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Marreese Speights Has a Player Option

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MDLT

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So what does everyone think of Speights - does he have real potential?
 
Re: Cavs Trade w/ Memphis (Speights, Selby, Ellington, and #1 pick for Leuer)

I have always loved Speights' game and thought he could've been a starter for almost any other team when he was in Philly, he is an immediate upgrade over Tyler who should be coming off the bench the rest of the season. Getting a first round pick along with Speights is icing on the cake and Ellington is a very good bench player, don't know much about Selby but he is prettty athletic I believe, unbelievable deal....
 
Re: Cavs Trade w/ Memphis (Speights, Selby, Ellington, and #1 pick for Leuer)

So what does everyone think of Speights - does he have real potential?

From 2008 DraftExpress:

May 20, 2008
More than any other player, Marreese Speights’ write-up needs to be separated into two sections: the drills, and the competitive three on three setting.

We walked away from the first day shaking our head at what we witnessed—a 6-10, 20-year old power forward who is about as skilled a big man facing the basket as you will find in this draft. “He’s really more skilled than anyone knows,“ Joe Abunassar told us. The first thing you notice is how fundamentally sound Speights’ shooting mechanics are. He’s got a natural, flawless stroke, showing small-forward like elevation creating separation from his defender, a high release point, excellent body control on his fade-aways, great technique squaring his shoulders and his hips simultaneously in perfect unison—and not surprisingly, getting unbelievable results in the process. He operates strictly on the balls of his feet as he catches and fires away, draining shot after shot from 16-18 feet with machine-like efficiency, and then proceeding to step-away and knock down college and even NBA 3-pointers with impressive accuracy as well.

In the post, he has a beautiful hook-shot and an even prettier turn-around jumper, to go along with great hands, length and size for his position and excellent agility finishing around the hoop. On top of that, there was nothing resembling any of the problems Speights had with his conditioning back at Florida, as he’s looking to be in phenomenal shape and had no problem at all finishing up his workout in very strong fashion. “He has really has worked on his body and conditioning,” Abunassar told us. Needless to say, we came away almost floored at what we saw—telling basically anyone that would listen that we’re talking about a starting NBA power forward any day of the week.

Alas, workouts can be somewhat of fool’s gold at times—something we need to constantly remind ourselves as we continue to make the rounds. What we saw during the second day probably brought us back to the proper proportions, for his sake, and ours as well. Speights seemed to fall in love with his jump-shot way too much for our personal liking, spending virtually the entire two hours behind the 3-point line and rarely if ever going inside to make his presence felt.

We need to keep in mind that this was a very informal setting where the players were more interested for the most part in having fun than winning at all costs, but it was still hard not to be bothered at times by his shot-selection and extremely poor defensive (and overall) intensity. When he did decide to focus and take things seriously, again we saw the flashes of talent that made many people think he’s a lottery pick in the making, putting the ball on the deck and finishing a play with a running one-handed floater, taking an offensive rebound, dribbling backwards and draining an incredibly difficult contested 19-foot turnaround jumper while being fouled, or spotting up effortlessly and knocking down an NBA 3-pointer. He has more potential as a two-dribble slasher taking his man off the bounce from the high post than we were able to see at Florida, something that could serve to be a great weapon for him in the pros considering the superior spacing he’ll enjoy in the NBA.

All in all, we still feel pretty strongly about the fact that if Speights is somehow able to harness all the talent he shows and put it all together over the next few years, he will be looked back at as a player that clearly should have been drafted in the lottery. With that said, we can see why he isn’t there right now considering what we saw and know from the rumblings about his overall approach to the game, as opposed to his talent. What we want to know is: how bad could his work ethic be if he went from barely being considered a top-50 high school recruit to one of the most skilled big men in the draft and a potential lottery pick in the span of just two years? Like so many players in this whacky draft, though, he’s incredibly young, incredibly talented, and still has a great deal of time to pan out in a huge way and reward the team that decides to “take a chance on him.” That just goes to show you how difficult a job NBA teams have…especially in this case.

From DraftExpress.com http://www.draftexpress.com#ixzz2IjNPMeoJ
http://www.draftexpress.com


From DraftExpress.com http://www.draftexpress.com#ixzz2IjNABvL7
 
Welcome Marreese Speights

Speights is extremely athletic for a big man and won't get pushed around underneath like Tyler Zeller is right now as a rookie. He should be in that starting lineup the minute he gets off the bus IMHO....
 
