but someone will pay him to be starter.

Regarding Hansborough, take it away mr. Chad Ford.

For the first time since his freshman season, Hansbrough is no longer in our top 30. He hasn’t been able to bounce back from an early injury and his rebounding numbers are the worst of his college career. Said one NBA executive, “What can I do with an undersized power forward who isn’t athletic and doesn’t rebound?”

That feeling is shared by many NBA executives who feel Hansbrough will have, at best, a Mark Madsen-type impact in the league. It’s still not out of the question that he goes late in the first round, but all of the talk about him being a late-lottery to mid-first-round pick is over.

The guy to target in the draft, if we can get him, is Pitt’s DeJuan Blair.

Freeland seems like a good option, the potential problem being that an Euro team might offer him more money. You have to like his per minute production over there though.

The good: Still only 23 despite in his fourth year. The guy cares for winning games and will play physical under the basket, he rarely takes a night off. Used to playing 15 to 20 minutes, but occasionally gets a lot more. Has stabilized/repeated his high FG% and TS% from last year at about 49 and 56 helped by a solid midrange jumpshot (good form, somewhat inconsistent). Can dribble and finish well with either hand, allowing him to even drive to the rim in isolation plays often over the left baseline side. Very quick and high second jump to secure a tipped rebound. Had four double-doubles this season. Very solid from the free throw line, consistently over 80%. Not foul prone for an undersized guy at somewhat around 1.5PFs per game likely due to his lateral quickness. Very strong, you can’t easily push him out of the way on offense or defense in post ups.

The bad: At 6’8’’ he is definitely undersized for the PF spot. Unable to block or contest shots taller athletes could. Doesn’t really have a go-to move that he can always rely on. Should never take a three point shot again (has missed every single one so far). While he can find the open man when he gets stuck in traffic is just a mediocre passer. Good understanding of team defense, but makes the occasional dumb play.

The other: Attainable. He is an unrestricted free agent. Dallas likes him a lot, but they are over the cap even if they let Kidd go for nothing. They only have his “Early Bird Rights” to go over the cap to re-sign their own free agent, since originally he was drafted by the Hornets, who gave up on him (he had entered the draft clearly too early) and he signed with the Mavs in 2007 as a free agent. Which means they could offer him 175% of his previous salary (which is very low at $825,000; so not interesting) or the average player salary (whichever is greater). So no matter what they use, the most they can offer him is effectively the MLE (the average salary an NBA player makes). Which in a simplified form is also what he is worth, a little more than the average player, with a current PER of 16.2 ;-)

P.S.: I would definitely try to bring Joel Freeland over anyway no matter which other player is retained or acquired. I assume if KP can convince him to come over, the Blazers will do it, if only to have an upgrade in training to pitch guys against and give spot minutes to. The guy is younger than e.g. Hansbrough, has much better athletic abilities and has more upside (still learning the game).

Another player someone might want to look at in detail is Charlie Villanueva. He is currently one of the better ranked PFs (top 10 in PER), and as was discussed before the deadline Milwaukee will have big trouble to keep Sessions AND Jefferson AND Villanueva.

he will not be a good NBA player.

i like wither bass or frieland

amirite jksnake99?

Interesting topic.

Varajeo would be a great pick up, but chances are the Cavs would trump the Blazers’ offer, and regardless of any bad blood with the front office Andyman likes playing a key role for a championship contending franchise. If the Blazers could get him, though, he’d be a great piece to provide even more depth.

Maybe I don’t watch enough college ball, but I will never understand the prevailing wisdom on Hansborough. There’s a list a mile long of players who dominated the boards in college, but weren’t considered tall enough or athletic enough to do it in the pros. Guess what? Many of them (Milsap, Landry, Love) are currently doing it in the pros.

I don’t see how TH is any different. His lack of athleticism is widely discussed but overrated. He gets off the floor quick, and I’ve seen him dunk with his head at the rim. Somebody name me another inside player (perimeter guys are different) who dominated the glass in college and couldn’t make an NBA rotation.

That being said, I’m all for bringing Freeland over and seeing what we’ve got. His scouting report sounds like just what the doctor ordered. He’s an athletic rebounder/defender who can finish around the bucket and won’t jack a twenty footer every time he has three feet of separation. Sign me up.

Bass and, especially, Blair are also interesting. Bass is solid, but he’s more of a bench scorer than a meat and potatoes guy. To whatever extent Blair slips due to lack of size, that’s amazing, considering his wingspan is 7’3". He’ll be an impact guy in the league.

I would be in favor of one or more of the following:
1) make a move up in the draft to get Blair
2) bring Freeland over
3) draft TH

Bass, Lee, Millsap. However, these all are probably going to sign with their respective teams. Varejao would be good, but I think he’ll ask for a lot more than he’s actually worth. Two guys if you can get for cheap that might be worth looking at are Chris Andersen and Chris Wilcox.

Tyler Hansbrough’s rebounds per game two years ago: 7.8

Tyler Hansbrough’s rebounds per game last year: 7.9

Tyler Hansbrough’s rebounds per game this season: 10.2

Hansbrough’s RPG has jumped by nearly two and a half this season. He is also North Carolina’s ALL-TIME SCORING LEADER. You do not get that way by being unathletic. Psycho T is one of the most tenacious players I have ever seen. He is a leader and an unrelenting worker. He is averaging the most minutes, points and steals (1.5 SPG) this season.

Chad Ford obviously gets paid to salivate over teenage Euro boys with “length”. If I could get paid to salivate over Euro girls with exemplary measurements, that would be pretty cushy. However, I think I’d watch some film on them as well.

1.) Drew Gooden, 27, 6’10" 250 established rebounder, scorer, enforcer
2.) Channing Frye, 25, 6’11" 245 good stroke, athleticism, character
3.) Eduardo Najera, 32 6’8" 240 good defender, scrapy hustle player too old
4.) Anderson Varejao, 26 6’11" 260 solid defender and high athleticism
5.) Carl Landry, 25, 6’9" 245 sneaky offensive skills strong body
6.) Brandon Bass, 23 6’8" 240 strong body and decent skills
7.) Leon Powe, 24, 6’8" 240 great skills on both ends of the floor

Now this doesn’t even get into the potential 8 or so Power Forwards who are slated to go in the mid to late first round of the next draft. Obviously KP needs time to look at who he is gonna target….

But boy are there a lot of options.