Yes, I said I would stop, but just one more thing: since I was going strictly off my memory of seeing Pittman play in college, its only fair to him to post objective analysis from the experts. Here is the most recent evaluation of Pittman by Draft Express, home of Jonathan "Big V." Givony:
D-League Showcase Profiles: NBA Allocation and Rights-Held Players
January 15, 2011
Joseph Treutlein
Definitely the most dominant physical player we saw at the Showcase, Dexter Pittman is quite clearly in the best shape of his career, now having some noticeable definition to his build. Despite losing an enormous amount of weight over the past few years, Pittman appears to have lost none of his brute strength, he looks excellent moving around the floor, and it appears he still may have another 10-15 pounds to lose or at least convert to more muscle down the road.
On the offensive end, Pittman has a simple but highly effective game, as he establishes dominant post position frequently, showing excellent understanding of leverage and no problem throwing his body around in the lane. He backs his man down consistently and finishes with simple lay-ups and hook shots around the basket, showing good touch and getting more than enough separation to get his shots off cleanly. He'll occasionally mix in some fakes and countermoves but never has to get too creative, though this could change if he starts seeing minutes at the next level.
When catching passes around the rim, Pittman goes up strong and assertively, usually finishing with a quick and powerful dunk, something the Miami Heat scouts in attendance had to love seeing considering the opportunities he'd have to score in a similar fashion with their roster's current makeup. Pittman's incredibly long arms obviously help a great deal, as do his huge and exceptionally soft hands, and he'd be far more effective converting simple catch and finish opportunities for Miami than Joel Anthony would for example.
While Pittman is outstanding operating inside the paint, that really is the extent of his offensive game at this stage, as aside from doing a good job crashing the offensive glass, there's not much else he contributes.
The most pressing thing Pittman could do to improve his game is developing a respectable mid-range jumper. Improving his free-throw shooting would be highly beneficial as well, as he's leaving a ton of points at the line by shooting just 55% despite taking nearly one free throw for every field goal he attempts.
Defensively, Pittman does a solid job in the post where he's physical and has decent fundamentals, but he could do more to help on the weakside with shot blocking, still not fully realizing his potential there. His ability to defend pick-and-rolls and step out on the perimeter is also not a strong point, something he can work on with all the minutes he's seeing here. This might be the part of his game that is holding him back the most currently, as his lack of lateral quickness trying to stay in front of attacking opponents was noticeable even at this level.
Pittman is in a nice situation where he can get a ton of minutes at this level and work on his weak points, hopefully eventually setting himself up to get into the Miami Heat's rotation, which currently employ some questionable bigs in their rotation. While the chances of that happening this season may not be high, he can play himself into a great situation down the road if he keeps developing, and given the outstanding work ethic he's shown in transforming his body over the past few years, it's probably a good bet he'll do everything he can to reach his potential. If Pittman's rights weren't owned by a championship contending team, it's safe to say that he would already be seeing minutes at the NBA level based on what we saw here.
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According to most here, this player cannot be a potentially solid developmental addition to the Cavs center rotation. Yet Boobie, who has obviously peaked at "average", is untouchable. SMH.
Hopefully Grant don't listen to the sentimentalists and the advocates of perpetual losing in search of the perfect draft pick. Go get the players to win, Grant!
