I don't want to belabor things too much but in terms of Milwaukee searching for long, young, athletes:Lopez, Middleton, Tucker and Holiday are all good athlete for their position. Allow them to play good defense, rebound and contribute in different ways.
No Bojan/JC/Niang type who's basically useless on the floor when they aren't making shots.
- while Lopez has great length, his career seemed to be in jeopardy a few years ago because of his lack of athleticism (which was also clear in the World Cup competition Donovan participated in)
- Middleton was never really considered a plus athlete coming into the NBA. He's succeeded as average one, I'd say. His wingspan is only average for his size. He's a good defender in spite of his physical tools, not really because of them.
- If Holiday was coming out of the draft now, we'd be raising questions about his wingspan. He has good (but not great) height for a combo guard, but his wingspan is just 6'7"
- Connaughton jumps well, but he was never considered to be especially quick laterally. He wasn't considered a "great athlete" coming into the NBA. His wingspan is decent (6'9"), but nothing outstanding compared to others who play the position.
- Divencenzo is a good (not great) athlete that is both kind of short (average at best) for his position and has below-average wingspan.
- Bryn Forbes -- don't even get me started
- PJ Tucker's wingspan is pretty good, but nobody would mistake him for a superior run/jump athlete.
- Jeff Teague is another guy with decent (not great) wingspan for his height. His days of being known as a superior athlete are certainly in the past.
- Portis is tall and has a good wingspan, but questions about him have always revolved around the combination of functional athleticism and BBIQ.
- unlike the Jazz, their two picks last year (Nwora and Merrill) seem much more like fliers on guys with skill than superior athletes
- Many of the guys they drafted in recent years that fit the long athlete mold (Kevin Porter, DJ Wilson, Thon Maker, Sindarius Thornwell, Patrick McCaw, Norman Powell ([traded for Greivis Vasqez, the antithesis of a superior NBA athlete]) were all jettisoned on draft-day trades or once they proved not to be valuable NBA players
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