Everything Norman Powell

[GLF]

I'm excited about OG--Jonathan Tjarks was comparing him to Kawhi(!)--but I am going to try to keep a lid on expectations this season because he's coming off an ACL injury.

In June one reporter wrote this:



If he misses training camp he's going to be behind the eight ball all year, and it's not like Casey gives rookies a long leash either.

Exactly. It's missing training camp and the preseason that I'm more worried about with him. I know he should recover from the injury just fine with him being so young and ACL injuries not being as big of a deal as they used to be. But even veteran players need training camp so think about a rookie. It will really put him behind significantly.

[Chr1s1anL]

Well, that's the point. Celtics look like they could have actually taken a step backwards this off-season, or best case sideways. People really don't appreciated how great a season IT had last year, how good a defender Bradley is and Jae Crowder's fit a perfect role player. They also lost 2 very underrated guys in Amir and Olynyk.

But, that's how it's been for Brad Stevens... Danny Ainge just keeps giving him flawed and mis-matched pieces and he keeps on maximizing whoever he's been given to work with. Unlike Casey, you never hear Stevens complain about what he doesn't have or blame his players for lacking this or that. Casey complains publicly and then Masai goes out and gets him what he asks for (defenders, shooters, rim protectors, etc...).

Agreed.

I don't believe that the outgoing Celtics players that exited in the summer will do better then they did in another team's uniform.

Stevens is a pretty good coach and as a result the team was well ahead of its initial goals.

Danny Ainge just did one of the best rebuilt in NBA history but, it his fault for not giving Brad the right players? Brad "Teflon" Stevens, excuses will never end.

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[Ebonhawke]

Exactly. It's missing training camp and the preseason that I'm more worried about with him. I know he should recover from the injury just fine with him being so young and ACL injuries not being as big of a deal as they used to be. But even veteran players need training camp so think about a rookie. It will really put him behind significantly.

Which is where the 905 comes in - since they run a lot of the same offensive and defensive sets with the same terminology as the Raptors, time in the 905 will give OG lots of in-game practice before being thrust into NBA repetitions.

[GOLDBLUM]

OG is a true stopper. I can't wait for him to be healthy and have a few weeks under his belt for people to see that.

I don't think people realize what a steal we got. The kid is the age of most freshman and the only reason he fell like he did is the injury and IND never played him big minutes. I remember he got off to a little bit of slow start in some limited minutes but as they were increasing his minutes he was REALLY starting to come on! I just remember thinking fml because I wanted him to declare last year so we could have a "chance" last year and when he started really improving his scoring output I thought damn he's playing himself into the top 8 of this draft, no chance we get him now...but here we are.

The kid is a physical specimen. Very quick feet for a player of that size and strength and yet he hasn't even "filled out" into whatever monsterous size he will be by the time he's 25+ years old and he is also actually an explosive leaper. He has VERY good defensive instincts. People fell in love with Norm, it's gonna be hilarious reading this board saying stuff like "they didn't realize he was this good"....one of the most underrecruited and scouted players, I'm not saying he's going to the next elite SF but he's going to be damn good, remember I told u lol

While, for the same reasons that others have mentioned, my own expectations are tempered for his possible impact this year, I'm super stoked about OG and thrilled to hear that you have such a high estimation of him. I know you pay way more attention to college kids coming up than I do and I love to hear that you're this ecstatic about his potential. I trust your enthusiasm entirely. Let's pray for a complete and speedy return to health.

[Cody73]

You guys are acting like Powell doesn't have competition sitting on the bench in both Bruno & the Two-Way guys (I can't remember their names though). All 3 are bigger guys, all 3 can play/guard SF's & we'll see what happens come training camp.

[Shaolin Fantastic]

You guys are acting like Powell doesn't have competition sitting on the bench in both Bruno & the Two-Way guys (I can't remember their names though). All 3 are bigger guys, all 3 can play/guard SF's & we'll see what happens come training camp.

Lol I'll believe that Bruno can guard NBA-level SFs when I see it. He's a G-League level player until proven otherwise and he wasn't even that good in the G-League.

[GOLDBLUM]

[Puffer]

Love the FVV to Norm connection in that last vid.

