4 replies to this topic

[coachx]

Well, now there is a center I'd draft in the 20's for the Hawks.


Talk about natural shot blocker with tall standing reach ! Ezeli also has a little mean streak that seemed to be missing in guys like Alabi and Whitesside when comparing centers in last years draft that Sund passed on.

http://espn.go.com/n...?playerId=38505

I was at the UGA / Vandy game Tuesday night in Athens. Ezeli is a legit 6'11'' with a very tall standing reach. The refs swallowed their whistles and allowed for a very physical game. This played right into the hands of Vandy's junior defensive minded center ( Ezeli ). He finished with 12 rebounds and 7 blocked shots to along with his 10 points without getting into any foul trouble. The fact that he is was not called for foul is a result of poor officiating and not for a lack of physical play.

I'm suprised he is not being mentioned as a 1st round bubble player or even on 2nd round mock drafts. He is better then Alabi, from FSU, last year in my opionion. Ezeli is definately bigger and stronger then Solomon Alabi was while having slightly better production.

A bonus is since he is at Vanderbilt you know he is a bright kid with their entry requirements.

I want him for his defense but here is a video of his offense:



Here he is as a as a freshman vs. Florida blocking a dunk and the dunking back a miss on the following offensive possession.


I wish I could find video of his defense from this season. That is what makes him so attractive. He not only blocks shots but he controls the paint and forces teams teams to become perimeter oriented. I expect to start seeing him appear in mock drafts real soon.

Edited by coachx, 18 February 2011 - 12:22 PM.

[hawksfanatic]

I can't help but think about Festivus for the rest of us.

[WakaFlocka]

I remembered this post when I was watching the Gators take down the Vols to wrap up the SEC yesterday. Ezeli had 3 or 4 blocks in the game, but he didn't strike me as that great of a man defender. Florida's big men (Maclin, Tyus, and Young) didn't seem very hesitant to take it to him.

[coachx]

WakaFlocka, on 06 March 2011 - 12:59 PM, said:

I remembered this post when I was watching the Gators take down the Vols to wrap up the SEC yesterday. Ezeli had 3 or 4 blocks in the game, but he didn't strike me as that great of a man defender. Florida's big men (Maclin, Tyus, and Young) didn't seem very hesitant to take it to him.

If that was the only game you saw him play then your missing a lot.
Vandy was out of gas.
It was their 3rd game in less then 48 hours. They played Thrus night , Fri night, and Saturday afternoon.  The Friday night game did not end until midnight and in that game Ezili banged with Miss St.'s 300 lb center all night. Vandy then tipped off 15 hours after that game ended.

The entire Vandy team was out of gas. The entire season they never p[layed more then 2 games in week. Then they force their bodies to play 3 games in less then 48 hours. I bet their legs felt like jello.......Ezili was still 7-9 onfor 17 points on offense with 9 rebounds and affected plenty of shots in the paint.

Florida did not play Thursady  night and their Friday night game ended at 9:00 instead of midnight like Vandy.

The Gators were the fresher team and it showed in those last 7 minutes.


My whole point of thread was that he is a talented 7 footer who was not even appearing in 2nd round mock drafts.

Edited by coachx, 13 March 2011 - 01:39 PM.

[dms269]

There was a great article about him in SI a couple of magazines back. He hasn't been playing that long so he still has some room to grow.