The Curious Case of AB7

Watching Andrea on Wednesday night reminded me about a few things in terms of his game and what I can guess is his general mindset when he's out on the court. I do have to remind you that it's preseason still and I also have to remind myself about this as well as It's easy to get excited or disappointed so quickly. Proof being all the articles and blogs and comments that I've read already in regards to just the one preseason game. True it was a great success, and it gave a lot of doubtful Raptor fans like myself some reasons to get excited about but as everyone knows from that feeling in the back of our mind and from past experience that there's no need to get too excited just yet.

So the same can be said about the performance of our resident Italian 7 footer. We all know he didn't play very well and I'm sure he'd be the first person to tell you that and I know he'll only get better this season. But watching him I noticed a few things that almost have become synonymous with him. First thing being that he seems to stand around a lot during rebounding opportunities. Unless the ball bounces right to him, he doesn't seem to make any effort to move his body towards the area where the ball might land. It's almost like he freezes, his mind's telling him he needs to be somewhere else on the court but his body never responds. The other thing is that he loses a lot of rebounds right within his grasp. He fails to get rebounds that should be his to take.

I have two hypothesis about this behaviour and the first one I suspect a lot of fans might agree with as well and that is that he's afraid of contact. I strongly suspect that this is true with him. I think this is just a psychological response that he hasn't overcome. I don't know if he'll ever overcome this. The only analogy that I can think of is that he see's himself as a finesse type of player. Which in fairness he is.That was the scouting report before he got drafted so it's hard to buy a pig and then put makeup and a dress on it and expect it to act like a lady. Truth is, he's a skilled player trapped in a big man's body. And that's really where a lot of frustration and hatred comes from in terms of the feelings he provokes in frustrated onlookers. He's 7 feet tall 250lbs. and guys that size are supposed to get rebounds, mix it up under the basket and do some dirty work. A perfect example is provided to him game after game, practice after practice by the behaviour displayed from teammates like David Andersen, Reggie Evans, and in the past, Jermaine O'Neal. But yet he's never made that connection that he too can perform some of these things that would endear him to not only fans, but more importantly the coaching staff and the other teams in the league. Yet his skill set would tell you otherwise. He puts the ball on the floor better than most big men, he shoots from the outside with proficiency and when you look at those abilities one can clearly agree that there's no doubt about his talent. Trouble being that those aren't the only talents required to be successful for a man in his position. So yes it's true he's a finesse player so I guess the analogy would have to be that he can be compared to a skilled player on a hockey team that doesn't fight, doesn't do the dirty work, and doesn't rough it up in the corners but concentrates more on scoring. Unfortunately Bargnani might be the only one that thinks this should be the case. Ask him personally and he will disagree with this but I bet subconsciously his head would be nodding up and down. Throw him in to a practice where Reggie and Joey Dorsey tosses him around the court a bit. Have a MMA guy come in and do some physical workouts with him. Maybe that will help. Just a suggestion.

The second hypothesis i have regarding his lack of rebounding ability and willingness would be that he lacks the tenacity to get a rebound. Well that's obvious isn't it? During a game there are usually many instances that a rebound does bounce his way only what happens in most of the cases is that either a smaller more tenacious opponent rips it out of his grasp or a teammate does it. And this really makes me want to tear my hair out and throw things at my tv. It's there for you... just take the damn ball out of the air, rip it out and hang on to it. But yet several times even during this past game against the Suns, he's had the rebound taken from  right under his nose by the likes of Linas Kleiza, Sonny Weems, and a variety of other guys on the other team. It's like he's daydreaming for a split second every time the ball comes near him. In this analysis I really don't know what to suggest. I don't know what you do with a guy like that who consistently does this. What do you do when a guy just lacks hustle? Smack him upside the head and tell him to wake up? Maybe someone needs to do that to him.

He's apparently gotten stronger this year but I can't tell a difference. Even if he is stronger what is the use if he doesn't know how to apply it. It's like giving a toddler a revolver, he's going to end up shooting himself in the foot with it. Take the revolver away and give him a rifle. Guess what? He's shot himself in the foot with it again.The one thing I've noticed with the guy is that he doesn't seem to bend his legs enough during any situation. Shooting, rebounding, posting up, his legs are too damn straight. It's like he's too lazy to bend them. That's how you build power is by bending more before you back in for a post move. Just look what KG or Shaq does when They posts up. They catch. Lean back to feel the presence of his defender, then they bend their legs and push their way back. The first thing a coach teaches you is to bend your legs cause that's where the power comes from. The only time he noticeably does this is during a free throw shot. He does that very well. But otherwise it's like he's a guy on stilts. So maybe it's not his strength so much as it's his technique. I don't know. Just a thought to kick around your brain the next time you watch him and feel like tearing your eyeballs out. 

Once in a while he'll show that he can do things correctly. It's like he forces himself to do it out of his nature. Out of his comfort zone. Listen, it's been 5 years. You should be able to do this by now without having to mentally force yourself to. That's what I hope to see this season from Andrea. That what everyone's been hoping to see from him the past 5 years. Time to man up. Time to show your mettle. Time to add this physical element to your outside scoring touch.

So cause of these inadequacies and others, Bargnani is dragged through the mud. And rightfully so. But I bet any team in the league would love to take a shot at having a guy like him. I bet under the right circumstances he would have been able to shine more by now at this point in his career. He's being paid $10m a year. There's guys around the league that do a lot less than him and have a lot less talent and upside that are being paid more, similarly or slightly less. To say he's being overpaid is incorrect. He's being paid about right according to statistics. But judging by his draft position and lack of focus or general results most people would agree he hasn't lived up to expectations. Unfortunately he didn't draft himself first, the Raptors did. Like I said you can't dress a pig up and expect lady-like behaviour. Time to move past that. What we have to realize is that we have a good center who may not be worthy of the #1 pick but is still a good center. How many centers really do that much anyways? Most of the top players in the league aren't centers. They're SG's or SF's. Wade, Kobe. LBJ, Durant are all perfect examples. Even in the PG position you have top tier players like Rose, and Nash. Would you consider Brook Lopez one of the top players in the league? Probably no. But is he one of the top centers in the league? Probably yes. Let's get past that. I'll settle for him being a decent center and hope, nay, pray he becomes more.