JS: So the European data is clearly tricky to work with. Does the fact that Jonas plays centre compound the difficulty of projecting his development?
Without getting into exactly how drafting Jonas came to be, every team wants these rim-protecting, rebounding centres. Obviously you’d love to have Shaq, who can put up 30 and 15 on a regular basis but as it turns out, those players are pretty easy to identify. You don’t need me to find Shaq or Dwight Howard. But among this sea of guys that are six-foot-10, six-11, seven feet, which ones are going to give you that fundamental core post presence? That bag of skills that includes defending, rebounding and protecting the rim — kind of the Holy Trinity for post players.
What he has done so far suggests that he can fill that role for us. Obviously at the end of the day I can say I think he can most likely do these things, but there are plenty of guys I thought could and didn’t and plenty of guys I thought couldn’t that did.
Not necessarily from Day One but over the long term, I think Jonas will be a guy that is a really good rebounder at both ends and can protect the rim defensively as an on-ball and help post defender. His dedication to improving his free throw percentage speaks to an overall offensive potential that he’s just growing into.
So the work ethic and the passion he clearly has for the game, those intangibles combined with what he’s done on the court are real strong indicators that this is a guy, over the long run, that could be this building block at centre we have for 10-15 years here in Toronto.
http://blog.raptors.com/q-a-with-alex-rucker-pt-2/
Without getting into exactly how drafting Jonas came to be, every team wants these rim-protecting, rebounding centres. Obviously you’d love to have Shaq, who can put up 30 and 15 on a regular basis but as it turns out, those players are pretty easy to identify. You don’t need me to find Shaq or Dwight Howard. But among this sea of guys that are six-foot-10, six-11, seven feet, which ones are going to give you that fundamental core post presence? That bag of skills that includes defending, rebounding and protecting the rim — kind of the Holy Trinity for post players.
What he has done so far suggests that he can fill that role for us. Obviously at the end of the day I can say I think he can most likely do these things, but there are plenty of guys I thought could and didn’t and plenty of guys I thought couldn’t that did.
Not necessarily from Day One but over the long term, I think Jonas will be a guy that is a really good rebounder at both ends and can protect the rim defensively as an on-ball and help post defender. His dedication to improving his free throw percentage speaks to an overall offensive potential that he’s just growing into.
So the work ethic and the passion he clearly has for the game, those intangibles combined with what he’s done on the court are real strong indicators that this is a guy, over the long run, that could be this building block at centre we have for 10-15 years here in Toronto.
http://blog.raptors.com/q-a-with-alex-rucker-pt-2/
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