My first impressions of the Patrick O'Bryant signing were less than enthusiastic. But since this is the summer of love, and since I can talk myself into anything (Kedrick, you let me down!) here's some reasons why Patrick O'Bryant just might work out.
- Clifford Ray makes silk from a sow's ear. Al Jefferson always knew how to score, but he couldn't get on the court until he could at least look less-than-lost on defense. Kendrick Perkins was the definition of raw when he was drafted. He made exponential progress under Ray. Leon Powe and Glen Davis are undersized power forwards that thrived (at times) on a Championship squad. Whatever talents O'Bryant has will be honed. Whatever weaknesses he has, will be worked on. Don't worry about his conditioning. Ray will have him running wind sprints from now till opening day if that is what it takes.
- Like with Perkins, we don't need him to score. We need him to rebound and play defense. I don't know if he can do either of those things, but he's reportedly a good shot blocker, so that's something. Plus he's athletic enough to blitz the pick and roll and sprint back to his spot on the baseline (which Perkins has mastered by the way). He's tall and long and should be able to at least put his hand on a few shots in the paint.
- Low risk, high potential reward. Hey, we weren't the ones to waste a draft pick on the guy. I'm sure he's not eating up much cap room. If all goes right, we could have a real bargain. If all goes wrong, cut bait and move on.
- The biggest knock on the guy is his lack of work ethic and intensity. Enter Kevin Garnett's crazy eyes and insane work ethic. You think KG is going to let this guy waltz through practice? Either he'll run like he's never run before, or Garnett will stuff him into a locker and we'll never hear from him again.
- O'Bryant replaces Scot Pollard. So if he plays more than 22 games (or 173 minutes, whatever comes first), then he's already an upgrade! Clearly he doesn't replace PJ Brown, but maybe we can get PJ to repeat his un-retirement trick again next year.
So there you have it. We can't go wrong!
If nothing else, I'm happy to have something else to talk about instead of a daily Posey-watch.