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A bunch of Biyombo game footage videos

vegas said:
It's probably less of a stretch than the Eaton comparison, though still a poor one, but I just keep thinking how bad I wanted Thabeet (the last huge upside defensive big in the lottery) and then I remind myself where the guy is now... I just don't have a good feeling about Biyombo.
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Thabeet is an entirely different player than Biyombo though. Space eater v. athlete. Biyombo at 12 would be fantastic.
 
Chris said:
I can't say that I've seen a lot about this guy that I like. Defense is important, especially when it comes to building a championship contender, but that seems to be the only legitimate thing Bismack seems to bring to the table. But, how long until he's got 2 quick fouls and has to head back to the bench? Where is the offense, outside of dunks? And when he gets hacked inside like many seem to think he will, how often will he hit his free throws? I see a lot more Hasheem Thabeet than Serge Ibaka when I look at this kid.

Reminds me of a kid who started at Providence College when I was a student there: N'Dongo N'Diaye or some spelling like that, who was this project out of Senegal. Nice kid -- I spoke to him a few times. He spoke five languages, was taking high end math classes and all that, was 7'1" and like 190 lbs. Long arms, was supposed to be a rebounder and a defensive presence, and was supposed to have all this upside. Kid was a disaster and left long before we would have graduated. I have no idea what he did after he left PC.
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But Biyombo has rebounded well, blocked shots and stayed out of foul trouble while playing in the second best league in the world (much better than NCAA competition). He's not being drafted as a complete unknown. He's a very productive young player (who hits 55% of his free throws...which, relative to a lot of legit bigs in the NBA, is not all that bad).
 
Chris said:
I can't say that I've seen a lot about this guy that I like. Defense is important, especially when it comes to building a championship contender, but that seems to be the only legitimate thing Bismack seems to bring to the table. But, how long until he's got 2 quick fouls and has to head back to the bench? Where is the offense, outside of dunks? And when he gets hacked inside like many seem to think he will, how often will he hit his free throws? I see a lot more Hasheem Thabeet than Serge Ibaka when I look at this kid.

Reminds me of a kid who started at Providence College when I was a student there: N'Dongo N'Diaye or some spelling like that, who was this project out of Senegal. Nice kid -- I spoke to him a few times. He spoke five languages, was taking high end math classes and all that, was 7'1" and like 190 lbs. Long arms, was supposed to be a rebounder and a defensive presence, and was supposed to have all this upside. Kid was a disaster and left long before we would have graduated. I have no idea what he did after he left PC.
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As I mentioned a few pages back - I don't think you can compare Biyombo to all previous 7-foot busts who were projected to be "shotblockers." A big difference with Biyombo is while he has the length - 7-6 wingspan (which is 3" longer than Dwight Howard) 9-3 standing reach (same as Dwight Howard - both WS/SR significantly longer than Tyson Chandler's) to block shots and rebound, he also has the athleticism to play defend the pick-and-roll and hustle all over the court. When you look at lottery picks from the past 10 years , there's a short list of big men who can block shots AND move their feet.

Guys like Joel Anthony and Chuck Hayes had very little offensive skill at the nba level - yet still were starters for playoff teams because of their toughness/rebounding/ability to defend screen-roll - and neither of those players was an above the rim shot-blocker like Biyombo. Biyombo may never be Ben Wallace - but worst-case I think he's still an off-the-bench guy who can help you win games with his defense and hustle. Think Utah could do alot worse than him with the 12th pick.
 
This is really nitpicking - but one difference between Biyombo and Ben Wallace is Big Ben was an ambidextrous shotblocker while what I've seen of Biyombo is he blocks shots predominantly with his left hand. Since he was facing mostly RH players - that's not too surprising but I did see instances where he should've used his right instead of his left - and in the NBA reaching across/turning your body to block with 1 hand results in more fouls - but hey, if I'm complaining about a guy because he blocks shots with the wrong hand then I'm probably overanalyzing him too much - especially since he's still such a raw prospect. Just an observation that probably means nothing (this draft just needs to get here soon).
 
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