Is there a huge difference between AJ Hammons and Big Kat?

Love the HamBone ... we need a Big that doesn't get pushed around down low ... Him or Onuaku fit the bill!

I dont know if you follow baseball. If you watch a 24 yr old kid mash the ball in AAA, nobody gets excited. He should at 24. If you watch a 21 yr old kid mash the ball at AAA, get excited.

If you look at the numbers that Mike Trout put in AAA, they are impressive, but not unheard of. Some good, but not great, OF'ers had very similar numbers when they went through AAA. The difference, Trout was 19 at the time and the average MLB OF'ers were like 24. If you are 24 you are on the old side to be playing AAA, so I would expect you to play well.

Basketball isnt as statistically driven as baseball, but the concept still applies. KAT is 21. That means when he was 20, he was a very good NBA player. He wasnt just a great rookie last year, he was (at least) a very good player. A 20 yr old standing out among grown men in their primes? Very impressive. Hammons is like 23-24, playing among 19-20 yr olds. So you have to take the production w a grain of salt. Its easy to overrate seniors. Especially because the average age of an NCAA player has plummeted due to so many of them trying to one-and-done the NCAA. Im not a great scout. If you think there is something there that trumps the general rule that I've put forth above, there may be something there. You would know better than I , as you are a far better scout. But there has to be something that starts with:

"I know that we shouldnt get too excited for prospects that shine when playing against younger kids, but I think that this kid is special because...."

And you really cant see its because he looks like x when playing against college kids, 2-3 crucial years younger. I would like Duncan playing against 11 yr olds (maybe)

Who needs Okafor or Noel? Look at this dude!!!!
He is what I call a complete center he's not a stretch 5 because he can also ground-and-pound in the paint traditional center style.
I declare Hammons to be better than Sabonis!
Because of his superior height, reach, strength, and hops. All other skills are about even.

I think it's quite a risk to think he'll make it to the second round!
This means we have to take Thon Maker at 16 in my opinion.

#3 Hield
#16 Maker
#23 Hammons(Could be better than Chriss!)

This guy will not be there at #23. Nevermind making it to the second round!

Hmmm, Hammons can be Boogie Cousins .... See Chad Ford Media Report;


On A.J. Hammons (C)

As far as talent goes, he is extremely talented. He is a gifted big man, and if you’re talking just on talent, he would have been drafted in the lottery. As far as a big man that maybe he has some like DeMarcus Cousins in him and how he plays and how he sees the game.

The question for him is many of the same things that have plagued DeMarcus Cousins over the years like commitment, conditioning, playing hard all the time, being a good teammate. He didn’t produce like DeMarcus Cousins produced at Kentucky, too. A lot of it was a little bit more theoretical. DeMarcus Cousins was a big-time scorer and producer as a freshman at Kentucky, and A.J. really didn’t start to produce at a high level until his senior year this year at Purdue.

... so there’s the conundrum with A.J. The fact that he’s 23 years old, and there’s still questions about his maturity and still questions about his commitment, but that you see the skill set that is so enticing and so attractive that teams want to take him. I’ve talked to a number of teams about him, and I think he’s one of the most difficult prospects to pick. If I told you every team in the league liked him, that wouldn’t be an exaggeration. They love the skill set and if I also told you that every team in the league is afraid to take him, that also wouldn’t be an exaggeration. So where does that end up? I think it ends up probably in the second round where the risk is less and the guaranteed money is less and teams can use that lack of guaranteed money as a way to try to motivate a player by basically saying, look, every year you have to produce or your contract ends, right, as opposed to a guaranteed deal that you get in the first round that can protect you a minimum of two years and most of the time three or four.

... if you can’t defend anybody, it’s hard to make a living. The Sixers are figuring that out right now with Jahlil Okafor, who they would like to trade and get another pick in the draft, that they are having a hard time trading him, and it’s not because Jahlil Okafor is not a good player, because he is. He’s a really good player and he actually had a really good rookie season. It’s because teams aren’t trying to play that style anymore, and they want to play fast and they want versatility and they want guys that can face the basket and pass and do all those things, and so it is a harder miss for them. I will say A.J. in some ways has more of those skills than Okafor does, which to me is just a pure, back to the basket, brilliant in the post sort of player. I think A.J. actually brings a little bit more basketball skill, maybe not production but skill to the game.



I want Maker ahead of Hammons for a LT developmental prospect and acknowledge to get him a 1st round pick will need to be used but if not acquiring both and it was either one or the other, I'd take Hammons for the near term over Maker long term.

He could be Boogie, or he could be Upshaw. I'd take a chance with a second rounder.

Did Hammonds have a workout with the C's? I like his game as well.

Who said 1st round?

He has to be taken #31 or the Lakers could take him ... can't wait till 35 or 45.

Word around is that Toronto have their eyes set on Maker at 27 before us. I dont doubt this. He trained in Canada and Toronto likes picking International players. I hope he falls to us but doubt it.

I like Damian Jones over Hammons