Building Blocks

[Primer]

No one is trying to SHIT on him. But having ZERO expectations is quite ridiculous as well.

Improvements do not happen over night. It is not like, Bruno is going to SUCK for 3 years and suddenly in 2017, he will tear it up.

I want to see improvements as small as it may be. I want him to show me that he can play even 5 minutes in garbage time in NBA next season. Right now, he can not even do that.
Heck, he could not even play in D-league.
He has the crazy resources of NBA team for one year available to him. If he has talent and work ethics, we should be able to see some improvements from him next year.

I guarantee you he will look better next year than this year. If that's all you want to see, then I'm sure you'll see it. If you wanna see an NBA backup caliber player, then you're probably going to be disappointed.

[S.R.]

No one is trying to SHIT on him. But having ZERO expectations is quite ridiculous as well.

Improvements do not happen over night. It is not like, Bruno is going to SUCK for 3 years and suddenly in 2017, he will tear it up.

I want to see improvements as small as it may be. I want him to show me that he can play even 5 minutes in garbage time in NBA next season. Right now, he can not even do that.
Heck, he could not even play in D-league.
He has the crazy resources of NBA team for one year available to him. If he has talent and work ethics, we should be able to see some improvements from him next year.

I think most people would agree with you, essentially. Of course everybody wants Bruno to show some development and at some point during his contract they'll decide if he's worth keeping around or not. For you the decision may need to be made next year, others will be fine with giving him a year or two more.

In the salary cap era it makes a lot more sense to have a guy like Bruno at the end of the bench than a higher priced vet who also never plays. You may as well take a flier on a kid who may show you something, even when it's a long shot. The days of filling out the roster with vets for the sake of leadership and locker room presence are more or less over.

[McRealistic]

I guarantee you he will look better next year than this year. If that's all you want to see, then I'm sure you'll see it. If you wanna see an NBA backup caliber player, then you're probably going to be disappointed.

NBA back up Caliber player !!! No way that is my expectation from him. a guy who can play 5 minutes at the end of the game without being a liability and can show he belongs to the league is more in line with my expectations.

[golden]

I expect nothing from Bruno until he gets serious 5-on-5 playing time at a competitive level.... anywhere. He simply has little feel for his teammates and/or where he should be on the court. Can't get that by hoisting 1000 shots a day, regardless of work ethic.

Not sure where or how that playing time is going to happen, but I really hope Masai has a plan because there's slim chance he develops on Casey's bench. If not, we should trade him to the Rockets for a player to be named later (i.e. Bruno) and just let him develop over there.

[S.R.]

I expect nothing from Bruno until he gets serious 5-on-5 playing time at a competitive level.... anywhere. He simply has little feel for his teammates and/or where he should be on the court. Can't get that by hoisting 1000 shots a day, regardless of work ethic.

Not sure where or how that playing time is going to happen, but I really hope Masai has a plan because there's slim chance he develops on Casey's bench. If not, we should trade him to the Rockets for a player to be named later (i.e. Bruno) and just let him develop over there.

This comes back to another discussion about the need for a proper development league for the NBA. A few years from now there'll hopefully be a clearer path for developing a guy like Bruno in-house.

[Primer]

This comes back to another discussion about the need for a proper development league for the NBA. A few years from now there'll hopefully be a clearer path for developing a guy like Bruno in-house.

Every NBA team should have their own D-League team. It's ridiculous that every baseball team has nearly 3 levels of affiliates to send players down and NBA teams don't (17 NBA teams have exclusive affiliates and 13 NBA teams share the mad ants). Lots of small cities would love to have semi-relevant basketball being played in their town. Hopefully the Razorshark rumors are true and we get them as our exclusive D-League team next year. Imagine if Bruno, Bebe, and DeAndre had all been playing starter minutes there for the whole year. Just look at Sim Bhullar as a great example of having your own D-League affiliate allowing you to develop a player. The guy was too heavy and raw but has lost weight and improved his play and conditioning in the D-League all year, and now has just gotten the call up to the NBA.

