Who Is Dwight Powell?

http://www.celticsblog.com/2014/9/26/6849007/who-is-dwight-powell-newest-member-of-the-boston-celtics


Who Is Dwight Powell? (newest member of the Boston Celtics)
By Ted Alexander on Sep 26 2014, 8:41a 5



Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports
Some immediate thoughts about the Celtics' new acquisition.



As a second round pick recently acquired in a trade including mostly flotsam, most Celtics fans probably don't know much about Dwight Powell.

He is part of the growing legion of Canadian born NBA players, having played AAU basketball with Tristan Thompson and Corey Joseph. He is a four year player at Stanford  *insert obligatory comment about how he is smart* who improved in each of his years statistically.

One of my first thoughts when seeing his stats and height was to wonder why he was not listed as a Center.  It became clear pretty quickly he is a power forward.  He is 6'9" without shoes (do you really gain 2" with shoes?) and while pretty quick for a big guy, does not have the bulk to play Center.

Dwight can shoot passably from the outside, but not average or above average from behind the line (read: better than Sully), can put the ball on the floor and appears to have high basketball IQ (there it is!).  He was very athletic in college, although probably about average athleticism for a NBA player.

Powell is not a big name, so there aren't 15 different YouTube videos devoted to his favorite breed of dog and type of ice cream. If you are patient, you can catch some plays he makes in this video:



He is number 33 in red. Most of his highlights show up at the end. (Also see here for a pre-draft interview.)

While his dunk, hustle on D and his three point shot would grab the headlines, check out how he boxes out his guy for an offensive rebound a little earlier in the video.  The shots go in, so it is easy to miss, but I thought both were very intelligent plays by the four year college player.

Absent the non-guaranteed guys, this team seems devoid of a Brian Scalabrine or a Walter McCarty. Gerald Wallace is too grumpy, Marcus Thornton is too trigger happy (can anyone else envision several games of Antoine Walker-esq "no, no, no... Yeah!" three point shots?), El Hombre Drink and Drive seems to have lost his shot at fan favorite.  All the rest are either too good or here as a stopgap.  Based on very rudimentary searching, Dwight Powell I think has a shot to be that guy for me.

I'm officially rooting for him, are you?

Thanks for reading!



bob
MY NOTE:  According to ESPN, the Celtics intend to keep PF/C Dwight Powell.  As Butch said to Sundance "Who ARE these guys?".  The info and videos below were on the "Bogans Gets The Ax" (sort of a Lizzy Borden version of "Horton Hears A Who").  I'm just consolidating it all on a "Welcome to Boston, Dwight Powell" thread.


http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Dwight-Powell-5750/

Listed at 6'11", 234#, 23 years old, 7'0 1/2" wingspan (not that impressive).  No step vertical is 28.5" and max vertical is 35".  By comparision, 6'11" Larry Sander's no step vertical was 25.5" and a max vertical of 28".  More on the page about him.  Called "very athletic".  Obviously, this is a kid Danny and Brad eyeballed at the NBA draft combine.  As a Stanford grad, I'd put money he has IQ.  I have a friend, whom I occasionally mention, who is a Laker fan.  He played football, getting drafted by the Buffalo Bills after 4 years playing offensive guard for Boise State.  He was invited in "for a cup of coffee", as he put it, by Stanford.  They passed on him because of his grades in high school (he now has a masters degree).  My point is that scholastic ability is a key consideration when being considered by Stanford and athletes are no exception (for what it's worth, Stanford is about 5-8 miles away from where I live, down the peninsula a few towns in Palo Alto).

Celticspride wrote:Great pick up. JS beware, another forward yes, but kids got game. Watch a lot of CBB and this kid was a good one to get.

Pride,

You really think he's good enough to challenge Sully for minutes?  Wow, that would make this deal ridiculously lopsided.


bob



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Brad has said they've tried him at 3 & 4. Never menioned 5.



bob



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