[GOLDBLUM]

Love the FVV to Norm connection in that last vid.

For real. Hadn't even noticed it was him. FVV's got some serious court vision.

[Cody73]

For real. Hadn't even noticed it was him. FVV's got some serious court vision.

He's gonna challenge Wright every step of the way for that backup PG spot, tbh. Kid proved he can play.

[JamesNaismith]

I'm excited about OG--Jonathan Tjarks was comparing him to Kawhi(!)--but I am going to try to keep a lid on expectations this season because he's coming off an ACL injury.

In June one reporter wrote this:



If he misses training camp he's going to be behind the eight ball all year, and it's not like Casey gives rookies a long leash either.

I know we all need to temper our expectations and not overstate his potential and to that point I don't think Kawhi is the correct comparison for his potential, I think something like Draymond Green but not the same level of passer but possibly a better scoring version is far more in line and I know even that will sound a bit over the top but I'm just saying potential...nothing is certain.

OG's strong build and size will likely have him play more a 3/4 position and probably more so the 4 like DG because of how the league is going versus Kawhi who is clearly best suited as a SF. But who am I to place a limitation of what OG is capable of?! I'm just saying based on his present skill set and style of play he's more in line with Draymond for now but a much more explosive athlete. He could have a different trajectory based on how we develop him. I know Masai has stated many times that he wants to invest heavily into development and really when you look at guys like Kawhi and Giannis (again not saying he is like them) when their franchises really put in the investment into theirs, they've far exceeded expectations. Obviously since we didn't really go all in on this core and have so many young guys there's no reason to believe Masai isn't telling the truth and also I think the semi-botched experiment Bruno has been will only further Masai's desire to double down on OG who unlike Bruno has a great court awareness (perhaps Bruno's biggest flaw) and motor.

Also although it is kind of putting things under a microscope but if I recall there was some interview where one of the staff said OG was watching Melo's game pretty intently and also in his intro interview he said how he most looked forward to playing alongside DeMar and how they could make each other better which yes I admit is a bit of an over analysis but that to me is showing a bit of where his mind is...he wants to learn how to become a much better offensive player, specifically become a better scorer and that of course is where Kawhi started his main focus coming into the league. So with Masai's increased investment into development and what appears to be OG's focus to start and his physical gifts, it definitely is very exciting.

[JamesNaismith]

Sorry to further hijack of Powell thread by talking about OG but it's also by watching some of his HS footage that you see that there's potential to be a more skilled player than what most may think...imo when you look at how skinny he was in HS (almost looks like a different human being lol) to how much bigger he suddenly shot out in college to become, he also may have just been a kid adjusting physically ie/ his coordination.

...but yeah back to Norm lol

[Scraptor]

All I'm saying is an ACL injury is no joke, and missing training camp is a nightmare for rookies. Remember when Ed Davis missed his first training camp? Dude was lost until the following year.

That's why anything OG gives us is gravy imo.

[MixxAOR]

What if it's recurring problem with OG. Maybe he will always be in and out with injury? We will see. Hopefully he gets better though

[JamesNaismith]

All I'm saying is an ACL injury is no joke, and missing training camp is a nightmare for rookies. Remember when Ed Davis missed his first training camp? Dude was lost until the following year.

That's why anything OG gives us is gravy imo.

Agreed on the injury but a lot of players with all the advancements they've made in treatment have bounced back from it. The bigger concern is just teaching him the right techniques for balance and landing to try and ensure that it's a one time thing. As for training camp, for sure that's important however you can almost guarantee that OG will be played almost exactly like PJ Tucker in his 1st year as that was the first thing out of Casey's mouth when discussing him. When you think of how PJ was used there really wasn't much to his role offensively other than camp out for a corner 3 or go get a rebound. Defensively you don't have to teach a player like PJ or OG how to do that, that's what they do and I have no worries at all about him on that end.

Just people can't go out expecting to see a "Kawhi" in his 1st year. He's not going to have that kind of offensive repatoire, especially in his 1st year without having a summer to work on it. But I think people are still going to get excited when they see pretty much a 6'8 PJ Tucker (who is 6'5 with 6'9 wingspan) with a 7'2 wingspan making life harder on teams which of course is gravy...something to look forward to in the future.