I dont think its that silly. I am higher on him than others, but I truly beleive he has rare rebounding skills. A wide body to box out, rare timing on his leaps, big soft hands and relentless effort. Here's a rephrase: I think he can have 3 or 4 peak years in the NBA where he averages 12 boards. BTW, I didnt mean to imply that he'd be that player in the worst case scenario. Worst case is he breaks his leg in camp and he never gets a chance to start. But I was trying to imply that if he does become a starter in the league and continues on the same development path with no injuries, I think at the very least, those would be the numbers he puts up in his peak years.

[Edited by - VDesai on 05/30/2004 17:22:05]

I would think that if Sweets is going to develop into that kind of player- and he does have some unique 'assets' that will enable him to score and rebound, it is probably going to take a full year or two before he starts to reach that level.

First of all what do you mean by "rare timing", do you mean he has "good timing" when he goes up for rebounds?

Second of all, you can't simply assume he'll put up certain numbers simply by using a mathematical ratio and saying that he'll rebound 4 times as much becuase he'll be playing 4 times as many minutes.

There are so many factors to consider...

He seems athletic, but what if this guy is playing his heart out for these 12 minutes or so a game. Now play him everyday... is he gonna play this hard for 30+ minutes a game, everyday? I'm not sold on that yet.

All I know is that we definitely should not trade him until we definitely know what he can do as a full time starter. If he doesn't pan out as a starter his trade value compared to right now won't decrease substantially, but if we trade him before giving him a chance and he becomes the next Elton Brand then we'll be kicking ourselves in the ass.

Posted by VDesai:

Stevo- Timing of his leaps to go up for rebounds is what I mean by rare timing. While he doesnt jump the highest, he jumps first and jumps quick, often giving him the first opportunity to the ball. In addition, having watched Sweetney through college and now in the pros, he doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who only works for 12 mins. He has always been the type of guy that goes all out every minute he's on the floor.

He wasn't referring about effort; he was talking about whether Sweetney would have the stamina and conditioning to play with the same energy for 35 mpg as he does playing for two seven-minute spurts per game. I think Sweetney is a good rebounder but I think a lot of PFs who average 8 or 9 RPG as starters could give you the 4 RPG that Sweetney gives you in the 12 mpg he played this year.

I think your comment about timing would make more sense if you said he has "good" timing. I agree with him that "rare" is a strange word to use there, unless you mean that it's rare for a player to have as good timing as he has.