Re: Cavs Trade w/ Memphis (Speights, Selby, Ellington, and #1 pick for Leuer)

Teams should be gameplanning against the Kyrie/Speights pick and pop already.
 
Re: Cavs Trade w/ Memphis (Speights, Selby, Ellington, and #1 pick for Leuer)

If you want to go back to draft profiles from 2008, the first thing I'd always look at would be this:

WEAKNESSES:
Shot Selection
Stuck between 4 and 5
Ability to put ball on floor
Advanced post moves
Defensive awareness
Defensive fundamentals
Academic issues?
Basketball IQ
Basketball IQ?
Doesn't always play hard
Not ready to contribute immediately
Got by on instincts at college level
Conditioning

Remind you of anyone?
 
Re: Cavs Trade w/ Memphis (Speights, Selby, Ellington, and #1 pick for Leuer)

If you want to go back to draft profiles from 2008, the first thing I'd always look at would be this:

WEAKNESSES:
Shot Selection
Stuck between 4 and 5
Ability to put ball on floor
Advanced post moves
Defensive awareness
Defensive fundamentals
Academic issues?
Basketball IQ
Basketball IQ?
Doesn't always play hard
Not ready to contribute immediately
Got by on instincts at college level
Conditioning

Remind you of anyone?

He is a slightly better version of JJ Hickson, but at this price it is worth it. I think Speights can be an effective Big in a play off rotation. He was in Memphis even with Z-bo and Gasol.
 
Re: Cavs Trade w/ Memphis (Speights, Selby, Ellington, and #1 pick for Leuer)

If you added stone hands to that list, then it would be the guy drafted three spots after him.
 
Re: Cavs Trade w/ Memphis (Speights, Selby, Ellington, and #1 pick for Leuer)

If you want to go back to draft profiles from 2008, the first thing I'd always look at would be this:

WEAKNESSES:
Shot Selection
Advanced post moves
Academic issues


Remind you of anyone?

Lebron?

I kid.
 
Welcome Marreese Speights

He is a slightly better version of JJ Hickson, but at this price it is worth it. I think Speights can be an effective Big in a play off rotation. He was in Memphis even with Z-bo and Gasol.

Why do you say "slightly better" ?

At least JJ figured out he belongs closer to the paint, not out near the 3pt line. Speights is shooting a wretched 42.9% from the field this season - which is barely higher than Tyler's 42.0%. They both have good rebounding numbers, and they're both oblivious regarding team D.

Speights:

[SIZE=-1]Shot selection[/SIZE]
<center>[SIZE=-1]Shot[/SIZE]</center><center>[SIZE=-1]Att.[/SIZE]</center><center>[SIZE=-1]eFG%[/SIZE]</center><center>[SIZE=-1]Ast'd[/SIZE]</center><center>[SIZE=-1]Blk'd[/SIZE]</center><center>[SIZE=-1]Pts[/SIZE]</center>
<center>[SIZE=-1]Jump[/SIZE]</center>[SIZE=-1]64% [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1].414 [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]77% [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]4% [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]3.2 [/SIZE]
<center>[SIZE=-1]Close[/SIZE]</center>[SIZE=-1]23% [/SIZE][SIZE=-1].480 [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]83% [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]14% [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]1.3 [/SIZE]
<center>[SIZE=-1]Dunk[/SIZE]</center>[SIZE=-1]4% [/SIZE][SIZE=-1].750 [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]83% [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]0% [/SIZE][SIZE=-1].3 [/SIZE]
<center>[SIZE=-1]Tips[/SIZE]</center>[SIZE=-1]10% [/SIZE][SIZE=-1].409 [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]0% [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]5% [/SIZE][SIZE=-1].5 [/SIZE]
<center>[SIZE=-1]Inside[/SIZE]</center>[SIZE=-1]36% [/SIZE][SIZE=-1].488 [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]64% [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]10% [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]2.2 [/SIZE]

<tbody>
</tbody>

Hickson:

