Chris Obekpa
- Thread starter Moose
- Start date
The few times I've seen this kid play I came away with the fact that he is a complete liability on the court. I have better low post and offensive skills then he does and I'm a 6'3 white guy. That's why rankings are garbage, ultimately his size and defense led to a top 100 ranking but he could easily prove to be worthless
TRabinowitz
Member
Saw him again yesterday. 16 blocks. Probably had a triple double but really undeveloped offensively. However what he has (in terms of being a gameplan-changer because of his shot blocking/altering abilities) very very few have in a given class.
A Bill Russell but with undeveloped offensive tools. I'd take him in a minute. Like you say he's a game changer. You get him, Dom Pointer and Jakarr on the same court, it will start to look like volley ball.
It sound like he'd still be capable of put backs , boards and a few jams.
It's just too bad that he appears to have a different agenda than we had hoped.
I don't know what other targets we have for 2012. Michael Chandler, of course, but other than him who ? The names that are currently thrown about for the 2012 center category sound to me like , it's ,"Hail Mary," time !
I don't think there are any real targets other than Chandler. Nolan was good enough that he was worth jumping in on, but there aren't many of those guys left, if any.
I'm sure the staff has a list of 6'8"-plus transfers with immediate eligibility, but the way they are operating leads me to believe (1) Chandler is close enough to be worth it, or (2) Sanchez can give us productive minutes at center, and someone like Garrett can play C and PF in certain situations.
The Gumbinator
Member
Just because a someone might be the second tallest player on the court for a team does not make them a power forward and certainly not a center. When Nova was starting 4 guards a few years back they never claimed that that Mike Nardi or Allen Ray was a power forward, they just played with 4 guards. For the running type of game that Lavin used with the team in his first year we have enough size, even if we play with three forwards on the court instead of the traditional sf, pf, c. There is too much of an emphasis on trying to fit into that tradition mold, when it is clear that Lavin can have a winning team with out it.
Four blocked shots can be eight points on the other end, and that is not even taking into account how may drives were deterred or how many shots were missed because the shooter altered his shot. Look at what Ken Johnson did to us in 99. He completely changed that game.
Let's say Obekpa blocks three shots that would have been made (I'd guess most blocks by a center are chippies), alters a total of four shots that would have been made into misses that resulted in defensive rebounds, deters two slashers from taking it to the hoop and settling for lower % shots that result in misses, allows a defender to steal the ball on ther perimeter twice because he knew he had suport behidn him (converted fast break layups), and then socres six points on the other end on putbacks.
That is a 28 point impact on the game (overly simplified, but you get the point).
Why is this guy still uncommitted?
I was thinking about this the past couple of days.... The fact that we have Felix.... and the fact that Obekpa is still not committed may mean he is waiting to see what happens with Chandler and is still seriously considering St. John's and Cincy. Wishful thinking I know but it would make sense. There may b a method to the madness.
