
Originally Posted by pig4bill
If anything, he's a little bigger and stronger than Dirk, and he's still a teenager. He's listed at 7'0" but he looks taller than his teammate that's been listed at 7'0" for a few years. His game is actually better suited to the NBA than college because of his euro background where they bang down low. He's had foul troubles adjusting to the soft college game.
yeah he might be taller and stronger, he does look like he actually lifts which is something dirk never did. that said, in noting those qualities the subtext is that you'd like it to mean he has some center potential defensively. but since he doesn't get any stocks and isn't that long it seems unlikely. the book on him seems to be that he basically plays small, including being better laterally on d that you'd expect, so pf is probably his most likely position
in terms of the dirk comparison generally though, i watched a few vids of dirk from 20-23yo and it's obvious that young dirk was a better athlete (quicker, more agile, more coordinated generally), a more versatile shooter, and had a better floor game in general. lauri's spot up shooting might be on a similar level though, and his pullup game is still ok
something else that struck me was that today's coaches would probably have had dirk shooting way more 3s than he did back then, something which lauri seems naturally more inclined to do anyway
anyway the lauri hype train is picking up some steam after he had 29 vs ucla, i wouldn't be totally surprised if he entered the top 3 conversation at some point. while fultz/ball seems fairly locked in, there's lot of debate about the actual ranking of the next 6-8 guys