FanPost

Victor Oladipo and my thoughts on the draft

It seems like there is a sizable minority of fans out there convinced that despite the obvious conflict/overlap with Bradley Beal, Victor Oladipo is going to be the best player to come out of this draft, and the Wizards should take him at #3 if he is still there (which seems likely). Wanting to know what all the fuss was about, I finally watched the Oladipo Draft Express video. Having not seen the guy play during the season it's all I've seen, so take what I say with a grain of salt. Putting my thoughts out here to start a discussion and hopefully get some info from other BF folks who have seen him play a bit more.

He is an impressive athlete, and an impressive finisher. But I have a hard time imagining his game having the same sort of effect at the pro level. SO MANY of the plays in the video feature Oladipo finishing at the rim, either in transition, using his quickness slashing to the basket or using his strength to power over weaker players. But I just don't think the same kind of holes/space exists in the NBA (especially in the playoffs). His athleticism won't be as much of an advantage (better athletes at the NBA level), players are bigger and NBA big men are much more skilled than the average college big man.

His real success/failure seems like it's going to be predicated on how "real" his jumper can be. His catch and shoot stats are encouraging. But it's hard to say. Playing for us he would certainly need to improve his handles so that he can create his own shot a bit more, particularly because he would likely have to do some time at small forward, and being undersized for the position would have a hard time getting off shots...

That said, his defense is very encouraging. A question for anyone who watched him during the year, how did he fare going against bigger players? Is there a possibility that he could guard SFs in the league? If he can, then playing a 3 guard lineup at times could work. The most important question is whether he can guard the other team's SF, right? I imagine he'd do fine against many. And then if teams go big against us and it's a matchup he can't handle we can use Singleton (thinking not so much about next year but "the future"). When there's a size mismatch at SF it's potentially an advantage or advantage for either team. As much as it could be a problem for us having a small SF going against a bigger one it could equally be a problem for the other team with a big SF going against a small one. It's a question of talent and circumstance, really. But as long as we have another option on the bench with more size at SF then we could just shift Oladipo to the 2nd unit in those situations and watch him dominate.

In the end, I think Oladipo could work in Washington. But I don't look at his game and see him as "the next MJ" or anything close to it. He'll be a good player. But he doesn't seem any better than Otto Porter to me, just different. Porter's shot looked great in that (very short) workout video. And his mentality fits with what the team is trying to build. That said, I'd be happy with either pick. Or Alex Len. A true big man that can shoot could become a big problem in the league with the right coaching . Anthony Bennett seems problematic. The things he does well he does very well but I think there's too many big issues there around conditioning, work ethic, defense and mentality. He will be a good player in the league, but I don't think it will be on his rookie contract and it may very well not be for the team that drafts him.

Anyway, thems my thoughts. Tell me why I'm wrong, please. :)

This represents the view of the user who wrote the FanPost, and not the entire Bullets Forever community. We're a place of many opinions, not just one.