Quote:
Originally Posted by HispanicCausinPanic
He plays like a guy that will play the rest of his career in Europe!
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Ouch!
That said, you may be right, HCP. He's young, though, so there's still time.
Comparing him to Kidd right now, their defense against small and quick PGs is probably equally bad, though Kidd gets the nod defending pretty much anyone else. And, Kidd is also pretty magical with the ball on offense, while Koponen seems... somewhat less than magical but decent. The one thing really in Koponen's favor is that he's currently a better shooter than Kidd's ever been.
So how well might Koponen fit with the Blazers anytime soon? I'd say not too well. I don't get the impression he's particularly better skilled as a PG than Blake or Roy, and even Fernandez may be ahead of him. He's also not the defender that either Blake or Roy are, and I doubt he's better than Fernandez. Presuming Pritchard manages to bring in someone
like (though not) Harris, at best Koponen would be the fifth guard, and though he's tall enough to potentially get minutes at SG, I suspect Webster and others would get SG minutes ahead of him.
My best guess is that he becomes trade bait -- or that he plays out his career in Europe, as HCP said.