He plays like a guy that will play the rest of his career in Europe!
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.
Here are some posts from when I was discussing Koponen with JonathanL and scipio, who have seen him play a lot. Hope this give you a little better idea of what Kop has been up to.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JonathanL
From what I have seen, Petteri has had a solid season. He's been able to gain a little muscle mass and strength to help him on the defensive end. I thinks his overall defensive-awareness has been better along with being able to stay in front of his man better. He is serving his military duty this season, which must have interfered with his practice regime at times. Sometimes you can see a player's level of play drop significantly during their military service (which is mandatory in Finland), but Petteri is one of the few who have been able to keep up their level and become better during this difficult time. I'm sure he's had quite a bit more freedom conserning his opportunities to practice than a regular Finnish player, but his progress has, nonetheless, been impressive.
His shooting has been solid all season. Of course you have to keep in mind that the three-point line is around three feet closer to the basket than in the NBA. He has also been solid at taking the ball to the hoop, but his tendency to over-dribble has been a concern. A lot of it is probably due to Honka's style of play, but Petteri has a habit of dribbling the ball in-place until there's very little time left on the shot-clock and either shoot or pass to a team mate who is forced to take the shot immediately (in his worst day his play can be reminiscent of Damon Stoudamire, which raises some concern). In his defense, most of the time he's not like Damon at all. Most of the time his play-making ability is way above average. As of today, he seems to be a tweener in the NBA. Petteri is probably 6'6' in shoes and has decent quickness, but of course, nothing like the smaller PGs in the NBA. He is not naturally suited to play the 2 on offence, and on defense he would have terrible difficulties guarding the bigger and more athletic 2s. He has time on his side, since he is only 19, and I believe he will, in the future, be a solid rotation player in the NBA.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scipio
Oh it's both. Honka sends a steady dose of high screens for Petteri during the game and let the play develop from there. Sometimes he drives to the cowd and getting to's but most of the time he's making the correct decision. But obviously there is some room for improvement and it should come through getting more experience. Honkas coach is also very involved in developing Petteri so he's propably playing like this just to give him more responsibility and putting him into a position to lead the team and make decisions even if it sacrifices few games here and there.
Assist have been discussed and you won't get assist if you kick the ball out for open three. And you won't get an assist if you feed the post and the post player has to make a move to get past the defender. You get them only if results directly to an open layup basically.
The guys Petteri is going against are pretty much all former college players who have been professionals for a while so they really are not that bad.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JonathanL
Great handles, either hand. Very few ball-handling turn-overs. He's very accomplished at creating jump shots for himself, but his lack of strength limits his ability to drive to the hoop. Check the shot-chart: http://tinyurl.com/24sfq4 . His money shot is the three-pointer from the middle. His mid-range game isn't all that great, but the mid-range game in Europe is less essintial than in the NBA because of the shorter three-point line. Not many people shoot the mid-range shot regularly. I think, at the moment, his court vision looks worse than it actually is due to the tactics of Honka. The team has quite a few tall shooters, so much of the offense is either drive-and-kick or three-pointers off screens. Honka doesn't really have a strong low-post player on the team this year so the team is very perimeter-oriented. In short: right now, Koponen's play-making in half court offence is pretty much passing the ball to the open man on the perimeter or kicking it out on the drive.
His ability to manage and finish the fast-break, I think, is exceptional for a player of his age. He makes very few bad choices in a fast-break situation and finishes with strong lay-ups when necessary.
He is a decent enough defender: on some night, excellent even. But I have to say he uses his hands on defence way too much, which leads to occasional foul trouble. Sometimes, when matched against a small PG, he gets driven by too easily and he isn't good at recovering to position in a situation like that. What I would like to see more of him in a situation like that is being able to recover, get in front of his man and stop the drive with his body, instead of resulting to either trying to swipe the ball or fouling. He is sometimes lost on rotations and team defence, but nothing much to worry about, in my opinion. I think he takes about the right amount of risks: he rarely plays the passing lanes aggressively. What I respect is his hustle and toughness, both rarely found in a player his age playing in the adult level.
Sorry, I have seen way too little of Portland this year to comment on the system and the way Koponen might fit. At the moment, Koponen has a weak off-the-ball game. He is a true point guard, a floor general who must have the ball in his hands to be able to create. His best off-the-ball asset is the spot-up three-pointer from the middle.
In Honka's system this year, Koponen has the ball in his hands for the most parts of the game. In fact, I was considering calculating his usage rate this year if I can find the time, so those unable to watch him play would be able to get a picture of his rate of posession usage. I don't think Koponen could manage minutes at the two guard in the NBA at the moment. An ideal situation for him would most likely be playing behind an established veteran point guard. The only situation in which I could see him playing minutes at the 2 would be with a point guard who plays off the ball well and who relies on other players' play-making. Off the top of my head, Koponen could probably be part of a back-court with guys like Antonio Daniels or your very own Steve Blake.
Edit: sorry, I realize the questions weren't directed to me. I just wanted to share my opinions.
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.
PK was measured at just over 6'2 barefoot at last years Nike hoop summit, which makes him tall enough to play SG in the same sense that Jack is.
At only 19, I thought he looked like a pretty intriguing prospect the one game I saw him play in last years summer league. Good size and athleticism for PG and an outside stroke... definitely displayed a fearless scorer's mentality. I think he has potential to be effective both in pick and rolls and as a spot up shooter. He's supposed to have improved his body/conditioning a lot in the last year too. I love reading that he's been a leader on his clubs thus far and a total gym rat. What I want to see this summer is how well he can move his feet on D.
I wouldn't put a cap on what his upside is for next season like you did with your "at best" comment any more then I'd say he'll never make it over. I definitely don't see Jack and Sergio as entrenched so dude will have an opportunity to show what he can do this summer, but heres guessing he has a decent shot of sticking.
For what it's worth, a year back draftexpress compared him to Beno Udrih
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I wouldn't put a cap on what his upside is for next season like you did with your "at best" comment any more then I'd say he'll never make it over. I definitely don't see Jack and Sergio as entrenched so dude will have an opportunity to show what he can do this summer, but heres guessing he has a decent shot of sticking.
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I hear you. To clarify, I was only talking about next season but even there you're right -- it's possible he could beat out someone like Blake. As HCP says, though, it seems like the team would be talking about him more if there were anything more than a remote possibility.
Hey lets do a comparison on Petteri Koponen..
That said, you may be right, HCP. He's young, though, so there's still time. 
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