I think one of the biggest knocks against Patty’o was that he had a bad work ethic. But mostly I think he came into the wrong system and he might just do ok with the Celtics. Plus he isn’t coming into the Celtics as the #9 pick so the expectations are obviously low.

played well for us in the preseason last year too

You should look back at the previous fanposts on POB. We had a few recent ones that i’m sure you can easily find. A lot of Warriors fans have already given up on Patrick because of how bad he was in Golden State, and because of how they worship everything that Nellie says. Me however, I still believe in Patrick and i’m confident he’ll develop into a good player under Doc and KG. Your team is very lucky to have him, he’s a diamond in the rough.

…to be of the mind that his talents were obvious, his alleged lack of work ethic was, at least in game, not particularly obvious, and that Don Nelson giving up on a player is blatantly obvious. I like Don Nelson, and I’d argue he’s a legendary coach by any objective measure. That said, his mentality about basketball is simply not helpful in terms of developing a true center prospect like O’Bryant. There are extreme arguments to be made on both sides; Nelson’s detractors will insist he’s poison for rookies, which is probably more damning than need be. I would certainly argue that rookie big men, by virtue of Nelson’s system, aren’t liable to get much burn. Granted Chris Webber had a great rookie year under Don, but we all know how that turned out, and Dirk Nowitzki didn’t particularly set the league ablaze his first year. But, I’m veering off onto a tangent, here.

O’Bryant has a few areas in which his physical stature make him a plus player presuming even a modest amount of effort on his part. He has otherworld reach, I seem to remember the scouting report saying he had one of the best wingspans in the NBA. He’s a legitimate seven footer, which seems to be important as I understand it. While he got all too few minutes for us, I saw enough of his play to get the impression that he has a number of unrefined but instinctually sound post moves, and he flashed a pretty looking hookshot now and again. He has somewhat impressive vertical lift given his size, and on a strong inside team could be a very productive rebounder. His shotblocking instincts aren’t very good, but he’s still such a rangy body that he should be able to get a few swats on help defense. Ideally, the dream scenario for somebody built like O’Bryant would be to try to learn the Skyhook; I seem to remember hearing that he’d fooled around with it at one time or another, but if there’s anybody who can convince him to devoting a whole summer to it, that could really be something special.

Given the locker room that the Celtics have, as well as the example set by Garnett for those big men, I expect a good solid year for O’Bryant, and if he gets enough chances, I think he could supplant Kendrick Perkins over the next few years.

POB had the chance to prove himself by dominating the D league. He failed to impress there, so why would Nellie expect him to do much in the NBA? He may have been pissed or depressed, but at some point his pride or his agent would have told him he better kick ass down there. A “legitimate” 7-footer should be able to average a dbl-dbl in D league.

Not certain what his 3rd year salary would have been if the Dubs guaranteed it, but it was at least double what the celtics paid. It’s possible they got a deal. And we certainly saved cap space.

Don Nelson
+
7 foot raw rookie he didn’t draft
=
warm bench

It’s that simple. Have fun with your not terrible to halfway decent 7th man best case scenario backup center. And I mean that in a jealous way.

you guys have a good player for an extremely cheap price. It is a no-loss situation for u guys. He wasn’t given a chance with nelli-ball and he has developed pretty nicely. I think he will be pretty good for u guys.