I dont care if he is rolling the ball off his nose, as long as it goes in I will be happy. He looks pretty comfortable out there at the 3 pt line and he showed some hustle grabbing loose balls too. He is going to be a very good player it will just take time - but I think he is a PF and not a C like some fans and the papers are hoping.

While athletiscm is an important aspect of basketball, let meremind you that Larry Bird--actually that whole team were not good athletes at all. This kid has many characteritics of Bird--size ball handling skills perfect form on his jumper from inside and out, heart. There is almost no doubt that he should be a core player this year in the rotation--if a spoon or othella sits to bad. hes much more skilled than those players.I see him as a point forward.

I think it helps to be athletic and a great leaper for any position but there have benn athletic PFs that turned into great players. Oak is one.

I may pain alot of people with this analogy, but in the video Lampe reminds me alot of Van Horn. The way he shoots the jumper and moves on the court are very similar.

Thanks for the link Briggs.

I think Lampe is very different from KVH in that even at this young age, he catches the ball and does things fluidly -- KVH catches, pauses for a moment to assess the situation, then does his thing.

Lampe seems to have a knack for knowing what to do given a situation, and he learns pretty quickly.

The best thing I like about him is his unflappable attitude. He believes in himself--- he acts as if sky's the limit, he just needs to work on it a little bit and it'll come.

Most impressive are his jump hook and various post up moves. Athletic or not, an effective hook shot is practically undefendable (tho it helps that he's also 7' tall!).

I like the Larry Bird reference, mostly for the reason of lack of athleticism. Compare Lampe to several of the "next Larry Bird" players of college basketball and the NBA (Danny Manning, Danny Ferry, Donyell Marshall, Troy Murphy, Tom Gugliotta, KVH, Kukoc, Laettner, Dirk) and try to gauge where Lampe will fit in end up.

The thing about Lampe is that he's already bigger and wider than all of them at 18 and still has some growing to do.

After watching the summer games, Lampe is not a leaper but a very fluid player, He is a great ball handler, has very good footwork and a great stroke, with his size and ball handling ability alone that will make up for what he lacks in athleticism. I know a lot of Athaletic PF in the league who can't get the shots they want because they don't posess the footwork or the ballhandling skills to do so. Lampe should be able to get good shots because of his ball handling skills and his stroke...