Power forward

now, coming to you live from Dallas, Texas.

Starting at Power Forward, out of the University of Notre Dame, number 45, Adrienne.

And now, starring in a show of different strokes, not Gary Coleman, but Dudley.

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And I wanted to share it with you because it has some wide application.

You could be coaching Power Forward, Division I sports at a very high level.

You could be at a small school, Division III, NAIA.

No matter which venue you are a coach at, this generation of recruits, as you take them through the process, as they go through the process, it is almost identical in terms of how they react and what gets them, most importantly, from step one to step two to step three and on down the road.

I would've loved to see CMB playing that play style for a much longer period of time, as evidenced by the huge jump in points per game, almost double, 14.4 points per game in the playoffs, 2.4 assists, 6.4 rebounds, and almost two and a half stocks, 65% from the floor.

This was hyper-impressive from him, and the big question, I think, is obviously, and we'll get through this in the podcast, but he was drafted out of South Carolina as, like, an initiating, not necessarily a point forward, but definitely a bucket getter at the power forward position.

And defensively, I think he obviously, everybody saw early on that he was great in the playoffs.

He was great.

You can see limitations in regards to size guarding at the center position, which we'll talk a little bit more going forward.

But the big jump that he made was, I think, giving you a center's finishing efficiency and scoring package out of a six-foot-six, six-foot-seven power forward, and that meant that the Raptors got to use him as a release valve on the inside of the court, and Scottie really got to use him as his dunker spot choice, his weapon to pass into there, and the Raptors actually got really high points per possession out of a paint scorer who is six foot six, six foot seven.

So that was a huge, huge thing that he did because that was not what he did during the regular season necessarily.

Uh, that was not what he did in South Carolina necessarily.

The coaching staff has to be smart about load management to keep Wemby fresh for the playoffs.

Let's pivot to another battle, the power forward spot, who is starting alongside Wemby.

This is tricky.

You want someone who can rebound and defend bigger bodies, but also have the range to pull opposing centers out to the three-point line.

A

special place, you know, in my heart for all undersized power forwards.

That's right.

That's right.

Who, thinking of your playing days up at St. Francis, you are what, what do you call yourself? About 6'2"? You may be listed at 6'3 on the program back in the day, but who are some of the better power forwards you played against?

Better power forwards I played against? Yeah, we're just going to dive right into it because these You know, we don't have to get into

our lists yet, just unless they're on the list.

That was, you know, interesting because, you know, the part of the homework assignment I found the hardest of talking about these guys is, you know, I only really feel comfortable talking about players I've either seen or played against, you know, obviously, you know, both of you played against them.

So the upside here is...

Minnesota has this player who just figures it out in Minnesota, kind of like Sam Darnold figured it out with the Vikings almost, where he just puts it together on this team and he does all the things that they need him to win at that power forward spot, allow Jaden to play more defensive roles because he could play on the perimeter as well in Kaminga.

And be a guy who just provides an upside transition and some tertiary scoring.

That upside is there.

When I was really scouting just his analytics and things of that nature, The idea felt like a great fit, and now I'm more confident that it can be a good fit as long as everybody's aligned because, according to Basketball Index, in terms of rebounding talent, he's top ten percentile for his position both offensively and defensively.

On a crafted NBA, he's 81st percentile in defensive versatility.

Those are things you want at Power Forward in Minnesota.

Athleticism, versatility, and rebounding.

But we've seen Rui Hachimura start next to Luka Da and Chichen Austin Reeves.

We've seen Rui Hachimura thrive as a starter in LeBron James' absence at Power Forward, even if he doesn't necessarily fill all of the holes we want him to fill from a dynamic 3&D perspective.

He has held up pretty well in JJ Redick's system, and Rui Hachimura is a guy that we can literally claim as a guy that we brought up from being like a mid-range jump shooter to like one of the best three-point shooters in the NBA.

And that includes his volume.

What the fuck? Savike.

So the international, the Turkish power forward goes number eight to the lightning.

Ryan, talk us through these three picks.

Jesus, we're flying.

It's, it's, it, they do that a lot.

But the problem with him, I think, is he's not athletic.

He's only a power forward.

He's just not my kind of guy, so it's hard for me to really like him.

And it's all on USC tickets.

Lincoln Rally 6-1 against the spread in the first two weeks against Group of Six competition at USC.

This number is getting a little bit out of hand.

It's not to 40 yet, but it certainly seems like a number that could be gotten.

It Which is kind of crazy considering that over 60% of the tickets are on Stanford.

Which means there's a lot of actual money on Hawaii.

Timmy Chang 3-0 against the spread in his first game against Power Forward competition.

Like in the last three seasons.