Re: NBA Draft Thread Vol. 2
God awful showing by him. Those measurements are crazy though. Here's a post I made on another forum comparing him to some similarly sized NBA C's (and Udoh and Favors, Udoh because I posted it on a GSW forum and Favors for reference since hes kind of a similar prospect to Bismack):
"Tweet from DX: "Measurements just handed out here at the EuroCamp. Bismack Biyombo 6-8 w/out shoes, 7-6 wingspan, 9-4 standing reach, 245 lbs, 4.2% body fat"
Horford: 6'8.75" w/o shoes, 7'0.75 wingspan, 8'11 standing reach, 246 lbs., 9.1% body fat.
Okafor: 6'8.75 w/o shoes, 7'4 wingspan, 9'2.5 standing reach, 257 lbs, n/a body fat
Jefferson: 6'8.5 w/o shoes, 7'2.5 wingspan, 9'2 standing reach, 263 lbs, n/a body fat
Udoh: 6'8.75 w/o shoes, 7'4.5 wingspan, 8'10.5 standing reach, 237 lbs, 8.0% body fat
Derrick Favors: 6'8.75 w/o shoes, 7'4 wingspan, 9'2 standing reach, 245 lbs, 6.5% body fat
Dwight Howard: 6'9 w/o shoes, 7'4.5 wingspan, 9'3.5 standing reach, 240 lb, n/a body fat
All these measurements were taken pre-draft mind you. Howard, Horford and Okafor have been legit starting C's. Al Jefferson started for a few years at C. Udoh and Favors are natural PFs IMO but can play C for stretches or maybe permanently if they put on weight.
Some things that jump out at you when looking at these. Firstly, Bismack is shorter than all of them by 0.5-1 inch. That said, his 9'4 standing reach trumps them all. Looking at the standing reach of some 7 footers, I see Oden has an identical 9'4 standing reach, B. Lopez has a 9'5 standing reach, Bogut has a 9'2.5 standing reach.
Secondly, his 245 lbs. is identical to Horford and Favors coming out of college. Both had higher body fat % and Horford was a couple years older. He's heavier than Udoh and Dwight entering the draft. His 4.1% body fat is insanely low. The guy really is all muscle. If he really is 18 then its pretty damn impressive that he's got 5 lbs of probably pure muscle more than a similarly-aged Dwight. And hes an inch shorter but measured out with a slightly taller standing reach.
The youtube vids lead you to believe that hes a more explosive athlete than all of them except Dwight. At 245 lbs hes got a ways to go before he catches up with guys like Okafor or Jefferson. Dwight has put on plenty of weight since his rookie year and Horford has surely added lbs too. But if you're of the belief that he can add another 15-20 lbs., which doesn't seem completely unreasonable, then he can probably hang bulk-wise at C. As far as length, he beats out all these 6'10ish C's and is up there with the 7 footers.
There is assuredly risk with this guy but also a lot of potential. If you believe in standing reach and that his frame can carry more weight then you'd probably believe he could play C like a Ben Wallace. Athletically, if hes on par with Dwight but only an inch shorter would that still be good enough to play C in the NBA? He'd be nuts at PF but just flat out doesn't have the skill."
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I always thought the Ben Wallace comparisons were nuts but his freakish body actually makes me believe it a bit more. Hes got the tools to actually be an impact C like Ben was at a small size. I'm not sure but I do think Ben played basketball his whole life though so although he was utterly skill-less on offense you can't assume that Biyombo will have the same instincts, IQ, etc. that Ben had on defense and rebounding. That said, Bismack was good enough to play 17 mpg in ACB league. For those not familiar with it, the ACB league is pretty much unanimously considered the second best basketball league in the world. Euros are also tremendously seniority-based so its impressive that he was able to get 17 mpg as an (alleged) 18 year old. He put up 6.4 ppg, 5.1 rpg, and 2.3 bpg which is pretty good production for 17 minutes a game. Like I said, you can't assume that he has the brain Ben Wallace had but hes also producing at the highest level outside the NBA as opposed to a guy like Mohuammed Saer Sene who (if memory serves) only played in some low level dutch league or something like that.
Ben Wallace is still a best case type of scenario but its not completely insane to think this guy could be a decent C. Hes got a taller standing reach than most NBA C's. Like I said above, same as Oden's, higher than Boguts, higher than Tyson Chandler's. Hes a Ben Wallace type athlete. Right now Bismack doesn't have the bulk of a Ben Wallace but he does have the freakish all-muscle-no-fat physique and looks like he can add weight.
He looked god awful finishing in that video, however. Centers can be terrible offensive players in the NBA. Look at Chandler, Perkins, Joel Anthony, Okafor, Ben Wallace, etc. That said, I bet those guys would all do much better in the drills than Bismack did. I know hes just an 18 year old and only been at it a few years but damn, its his full time job and he can't even hit an open baby hook from 2 feet out? That's pretty awful.
All in all I still think hes worth a shot in the 6-12 pick range. I'd be happy if my Warriors drafted him. Hes a boom or bust pick. He seems to have some rebounding and defensive instincts and he seems like a guy who plays with passion. If the background check says hes 18 and a hard worker then hes a nice gamble to take.
