RealGM

Let's face it had anyone else but DA signed this guy we would be laughing at them. I suppose it's okay to take a flier on him but I see very little likelyhood for success. I'd be surprised if he can outplay Mikki Moore..

Pete

GeraldGreen5 wrote:DISCLAIMER: 2nd hand information to follow

I have a friend who lives in Minnesota and went to high school with POB. He knew POB decently well, and said he was always a pretty nice kid, but that he had absolutely no desire to play basketball. According to my friend, he started off playing football for the HS, but his father essentially forced him into playing basketball (due to his size), believing that he could earn himself a scholarship that way. From what I understand, his relationship with his father become somewhat strained due to basketball, with POB wanting to quit the team. Take this for what it's worth, as it's second hand information, and I hate using that whole "I have a friend who" phrase, but I'll let you decide if you want to believe what I have to say or not.

Nothing groundbreaking there by any means, but I'd be pretty concerned that POBs the type of guy who's simply showing up for a paycheck. If he didn't want to play basketball in High School, has been rumored to have a poor work ethic, what should make me think he's going to all of a sudden decide he wants to work hard? To me there are red flags up across the board for POB, and while I'd like to see him get it and put his talent together, I doubt that he wants to bad enough.

This might be second-hand information, but it's still interesting. Thanks.

I was typing my initial reply to this thread before you posted this, and my reply was posted after, so now I'm going to look like a flip-flopper, but this definitely raises more red flags about O'Bryant's work ethic.

GuyClinch wrote:Let's face it had anyone else but DA signed this guy we would be laughing at them. I suppose it's okay to take a flier on him but I see very little likelyhood for success. I'd be surprised if he can outplay Mikki Moore..

Pete

I have to agree with Pete...I'm getting a little tired of all the "In Danny we trust" **** with people automatically assuming any draft pick he makes, no matter how low, will produce the next superduperstar. Has he had some successes? Yes. But some people on here want to have Danny's baby they think everything he touches is gold...sheesh!

MyInsatiableOne wrote:

GuyClinch wrote:Let's face it had anyone else but DA signed this guy we would be laughing at them. I suppose it's okay to take a flier on him but I see very little likelyhood for success. I'd be surprised if he can outplay Mikki Moore..

Pete

I have to agree with Pete...I'm getting a little tired of all the "In Danny we trust" **** with people automatically assuming any draft pick he makes, no matter how low, will produce the next superduperstar. Has he had some successes? Yes. But some people on here want to have Danny's baby they think everything he touches is gold...sheesh!

Well, I don't recall anyone claiming Bill Walker or JR Giddens will be all-stars or anything. Some people may have a little too much love for potential, but now that we're a winning team it seems to be the minority on the board. It seems like most people are just hoping that JR can contribute as a back-up, same with POB, I don't recall (other than maybe a few joking Robert Parish references) anyone saying any of these guys will become "superduperstars". People even shot down the Golden State poster that said POB will take Perks job by midseason.

To finish this off though, Danny returned our long time crappy franchise to it's rightful glory, so yeah, in Danny I trust, even if I wouldn't have his baby or try to sell his feces on e-bay.

To finish this off though, Danny returned our long time crappy franchise to it's rightful glory, so yeah, in Danny I trust, even if I wouldn't have his baby or try to sell his feces on e-bay.

Seriously? You could make a lot of money off of that.

But great post Bad-Thoma. Spot-on. There is literally no risk in the O'Bryant signing, and who the hell else was Ainge going to sign? Chris Andersen?

And thank goodness he didn't sign everyone's favorite binkie, Robert "Ronald McDonald" Swift.

Well, all the merits and demerits of signing this guy have been laid out in a ten page thread. There have been maybe one or two posters going a little over the top about this kid. Most people regard it as what it is; a very low risk (minimal money) proposition. Get a young center whose greatest cost is his roster spot (I don't care about Wyc's 2 mil, or whatever it is he'll get). He apparently has some physical skills. If our coaching staff can bring them out of him, it's a very clear win. In fact, I regard it as a no lose thing. He's replacing Pollard, who gave us nothing, so if he gives us nothing, it's a wash, and we cut him at the end of the year. I still believe we'll bring in another vet big.

I don't mind the "In Danny we trust" language. The guy took a going nowhere team and turned it into a championship squad. He's not a perfect GM. Nobody is, but unless you think last year's championship was sheer luck on Danny's part, then he deserves some trust. He's earned it.

edit: oops, just saw that BadThoma had already posted pretty much the same sentiment I did about "In Danny we trust".

Barry Lird wrote:Well, all the merits and demerits of signing this guy have been laid out in a ten page thread. There have been maybe one or two posters going a little over the top about this kid. Most people regard it as what it is; a very low risk (minimal money) proposition. Get a young center whose greatest cost is his roster spot (I don't care about Wyc's 2 mil, or whatever it is he'll get). He apparently has some physical skills. If our coaching staff can bring them out of him, it's a very clear win. In fact, I regard it as a no lose thing. He's replacing Pollard, who gave us nothing, so if he gives us nothing, it's a wash, and we cut him at the end of the year. I still believe we'll bring in another vet big.

I don't mind the "In Danny we trust" language. The guy took a going nowhere team and turned it into a championship squad. He's not a perfect GM. Nobody is, but unless you think last year's championship was sheer luck on Danny's part, then he deserves some trust. He's earned it.