[white men can't jump]

Every NBA team should have their own D-League team. It's ridiculous that every baseball team has nearly 3 levels of affiliates to send players down and NBA teams don't (17 NBA teams have exclusive affiliates and 13 NBA teams share the mad ants). Lots of small cities would love to have semi-relevant basketball being played in their town. Hopefully the Razorshark rumors are true and we get them as our exclusive D-League team next year. Imagine if Bruno, Bebe, and DeAndre had all been playing starter minutes there for the whole year. Just look at Sim Bhullar as a great example of having your own D-League affiliate allowing you to develop a player. The guy was too heavy and raw but has lost weight and improved his play and conditioning in the D-League all year, and now has just gotten the call up to the NBA.

Man, I really hope so. It would make so much sense. And it seems like a great option as the people running that PBL team seem to really care about it, as they've won many championships and made every single finals since 2008. Gotta think it could be a good group to partner with, and that they could have built a nice fanbase up for a minor league team.

[Jrice9]

Giannis Antetokounmpo : Dec6 1994
Bruno: Sept 21 1995

Age difference: 10 month ...

Now tell me why do I hate to wait till 2016-2017 to assess his talents and not next year ??

Giannis is a massive success and was one fairly early (though he got the benefit of actually getting to play on a horrible team) but that doesn't Bruno can't be one or should be judged a failure if he isn't one immediately.

His whole thing is based on upside and growth so you have to give him time to do so.

His timeline is different than a guy who was a College senior and has been playing high level basketball his whole life

[mcHAPPY]

Thought this was relevant to RR:

Hugh (Philly)

Despite UCLA's Sweet 16 run, Kevon Looney had a bit of an underwhelming tourney on the offensive end. Did that hurt his stock or is he still seen as a mid-lottery guy?
Chad Ford (1:13 PM)

Not really. He's an upside guy. He wasn't a Top 6 pick on our Board in January because he was having a dominant season offensively. Nothing's changed -- just some overreacting to a tournament where he was playing with a facial fracture and lost some of his aggressiveness because of it. He doesn't project as a guy who comes in Year One and dominates. He's a work in progress, but with that crazy wingspan and skill set? I think Looney could be a Lamar Odom type down the road. Remember, the good NBA teams are drafting on NBA potential, not just current production. Kevin Pelton and I went in-depth into this last week. For too many lazy scouts, they can only tell you what a player can and can't do right now. The best scouts tell you what the will be able to do, with development, in the NBA.

http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/chat...ider-chad-ford



Too many lazy posters too! Lol

[Fully]

It's like you haven't even watched him or the team play before.

Whenever JV is given the opportunity to pass, as bigs are very rarely able to create an opportunity, he has shown a very strong and accurate pass. Typically though when JV gets the ball the whole team freezes and stands in place. Noah couldn't do anything in that situation.

Similar issues as to when he puts it on the floor, no team movement lets defenders drop down on him and swipe away. Even with that being the system he has a pretty good TO % compared to the league.

And yet, last couple games he has made a few nice passes leading to good looks when we get some movement, he put the ball on the floor to attack the rim and got his look off.

It boggles my mind that you think he is one of the "least prolific passers in all of basketball" much less just the NBA, when every opportunity he is given he has shown that he is at worst a very serviceable big man passer.

Get that Gahbage outte here!

256 players have played over 1000 minutes or more this year in the league..

In terms of assists per game, JV ranks 250th out of those 256.
In total assists, JV ranks 254th out of 256. (He's played 1800 minutes btw, nearly double the qualifying mark)
In assist percentage, JV ranks 255th out of 256 players.

But hey, counting stats are for Casey lovers so let's dig into the advanced stuff…

205 players have played over 25 minutes per game this year…

JV is 204th of 205 in assists that directly lead to free throws for a teammate.
JV is 204th of 205 in secondary assists aka the hockey assist per game.
JV is dead last in assist opportunities per game, killing any notion that JV is making a good pass and his teammates let him down by missing the shot.
JV is dead last in points created by assist per game.

So yes, literally one of the least prolific passers in the NBA by definition… by every passing metric you can find.

But you saw him make an assist one time, so I guess I don't watch the games.

