misterearl wrote:RonRon - nice montage. Good research.The term "upside" is generally tossed around for players with physical gifts. Think of upside in the case of Parakhouski in terms of his soccer background, that would make his footwork more fluid. For a player who has been on the court a limited time, he flashes excellent anticipation and he catches the ball in traffic.
Hands are wonderful things to have.
Yes, I think his "lack of athleticism" can be compensated for.
The NBA today is built on athleticism, speed, quickness, and size/length.
But that does not mean you can make it in the League without these physical skills.
Nash and Larry Bird are probably biggest "ALL Stars" that didn't have these attributes.
Footwork, good hands, fundamentals, and with good basketball IQ is what Europeans concentrate on, there are plenty of skilled players across the seas.
I assume he cannot shoot though, cause I didn't see one shot.
Although Tyson Chandler does not shoot a single shot, yet he is surprisingly one of the best FT shooters in the league today at legit Center with Hibbert/Bynum.
If he has a post game, he would be a great player to work well with Kidd, a nice backup as a project.
He has to be in great shape to play soccer, it is one of the toughest FULL BODY/Cardio workouts if no one has ever attempted to playing it before.
That could attribute to his good foot work, hand eye coordination, and ability to run a basketball court for a BIG would be NOTHING compared to soccer.
Lets not forget, the great Steve Nash, played soccer his entire life, and plays every summer by Grand Street, in Chinatown at NYC.
If he could play some PF/C, I would call him a no brainer and if he could hit a 12 footer consistently.
7/10/2012 3:34 PM