Eye on the Draft: Is Noah Vonleh the Celtics best option at pick six?
He also has a beautiful jump hook utilized with either hand, a shot that is nearly unstoppable, yet, is rarely taught players anymore.
Fans who ever saw Kevin McHale play know what an asset this shot is.
Vonleh can stretch the defense as well as he has all the tools to become an effective three point shooter on the next level.
We've seen what a weapon this kind of versatility can be in these playoffs from both the Heat when they would play Bosh on the perimeter forcing Hibbert to guard away from the rim (why the Pacers never tried a zone in that series is beyond me) and from the Spurs with their excellent ball movement and three point shooting.
On defense, he's not afraid to bang and has an enormous 7'4 wingspan as illustrated above.
Here's an evaluation of Vonleh's abilities courtesy of DraftExpress.com:
Not to mention, he is from Massachusetts and anyone who was a fan of the Celts and grew up watching the power forward position as played by Kevin Garnett has learned to play with intensity and knows what Celtic Pride is.
Oppositionally, there are two negatives in drafting Vonleh.
For starters, to state the obvious, the Celtics already have two excellent young prospects at the power forward position in Jared Sullinger and Kelly Olynyk.
This is before even mentioning the talk of acquiring Kevin Love.
Secondly, Vonleh is not very good in the double team and has a tendency to force the action as opposed to hitting the open man.
Having said that, I believe Brad Stevens and his staff are talented enough that after a couple years the Indiana product would become much more adept in these situations.
All things being equal, I would be ecstatic if the Celtics drafted Noah Vonleh with the number six pick in the 2014 NBA Draft.
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