+1.

I'm very happy with this signing. It surprises me that Minnesota, Seattle, or Memphis wouldn't offer him a large portion of the MLE. He may never live up to the Brad Daugherty comparisons, but if he can even become a good reserve behind Perkins, I'd be very happy.

I'd be pretty concerned that POBs the type of guy who's simply showing up for a paycheck.

If he thinks that will work in Boston, KG, Powe and Perkins may physically kill the kid before training camp is over.

If that happens, hopefully is Salary cap slot canbe used to sign someone else.

http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball ... their_big/

I definitely think we can get more then 30% effort out of O'Bryant, just from Garnett screaming at him.

It is a chance DA is taking. Some work like ray allen, some don't marcus banks. He will have to prove it to me. I have to move on from this subject. Talking about some kid who has never even played 10 minutes a game.

Even Chris Mullen said that he could make it in this league with 30% more work. I think 30% can come with age. If he didn't want to play basketball, then why did he leave college early to come to the NBA? The short time he was on the court he played with some energy, and all that has been said about him from GS fans and this organization says that he can play and Nellie and his big man coach did nothing but degrate him. He will find a new sense of attention with this team and will in the least be a solid backup that gives us a low post presense that we lost when Jefferson left. To finish, I haven't heard anything negative about his defense, mostly all possitive, which GS doesn't know how to play and Nellie can't coach.

Even if he never plays in a game, you still need a decent 7-footer to practice against every day. Pollard wasn't able to provide this and even if we sign someone like Mourning, he won't be putting in many hours at practice.
It's also good to have a big guy for trades, even if he is a throw in. Give me a young 7-footer as my 15th player over a 5-10 guard any day.

armageddon wrote:Even if he never plays in a game, you still need a decent 7-footer to practice against every day. Pollard wasn't able to provide this and even if we sign someone like Mourning, he won't be putting in many hours at practice.
It's also good to have a big guy for trades, even if he is a throw in. Give me a young 7-footer as my 15th player over a 5-10 guard any day.

hard to argue with that logic

This is a great signing. Let's just not even count the chance that he decides to get serious and develope. And that's a real possibility.

He's six fouls for Bynum, Howard or Ilkasgus. Powe is not tall enough. Baby is not athletic enough. POB is both. He's a 7' millstone at the minimum. That should be enough of advantage for Perk.

Does anyone know if we get his Bird-rights. Since we signed a 2-year contract, if he does develop, we'll probably lose him.

bruno sundov wrote:

P2 wrote:

bruno sundov wrote:I thought this kid was a dud. He couldn't crack the rotation in GS of IND with little competition.

He hasn't played for Indiana.

Who was that then, his evil twin Ik Diogu?

I really thought this kid was lazy and couldn't play. Now we sign him and he is going to be playing 20 minutes a night. We will see. I haven't seen him play a minute of basketball so I have no idea.

This pretty much sums up my frustration with some of the stuff I've read.

There's no risk.

We've been in dire need of length, size, and athleticism for what has seemed like an eternity. It seems like all of our bigs have been undersized, injury-plagued, or past their prime. We finally get a kid (heck, 2 if you count Erden, although he won't be stateside any time soon) and people that haven't seen the kid play ridicule the move as though we've given him an albatross deal.

If his head isn't in the game, his teammates will eat him alive. He's young, big, athletic, and has a pulse. That's all I need to know for now.

If you want to play the "Don Nelson Doghouse" card, just remember how much he played Baron Davis in Golden State's most recent playoff elmination game. This is NOT a man above criticism.

Boston would have his early bird rights meaning they would could offer him a deal equal to the MLE with better raises. Lets just hope that is a problem that they have.

Thanks Sully, agreed it would be a good problem.

As someone who has watched POB's entire pro career, including Summer League and Preseason games, where possible, here are some talking points.

He's long. Real long. 9'5" standing reach. A lot of pro players who are used to seeing big defenders freak out when they see him reaching for their shot in the lane. He has big potential there.

His desire has been questioned. The questioning has reached historic proportions, really. It's a longtime topic of conversation on the Warriors forum, and is punctuated with such tidbits as him being used as a "practice cone" in certain Warriors drills. I'm not making this up.

He's seen some time in the D League. Multiple trips. At first he was awful. Later on he did well.

On offense he's a mess. Some POB boosters disagree with me here. He has a much touted jumper and also a hook shot. They are both garbage as far as I can tell. He reminds me of Jiri Welch when he was a Warrior - supposedly a lights out shooter, except when he's playing a basketball game. Jiri got better when he came to Boston (trust me, he was much better), maybe POB will too.

Personally I think whatever happens will happen fast. Boston's players strike me as very competitive. It's what POB needs, but I don't see a lot of patience coming from Boston. It's not like they invested a draft pick in him and are willing to wait. If POB doesn't get it together fast he'll be out after this season, or earlier.

I'm not worried when a guy has work ethic issues when they come to Boston, because after all we do have GARNETT to scare him straight and our other veteran leaders in Allen and Pierce to help him get his ass into gear.

We could use his size on defense. Garnett once again can really help him there.

Point is, playing next to KG will get his defense better and work ethic better.

We didn't win it all without a lot of hard work.