NBA Chat With Yannis 11/11/11

Join senior NCAA and NBA analyst Yannis Koutroupis for his weekly chat at 11 am EST on Friday November 11th. As always basketball questions from all levels are welcomed.

  1. Colin Dunne

    Don’t get to see a lot of College Ball in Australia. What do you think of Jared Sullinger? Potential? Is he a legit C in the NBA or more a PF? Could you give me an idea of his game, and perhaps compare him to some NBA players past or present that he may have a similar game to?

    • Yannis Koutroupis

      Welcome everyone to this week’s chat! Looks like we could be seeing a breakthrough on the labor situation soon. All we can do is hope, I know I’m personally tired of all this repetitive lockout talk. I don’t think I could take another few months of it. Thank goodness college basketball has started! Let’s get to the questions.

      Sullinger is a dominant college player, has been from day one. He’s a center at the collegiate level, but he’s too small to play that position in the NBA in my opinion. He’ll have a really hard time dealing with the length of guys like Andrew Bynum and Tyson Chandler. He’s incredibly strong with great footwork and touch inside. He’s got a developing jump shot that he plans on using more this year from what I’ve heard. I’d liken him a bit to Big Baby, but with more upside.

  2. Steve

    Hey Yannis, what are your picks to make the final four, advance and win the title? Thanks!

    • Yannis Koutroupis

      I’m going to go with UConn, North Carolina, Kentucky and Memphis. I always like to throw a wild card pick in there and Memphis is that for me. I love their young talent and I think that Pastner is really a star waiting to explode on the sidelines. They came on strong late last year and I just have a feeling that experience, along with the addition of Adonis Thomas, will help them make a deep run. They were really close to knocking off Arizona last year.

  3. Keith

    With the current NBA proposal that the owners presented to the players. How does it affects the knicks and other teams under the cap, ability to go out and get a prize free agents?

    • Yannis Koutroupis

      From what I understand, it’s going to limit team’s ability to go out and get guys from other teams. Keeping star players in their market was a real sticking point apparently. So, the Knicks may have some issues in their way of getting Chris Paul this summer. That’s not to say that it’s going to be impossible, though.

  4. gus26

    odom, blake and bynum for bogut and jennings… who says no?

    • Yannis Koutroupis

      Lakers. Bynum isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Ownership and management plan on building around him for the next 10 years, they said as much while still managing to avoid the fine.

  5. john

    name your 10 breakout players this year

    • Yannis Koutroupis

      Not sure if you mean NBA or NCAA, so I’m going to give you five in both. NBA: George Hill, Serge Ibaka, JaVale McGee, J.J. Hickson and Marreese Speights. NCAA: Thomas Robinson, Patric Young, Aaron Craft, Seth Curry and Doron Lamb.

  6. rige

    will there be an all star game this year if they launch the season in december? if there is no season will there be rookies vs sophmors or rookies vs rookies game next year?

    • Yannis Koutroupis

      Great question, I’m not sure about that. In 1999 Stern cancelled All-Star Weekend, but they only had half a season. I’d be interested to see. I think there’s a chance it could get cancelled, or at least postponed.

  7. cj

    By all means I love ball, but if that means that players are going to be playing more back to back and less practise, I think it’ll be a mess. I think it was JVG who recalled the 99 lockout terrible in terms or basketball played.

    • Yannis Koutroupis

      Players have very little practice time in the season to begin with anyway. The loss of training camp will hurt, but that will effect the rookies and teams with new coaches more than anybody. But, let’s not forget that these guys are the best players in the world. Even when they’re not at their best, they’re still incredible to watch. I’m not sure how bad the back-to-backs are going to be. While there may be a few more, I don’t think it’s going to be twice a week or anything like that.

  8. Fred V.

    With the NBA wanting a hard cap, why hasn’t there been any talk about having a “floor” stipulating that the owners must spend a certain %? For what it’s worth, some teams only spent as little as $40 million on salary…no way anyone can be competitive with that.

  9. Maurice

    are there any under the radar SG that could go in the mid to late 1st round

    • Yannis Koutroupis

      Definitely, players will inevitably slip due to how much talent there could be in this draft class. John Jenkins fits that billing the most, along with a couple internationals.

  10. BSaintM

    Hey Yannis,

    With the potential for a 72 game season on the horizon what team do you think will benefit most from a shortened season?Even though its only ten games.

    • Yannis Koutroupis

      I don’t think anyone in particular really well. I don’t see it making that big of a difference to be honest. I can’t remember 10 games late in the season being the difference in a team capturing their championship form. Everyone will probably enjoy having less games equally.

  11. matt

    if indy is committed 2 keeping granger, then I would love it if my raps would deal bargs for george(+posey 4 salary reasons). george would actually play sf in toronto. indy wouldn’t have 2 sign a PF from free agency.

    • Yannis Koutroupis

      I don’t think Toronto management would be willing to make that trade. They think higher of Bargnani than that. Nothing against George. I’m high on his potential too.

  12. matt

    I feel sad that the only players on my raps who have solid trade value are DeRozan and Ed Davis. Bargs also has value but his contract is the only problem. also, Barbosa will be traded.

    • Yannis Koutroupis

      If Gilbert Arenas and Hedo Turkoglu can be traded, anyone can. Heck, maybe Otis Smith gives you Dwight Howard for those guys mentioned above. You never know with that guy.

  13. matt

    Do you think DeRozan can become a 25 pt, 5 rebound, 3 assist player, maybe a steal in there too?

    • Yannis Koutroupis

      25 points is a bit ambitious, maybe 19-21. The other stats I’ll sign off on.

  14. matt

    Ed Davis is already a better player than Bargnani. “But Bargs can shoot”. Ed is a vastly better rebounder, blocker, help defender and man 2 man defender, he also knows his limitations offensively + has a solid midrange shot that needs refinement

    • Yannis Koutroupis

      That doesn’t mean it’s time to ship off Bargnani in a bad deal.

  15. matt

    Amir Johnson for Jason Maxiell and Will Bynum. Raps save $ + Ed Davis gets more mins.Detroit gets a better player than Maxiell in Amir + unclogs their glut of guards

  16. Dave

    Hey, who would you say is harrison barnes’ nba comparison(past and current)?

  17. Jack

    Hey Yannis. I asked you about Marquis Teague earlier last week I believe. I just saw Kentucky landed Alex Poythress too. What are your thoughts on him, his game, and of course, immediate impact? I have very limited knowledge of his game..

    • Yannis Koutroupis

      He’s a long athletic three that can shoot and will thrive in Cal’s system. Great pickup for them.

  18. Jack

    One more question for you Yannis. We have heard Dwight publicly criticize coach SVG and the way he “motivates his team”. While SVG is by far the most successful coach the Magic franchise has seen, would you give him the boot just to appease Howard if he wanted him gone? (it might be a sort of dumb question, but look at the Brian Hill/Penny/Shaq dilemma.)

    • Yannis Koutroupis

      No, because I wouldn’t want to end up like the Cleveland Cavaliers, who lost a great coach in Mike Brown trying to do the same thing, only to lose their star player anyway.

      That’s going to do it for me this week folks. I’ll be back next week at the same time!