04-28-2021, 09:55 AM
(04-28-2021, 09:41 AM)Chicagojk Wrote: That is a fair take. He is a little older for your normal rookie though at 23 years of age. For me, his future depends on being able to defend on the perimeter and fill in the edges on offense as a guy who makes things happen without having plays run for him.
As a guy who watched Bey in college, do you think he can be a very good perimeter defender in time? He was billed as a very good defender in college, but Sam Veccine of the Athletic prior to the draft was very low on Bey and thought his PAC 12 defensive player of the year award was a poor choice. I want to see much more of these rookies but with limited chances to see him, I do worry about how he is going to defend wings.
I absolutely think he can and I don't think defensive player of the year was that poor of a choice (although the choice of Mobley this year was much more obvious). Kammarth made a really good point about the ball watching and how last year as a center he was always making plays from the help side which requires a small amount of ball watching where as now he needs to understand his responsibilities a little better. He has a knack for making plays though, has all of the physical tools and takes defense very seriously so I feel like he can put it together, he just really really needs the reps which are very hard to come by in this weird season. G League and as someone else mentioned, summer league and training camp, I think will do him wonders. The ball watching last night can certainly be written off as a maturity thing but the getting lost behind screens was slightly concerning if I'm being honest, I trust he has the work ethic to get to where he needs to be though.