And by the way, I like JV. His awareness is trending in the right direction like you'd expect a young player to do. But no, he's still a bad distributor as it stands right now. But then again these are the same people who said Tim Duncan was not a very efficient player over his career.

[DogeLover1234]

256 players have played over 1000 minutes or more this year in the league..

In terms of assists per game, JV ranks 250th out of those 256.
In total assists, JV ranks 254th out of 256. (He's played 1800 minutes btw, nearly double the qualifying mark)
In assist percentage, JV ranks 255th out of 256 players.

But hey, counting stats are for Casey lovers so let's dig into the advanced stuff…

205 players have played over 25 minutes per game this year…

JV is 204th of 205 in assists that directly lead to free throws for a teammate.
JV is 204th of 205 in secondary assists aka the hockey assist per game.
JV is dead last in assist opportunities per game, killing any notion that JV is making a good pass and his teammates let him down by missing the shot.
JV is dead last in points created by assist per game.

So yes, literally one of the least prolific passers in the NBA by definition… by every passing metric you can find.

But you saw him make an assist one time, so I guess I don't watch the games.

And by the way, I like JV. His awareness is trending in the right direction like you'd expect a young player to do. But no, he's still a bad distributor as it stands right now. But then again these are the same people who said Tim Duncan was not a very efficient player over his career.

One thing about jv is that he basically only gets the ball in the low post. He is a great post player so unless he is doubled he should try to score. What im trying to say is that he wont have good assist numbers considering how he is used in the offense. That being said, he still needs work on his passing, cause he will be doubled a lot next year and it makes his game more versatile.

As for Bruno, i wish the raps would release something about him. Joel embiid hasnt played all year and he cant talk to the media and ive still know more about him than i do about bruno. Even just the occasional instagram of him working out on instagram would be nice, just to know he is working on stuff. I suppose i could have missed a vine post or inta post i guess, has anyone seen any vid of bruno working out??

[Fully]

One thing about jv is that he basically only gets the ball in the low post. He is a great post player so unless he is doubled he should try to score. What im trying to say is that he wont have good assist numbers considering how he is used in the offense. That being said, he still needs work on his passing, cause he will be doubled a lot next year and it makes his game more versatile.

As for Bruno, i wish the raps would release something about him. Joel embiid hasnt played all year and he cant talk to the media and ive still know more about him than i do about bruno. Even just the occasional instagram of him working out on instagram would be nice, just to know he is working on stuff. I suppose i could have missed a vine post or inta post i guess, has anyone seen any vid of bruno working out??

I agree. He's emerged as a pretty good to very good low post scorer. Like I said, I like JV. But he's a terrible distributor as it stands (partially by "system" sure) and I just have to blast the fire extinguisher on a few posts now and then who have no idea what they're talking about.

[DogeLover1234]

I agree. He's emerged as a pretty good to very good low post scorer. Like I said, I like JV. But he's a terrible distributor as it stands (partially by "system" sure) and I just have to blast the fire extinguisher on a few posts now and then who have no idea what they're talking about.

. not trying to make this a casey hate thread, but im surprised bu the lack of creativity with how jv has been used this year. He is a great low post threat, but why not try to let him run from the elbow a little more? His shot is decent enough that the defense has to respect it, and it sould let him work on his passing as well. I remember seeing him play like that in international games, and he looked quote good. But yeah you make a good point, his passing will be very important when he gets consistantly doubled.

[OldSkoolCool]

And today Bruno was again used in garbage minutes to run an ISO play instead being used as a spot up shooter.

Well done Casey at completely fn up player development again. Bruno is a catch and shoot player. Make sure he can do that at an NBA level before anything else. Please.

[Jrice9]

And today Bruno was again used in garbage minutes to run an ISO play instead being used as a spot up shooter.

Well done Casey at completely fn up player development again. Bruno is a catch and shoot player. Make sure he can do that at an NBA level before anything else. Please.

Not as easy when JJ is the pg (that could be put on Casey too but I feel like he just wants to reward certain underutilized guys with more run).

The basket Bruno score was actually a fairly nice play