ballocks

the reactions of teams and players (and especially coaches) to andrea's game remind me of the reactions to pavel podkolzine's 2003 draft workout (before he pulled out). it's a... human body you don't expect to be able to do what it can do. he's 7' tall. the precedent has been set in the league and throughout the world- 7 footers usually do some things and usually don't do others. you have expectations for them, their limitations and their potential. andrea's managed to turn some of those things upside-down, leading to the floored reactions we see on the court and sidelines regularly.

for one thing, the guy can shoot. we know that. but he can handle the ball- already much better than chris, imo- and see floor on the run. that's... really not common. when shaq used to do that, for example, he was doing it because he was having fun- not because he was particularly comfortable or effective while doing it. of course, he would talk about how adept he was in the open floor but he was speaking more from his personal fantasy land (hopefully). he didn't look like a 'good' basketball player with the ball, he just looked like a big basketball player with the ball. but when andrea moves, his body looks like it doesn't suffer the same physical drawbacks that other players of his size would suffer (although granted, he's nowhere near shaq- or pavel-size). he's like a guard who grew into a centre after he had already built a strong skillset and established his body in an athletic tone. he's the best of both worlds, in other words, and you don't see that too often.

i wonder if the european mindset lends itself to this kind of player. is it a coincidence that dirk and andrea are the two most confusing physical gems in the league? if they were brought up in north america, i think there would've been a greater chance that they'd have altered their chosen path of development and ultimately become more... typical.

players like shaq, for instance, as much as they'd love to believe otherwise, are poor shooters primarily because they didn't practice shooting as much (or feel the need to practice shooting as much) as they were learning the game. when 'they' do it now, it often looks like 'they're' doing it for the first time. and they probably are- not for the first time, no, but i bet they've only done it a tiny fraction of the times that their smaller counterparts have. why? i don't have the answer to that one.

regardless, it seems like andrea's built his talents with a focus on different goals than his 7' friends in north america. i bet he practiced playing with the ball and running when he was in his driveway, and didn't just look up at the rim and say, "hey man, i can probably stuff the ball in the basket every time- far out! i'm going to do it! why waste my time with this other nonsense?"

i think that different approach, along with his physical gifts like speed and agility, have produced a player we haven't seen the likes of in this league. for that reason i'd find it hard to set expectations for him this early. i just don't know what he could be because i've never seen it before. we talk about nowitzki but i haven't seen many similarities myself. i think andrea's far different than dirk. the only reason we mention the comparison is because nowitzki can also shoot from the outside, but that's oversimplified imo. it's like comparing tim hardaway to caron butler because they have effective crossovers. imo, andrea can probably become a more natural rebounder than dirk, for one thing, and certainly a more menacing defensive presence than the relatively lead-footed nowitzki.

by the way, where is pavel these days? running up and down the floor in front of the scouts, bombing threes, and still being 7'6". man, that was the stuff of myth.

peace