[SIZE=-1]Shot selection[/SIZE]
<center>[SIZE=-1]Shot[/SIZE]</center><center>[SIZE=-1]Att.[/SIZE]</center><center>[SIZE=-1]eFG%[/SIZE]</center><center>[SIZE=-1]Ast'd[/SIZE]</center><center>[SIZE=-1]Blk'd[/SIZE]</center><center>[SIZE=-1]Pts[/SIZE]</center>
<center>[SIZE=-1]Jump[/SIZE]</center>[SIZE=-1]42% [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1].510 [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]68% [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]8% [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]4.1 [/SIZE]
<center>[SIZE=-1]Close[/SIZE]</center>[SIZE=-1]43% [/SIZE][SIZE=-1].473 [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]62% [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]15% [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]3.8 [/SIZE]
<center>[SIZE=-1]Dunk[/SIZE]</center>[SIZE=-1]11% [/SIZE][SIZE=-1].972 [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]69% [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]3% [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]1.9 [/SIZE]
<center>[SIZE=-1]Tips[/SIZE]</center>[SIZE=-1]4% [/SIZE][SIZE=-1].250 [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]0% [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]0% [/SIZE][SIZE=-1].2 [/SIZE]
<center>[SIZE=-1]Inside[/SIZE]</center>[SIZE=-1]58% [/SIZE][SIZE=-1].552 [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]63% [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]12% [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]5.9 [/SIZE]

<tbody>
</tbody>
 
Welcome Marreese Speights

There were a lot of people that thought the Cavs would have drafted Speights if he fell to them back in 2008. He got taken off the board before the Cavs pick and they drafted Hickson instead.

Below I've got what Hollinger wrote about Speights-- Doesn't seem that much better than what we thought we were going to get with Leuer. But Leuer couldn't crack the rotation. Personally, I've always thought Speights was a load of hollow stats. However with Andy gone for the year, hollow stats are an upgrade for this team.

Scouting report
+ Jump-shooting big man with a wide frame. Good rebounder, especially offensively.
+ Struggles defensively. Effort inconsistent and lacks great length and mobility.
+ Gets tunnel vision offensively and will take poor shots.

Analysis
After a trade to Memphis, Speights started all but six games thanks to Zach Randolph's injury, but on a per-minute basis wasn't as productive as he'd been in Philly. Speights' PER dropped for a third straight season, and his shooting, scoring and true shooting percentages all were career lows while his turnover ratio was a career high.

Subjectively, Speights' troublesome defense seemed to make progress, but that may have been a mirage. His on-court versus off-court comparisons were still awful, and opposing bigs put up solid numbers at his expense, plus he had an extremely low rate of steals and a high rate of fouls. On a positive note, he seemed to be in better shape and a bit tougher, and he's become marginally less pathetic at drawing charges. Also, he rebounds -- Speights was 10th among power forwards in rebound rate.

While he clearly is a work in progress on D, Speights can fill it up. He shot a sizzling 46.6 percent on 2s from 16 feet and beyond, but struggled to convert from closer range. The latter accounted for two-thirds of his shots, and creating them resulted in an unusually high turnover ratio for a catch-and-shoot player. He's certainly not passing the ball once he gets it in any kind of scoring position, which is another reason straight pick-and-pop plays are the best use of his skills.
 
Re: Cavs Trade w/ Memphis (Speights, Selby, Ellington, and #1 pick for Leuer)

Speights is legit. I've liked him since I first saw him play for Philadelphia. Strong, athletic, and has a decent jumper. I wonder if he will start at Center over Zeller.

All we really need to fill now is that starting SF spot and this roster will be pretty complete. This rebuild is coming along nicely.
 
Re: Welcome Marreese Speights

Speights is everything Tristan is not. That is a little good and allot bad.
 
Re: Welcome Marreese Speights

[video=youtube;-vgZnuxVjbA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vgZnuxVjbA[/video]

:welcome:
 
Re: Cavs Trade w/ Memphis (Speights, Selby, Ellington, and #1 pick for Leuer)

Speights is legit. I've liked him since I first saw him play for Philadelphia. Strong, athletic, and has a decent jumper. I wonder if he will start at Center over Zeller.

All we really need to fill now is that starting SF spot and this roster will be pretty complete.

This roster is about as complete as a West Virginian's set of teeth. We have more holes than fills. It was a great trade, but lets get some realism about the roster.
 

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