ballocks

yeah, from what i saw, it was based in ignorance. but with maury's 'opinion' (or wishful thinking, however you want to see it), it'd be on a better balance. the guys tonight were scared of his defense, but maury would be quick to point out that he "led the italian league in blocks". i mean, the truth (from what i've seen) lies somewhere in between:

he's not harmful on the defensive end. he won't break you down into a zone, and he probably wouldn't even require a consistent double team off the perimeter. that said, he won't be swatting kobe into the crowd, either, and he won't be providing any kind of an intimidating, interior presence (imo). i see him in the middle somewhere (for now), which ain't bad for a 20 yo. his defense should not be subjected to criticism at the moment, imo. his fundamentals right now (imo) happen to be in line with those of josh boone, who is not only being given the benefit of the defensive doubt today, but is in fact being praised for his work in the paint on the def side of the ball.

i don't know if andrea'll ever make all-league all-defense, but he won't ever hurt you like dirk nowitzki, for example- of that i am (sort of) sure.

peace

l2owen

good because i care 0 .

neoxsupreme

Congrats Raps fans on the Bargnani pick. I think BC made the right choice. He'll be a good player.

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melo4life

i cant wait to see andrea bargnani play i reckon he will be awesome!

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narrator

Good pick, in my opinion.

Re: Bilas and the ESPN guys... they discount him because he's not American. I found it hilarious, watching the comments live, that they said Bargnani wasn't a good athlete. He plays pro basketball! Clearly he has some athletic ability. Also, concerns about him contributing right away are amiss since he played big minutes in the third best league in the world (that would be Italy, just so you know).

I like this pick. I think it'll work out well and it'll be fun to count the number of number 11/Bargnani jerseys next year.

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neoxsupreme

Yeah I just watched the BC interview on NBA.com broadband & he said that Andrea is actually 7'1", 250 lbs which kind of surprised me. He's bigger than Dirk & from the videos I've seen of him he may be even a better mover than Dirk. He's already more athletic & better defensively than Dirk was when he came into the league. Great pick. BC made a good pt about the direction the league is going in w/ multiskilled big men becoming very valuable in their contributions to winning.

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mo76

From the limited footage of bargiani, I would say he lacks athletic ability also. Im still glad the raptors picked him though. Great shooter and skilled bigman.

southeasy

i wanted aldridge over bargnani, ill be the first to tell you that, but i like this pick, andrea went right up against bosh at 18 in a preseason game and had like 13 points & 10rebounds vs. Toronto

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Divine Spammer

I had a white night.
It was nice to watch a draft once, though.
Glad for the pick, but I wonder how the team will do with the front court logjam we currently have.

David Blatt was interviewed on Israli TV and said that ESPN's 225 is a bad joke.
Said Bargnani is 245lbs, 2.12m (6'11'' and a half. don't know how to write the half..).
He also said that Bargnani deveopment was supervised by one of the best athletic trainer in europe, and that AB shouldn't be bulked too much.

David also claimed that AB is one of the most special talents he's seen in quite some time, and that Andrea isn't arrogant and doesn't have a big ego.
Said he's a terrific guy to have in the locker room.

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italianBBlover

Andrea is already on the mainpage of all the italian media on the web ... and it's only early morning

And I wait to see the after midday and evening TV news

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babcock_sux

I'm on the fence on this pick. He's not going to be in the calibre of Dirk, but who is? I hope AB adapts better than Darko did.

Best player in the draft 10 years from now are going to be brandon roy and ty thomas

CrimsonShadows

I don't understand how people keep making comments like that.

How do you know what's going to happen in ten years? Or exactly what calibre of player AB will be? Roy and Thomas could both be out of the league in 4 years. And the same for AB.

Let's at least let these guy play a few games before making these types of statements.

GuelphRaptorsFan

I'm satisfied with this pick. Of the two of them, I think Aldridge would have been a better fit, he's closer to being ready to play center than Bargnani is. But I can buy the BPA argument at this stage in the Raptors' development.

spinz