How Good is Solomon Alabi?

[geebee]

I don't usually put too much stock in any one sports reporter, but I did find Doug Smith's comments before the draft to be interesting. He said:

"The talk is cheap, it’s time for action. I’m not proposing some significant giveaway of talent but if this day ends with Toronto simply making the 13th pick in a so-so draft, people will feel it’s been a failure.

Me included."

Now, as you all probably know by now, that's precicely what happened. BC made the #13 pick. The ONLY other thing he did was trade for Alabi. So what does Smith write AFTER the draft? This:

"But overall, was it a good night?

I’d say good, with gusts to pretty good."

So, what'd I miss? He took the #13 just as expected. Before the draft, Smith calls that a fail. He adds Alabi and now it's "pretty good"? So, how good is Alabi, and how does this D-League addition suddenly make for a pretty good draft night?

[hateslosing]

Alabi was expected to go at around 20 but there were apparently some medical issues which made teams leery though from what I've read it's nothing debilitating. So essentially we got a 7 foot shot blocker with, if you believe David Thorpe, excellent intangibles, desire to play hard, and extreme coach-ability for a second round pick and some money. I'd call that a fantastic deal.
PHD Steve did a Podcast a couple weeks ago with coach Thorpe where Thorpe raved about the guy a bit, you should check it out.

[Maleko]

Definitely like the Alabi pickup, and it is at low risk with second round money. Considering Toronto would have bought a first round pick if they could (and tried) to get him, and then had to pay 1st round money to him, this is a great steal. Davis falling to 13 is also a steal, but in 5yrs he will look like a good pick, Alabi will look like a brilliant move.

[cornbreadd]

Well, pretty much everyone would have thought that BC would have had to trade up to get Davis, but he fell to them anyway. He's certainly better than anyone else I though the raps could get at 13 so I think the draft was a decent one

[Dave]

My expectations for Alabi are -- good to very good defensively + poor rebounder + limited offensive player

His lack of rebounding will probably stop him from being 20+ minute a night player in the NBA but he is a solid reserve. A nice fourth or fifth big man in the depth chart and for a second round pick that is excellent value.

[Bendit]

Far be it for me to support Mr. Smith....but I (with the other comments above) have to agree. Doug had 4 names a couple of days ago that he said were where it the 13th was going to be picked from. He crapped out on that (alongwith just about every mock draft). Davis fell and so did Alabi. In the perceived universe we might have had Patterson or Avery at 13 and traded an asset for a 20 type pick and chosen Alabi there. Clearly this is a better outcome...at least on paper...as always, we shall see a couple of years down the road. I think Patterson will be a good player in Houston. He is a Rocket type of pick.

[yertu damkule]

gee - i don't think smith (or anyone) expected davis to be there at 13, so while the raps didn't really do much of anything beside make their pick at their spot, the player they acquired with that pick is better (potentially) than the guys that were rumoured to be going in that spot.

grabbing alabi for nothing was just a little icing - dave summed it up nicely, he's limited & raw, but could be a rotation guy, which is far more than one would expect out of the 50th pick...and if nothing else, will be a good guy for bargs to practice against everyday. i think his college rebounding numbers are a little skewed (thorpe touched on that as well in his chat w/ steve), and that he'll actually be at least a decent rebounder. from what i can remember, thorpe said that FSU had a very team-oriented approach to rebounding, and that guards/wings would crash the glass on almost every possession.

that being said, let's hold off on expecting anything more than random, specialized minutes for the first year (at least).

[Sam]

Will Alabi be a good player one day? I don't know. But it seems to me that Toronto is the best possible situation for him. We're rebuilding (or soon will be if BC is crazy enough to think the current "plan" is salvageable) so there's time for him to make mistakes and develop. We need defensive big men and rebounders in a big way so there's a place for him on the roster if he shows promise. And, perhaps most importantly, he's playing for the guy who picked him out from his small town and got him started playing basketball. If the report that he'll "spit blood" for the Raps is right, what's the downside?

[dn66]

I don't usually put too much stock in any one sports reporter, but I did find Doug Smith's comments before the draft to be interesting. He said:

"The talk is cheap, it’s time for action. I’m not proposing some significant giveaway of talent but if this day ends with Toronto simply making the 13th pick in a so-so draft, people will feel it’s been a failure.

Me included."

Now, as you all probably know by now, that's precicely what happened. BC made the #13 pick. The ONLY other thing he did was trade for Alabi. So what does Smith write AFTER the draft? This:

"But overall, was it a good night?

I’d say good, with gusts to pretty good."

So, what'd I miss? He took the #13 just as expected. Before the draft, Smith calls that a fail. He adds Alabi and now it's "pretty good"? So, how good is Alabi, and how does this D-League addition suddenly make for a pretty good draft night?

Doug's first priority is his paycheck... He needs something to write about

[Buddahfan]

I'll reserve judgment until I see him play in the D-league next season.

[Lopez]

Alabi is a legit 7 footer and great shot blocker and defensive presence, I was very excited to see that Colangelo aquired him, Now we have two young bigs so now we can get rid of evans and hopefully do a sign and trade with bosh for solid wing player.

[Quixotic]

So, what'd I miss? He took the #13 just as expected. Before the draft, Smith calls that a fail. He adds Alabi and now it's "pretty good"? So, how good is Alabi, and how does this D-League addition suddenly make for a pretty good draft night?

Smith was right on this one, and if you consider that he got the final list wrong, it's obviously because the team itself had no idea Davis was going to be available. Can't fault him there.

Think about it this way, if the team had just picked one of the players off the list of 4-5 at #13 and did nothing else, it would have been "fail" as suggested. It would also have been "fail" if they stayed the course despite Davis dropping to them (the way Babcock stayed the course with Araujo when Iggy dropped to us), so being ballsy enough to take someone we never had in for a workout upgrades it a bit from "fail".

Had we then spent whatever it cost to get a 1st round pick in the late-20s range and used it on Alabi, that would have been an upgrade from "fail" as well, since that was what we had hoped for, an additional late-first round pick. That we got the player we probably would have gotten in the 25-30 range on a very affordable 2nd round contract is another upgrade on "fail". You have to focus on what value both Davis and Alabi had, not where they ended up being drafted, and both are worth more than a 13th and a 50th. All that together makes this a solid haul.

It could turn out that both players are busts, but that's the way it goes with big man projects.

[Tim W.]

Apparently Alabi is a very good "practice guy" which is great because that's where he'll get most of his minutes for now. I would say going in with just the 13th pick and coming out with one player projected to go in the top 8 and another in the top 20, and only using a future second rounder is fantastic.

I think people were hoping for some big trades, but if the deals weren't there, then why force something for the sake of simply getting something done. Colangelo has all summer to sort out the roster. He didn't need to make any big moves last night.

[Quixotic]

Apparently Alabi is a very good "practice guy" which is great because that's where he'll get most of his minutes for now. I would say going in with just the 13th pick and coming out with one player projected to go in the top 8 and another in the top 20, and only using a future second rounder is fantastic.

I think people were hoping for some big trades, but if the deals weren't there, then why force something for the sake of simply getting something done. Colangelo has all summer to sort out the roster. He didn't need to make any big moves last night.

I don't know if I'd be as confident as saying "another in the top 20." But yes, Alabi was definitely a 20-30 guy before the medical issue broke out.