Ok, so I know obviously Pau Gasol is/was a Top 10-20 player in the league and Jan... Jan airballed his first free throw attempt. But before Pau Gasol was PAU GASOL, he was a skinny, athletic, hard-playing kid on a Real Madrid team that went to the ACB finals.

Take a look at this video and tell me you don't see the similarities. Gangly, skinny, weak handle, poor freethrow shooter - all the things we see Jan in a negative light, they're there. But look a little closer also - he's competing on the floor with grown men, he's hustling, he's playing hard, he's skying on the break, knows when to shoot - everything we see when we look at Jan with rose-colored glasses.

None of this is to suggest that Jan is going to be a Top-20 player at any point in his playing career. But, if things go right, I think it's pretty clear that Jan could have a long, productive playing career in the NBA. Chances are, as the things Jan does well are best appreciated on a "good" team with "high IQ" players, Jan's success may not be in DC if things keep going as they're going. But if the guy gets in the weight room, focuses becoming a passable freethrow shooter, refines some post moves and gets a mid-range J, he could be a pretty damn good player.

This is where the rest of you say "Yeah, but you just listed four things he has to do and the likelihood of his achieving those is how high?" To which I say yes, it's a lot he has to accomplish, but let's at least give him a season or two to show some improvement before we through the baby out with the bath water. If there's no improvement by the end of his rookie contract, we set him adrift as we did the White Hole (Big Oily). We've already sunk a cost into him (draft pick, guaranteed contract) - let's at least see if we can get a return on him.