Anonymous
Years ago
Ekene Ibekwe NBA chances
We had the overreaction "Motum is crap thread".
I want to overreact the other way and make a bold statement the Ibekwe has a 15%+ chance of being on an opening day nba roster next season.
Positives
* He has an nba level skill in rim protection that is hard to find.
* He runs the floor well and more nba teams are playing the pace and space game.
* Teams pay big money for rim protection and an nba team will get him for the league minimum. They might even get him on one of those 76ers 4 year minimum wage deals that offers little guaranteed money.
* Lots of teams are looking for a Tyson Chandler light, to set pick and rolls and run hard to the hoop and catch lobs. He can do this in spurts.
* He is mobile enough to guard the pick n roll, especially with a team that "ices" the pick so he can hang back.
* His post game isn't great although teams are using the post up less and less.
* His mid range is decent enough that his man can't stand in the key while he is at the foul line.
* He seems to have a team first attitude and didn't complain about coming off the bench all year for the Breakers.
* Motum was close to being on an opening day roster.
* The Whiteside thing might give teams an incentive to look overseas for bigs that have developed their games in their mid 20s.