Re: My Post-Draft Synopsis

by **Sam** Sat Jun 27, 2015 11:45 am

How quick a jumper is Mickey? That was the secret to Russell's blocking ability and, especially, his ability to send rejects to teammates rather than out-of-bounds.

Sam

by **bobheckler** Sat Jun 27, 2015 12:02 pm

sam wrote:How quick a jumper is Mickey? That was the secret to Russell's blocking ability and, especially, his ability to send rejects to teammates rather than out-of-bounds.

Sam

sam,

Russ's tapping to a teammate is an extremely rare trait and is probably one of the biggest reasons why he was an elite shot blocker.

In the draftexpress video, Mickey is described as a very good pnr defender. The NBA is a pick-and-roll league, so having someone who is already good at that is a big deal. He's 6'8" plus a smidge, so he's about the same size as Steady Eddie, but he has a 7'3 1/2" wingspan vs Bass' 7'2". Bass is 250# and Mickey is 238#, so a little difference there that might make a difference, but I'm not worried about young players putting on weight so much as I am as with them losing weight (e.g. Sully). Kelly gained weight last year and it helped his defense. Not an elite defender, and never will be, but he was better his second year than his first. By the time Mickey is in his sophomore year he could be 245# and that'd be just fine.

You have to click on the youtube logo at the bottom right to see this video. When you get to the part where they are highlighting his rim protection, you'll see that every one of his blocks end up staying in bounds.

bob

.

by **Sam** Sat Jun 27, 2015 1:15 pm

Bob,

Some good stuff. I'm not sure about the level of his competition. They seemed to come to him more than he went after them. Maybe his teammates were just very good at funneling them to him. I liked his jumper. Of course, they didn't show the misses, but he seemed comfortable from either side or straightaway. They mentioned his hedging, and I didn't think his recovery was particularly quick. He did seem to keep the ball in-bounds on a lot of his blocks, so that was a very good thing.

The kid definitely has good defensive instincts and quick bursts of energy. Should be fun watching him in the Summer League (where I'm assuming he'll play).

Sam

by **rambone** Sat Jun 27, 2015 2:38 pm

I watched the LSU-Kentucky game last night, the one where Jordan Mickey's LSU nearly upset Kentucky.

I can really see Mickey challenging Sully and KO for the starting PF spot, sooner rather than later.

Mickey is very much a shorter WCS, except Mickey has better offensive moves.

He's going to be great as a swiss army knife defensive role player for us, and he can switch onto centers, small forwards, shooting guards, and perhaps even point guards most of the time.

He keeps his head up, slides his feet to help, and jumps incredibly quickly.

I think his lateral quickness is good but not outstanding like WCS, but Mickey has much thicker legs than WCS, as well as a lower center of gravity. That gives Mickey a leverage advantage against taller and stronger opponents, while WCS will be hard pressed to outmuscle opposing centers and stronger PFs.

And yes, Mickey is able to get his mitts on a whole lot of missed shots, and within the first 3 minutes of that Kentucky game I watched, Mickey tipped two balls that saved or changed possession in favor of his team.

Mickey got dunked on by WCS a couple times, but he was always Right There challenging the dunk, and one of them he actually poked the ball out of WCS's hands, about 11 feet off the ground. Lucky for WCS, he was so far above the rim when Mickey poked the ball out, that the ball ended up going in and kind of looking like a dunk.

Here's that play

And here again are Mickey's highlights from that game

If Mickey can post up and score over WCS, he'll be just fine offensively in the NBA.

He's probably what Leon Powe would have been if he had never destroyed his knees in college.

by **Sloopjohnb** Sat Jun 27, 2015 4:40 pm

I thought Leon Powe destroyed his knees in the pros.

If Mickey becomes what Powe was developing into before tearing up his kneethat would be nice. The Celtics will have yet another decent rotation player to develop to play or try to trade.

by **cowens/oldschool** Sat Jun 27, 2015 5:44 pm

sam wrote:How quick a jumper is Mickey? That was the secret to Russell's blocking ability and, especially, his ability to send rejects to teammates rather than out-of-bounds.

Sam

.....best leaper by far that there ever was

by **cowens/oldschool** Sat Jun 27, 2015 5:49 pm

very impressive the way he posted WCS.

by **bobheckler** Sat Jun 27, 2015 5:58 pm

cowens/oldschool wrote:very impressive the way he posted WCS.

And WCS is no slouch nor 98-lb weakling neither.

bob

.

by **Sam** Sat Jun 27, 2015 10:50 pm

Regardless of how these various moves work out, it's refreshing to see increasing emphasis on defensive abilities. Even the drafting of Frazier suggests that the acquisition of of offense is not being compromised by questionable defense. Now, if Danny can just extend the defensive trend to the center position, a lot of dominoes could fall into place.

Sam

by **cowens/oldschool** Sat Jun 27, 2015 11:32 pm

sam wrote:Regardless of how these various moves work out, it's refreshing to see increasing emphasis on defensive abilities. Even the drafting of Frazier suggests that the acquisition of of offense is not being compromised by questionable defense. Now, if Danny can just extend the defensive trend to the center position, a lot of dominoes could fall into place.

Sam

too bad he wasn't more aware of this when he drafted KO and traded for Zeller

by **steve3344** Mon Jun 29, 2015 10:09 pm

http://www.cheatsheet.com/sports/5-biggest-steals-of-the-2015-nba-draft.html/?ref=YF&tpl=op

by **worcester** Mon Jun 29, 2015 11:54 pm

Cow, actually there was a leaper better than Russ - his good friend Johnny Mathis who beat his NCCA college high jump record before going on to make many other kinds of records.

by **rambone** Tue Jun 30, 2015 12:56 am

Johnny Mathis has sold well over 350 million records worldwide,[1][2] a according to Guinness Book of World Records writer and charts music historian Paul Gambacini and some other sources. This makes Mathis the third biggest selling artist of the 20th century.

In 1958, Johnny’s Greatest Hits was released. The album spent an unprecedented 491 consecutive weeks through 1967 (nine and a half years) on the Billboard top 100 album charts, earning him a mention in the Guinness Book of World Records.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Mathis#Honors_and_awards

by **worcester** Tue Jun 30, 2015 1:12 am

Steve has already proven the first quote about Johnny to be erroneous, but the second sure holds true.

by **Sam** Tue Jun 30, 2015 10:21 am

I passed up a chance to attend a party at Johnny's house after the Balloon Game. I really wanted to see his livingroom pool, and I greatly admired his work....still do. But another Johnny took precedence that night....Havlicek.

If you've never heard Johnny Mathis' "Pieces of Dreams," add it to your bucket list.

Sam

by **bobheckler** Tue Jun 30, 2015 11:51 am

by **rambone** Tue Jun 30, 2015 1:22 pm

Bill Russell jumps over Johnny Mathis in 1954.
My Post-Draft Synopsis - Page 3 Mathis-2

by **Sam** Tue Jun 30, 2015 10:00 pm

Nice to see the four new guys already involved in public service. Moreover, they're all pretty well-spoken, even if they had to stick with media-speak.

Sam

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