So I don’t usually watch much FIBA and as such I was shocked to see Santi Aldama playing the backup center position very well for Spain yesterday in a friendly match versus Slovenia.
^ he’s number 12 and shows up after 1:37
You can also see the highlights on the Grizzlies’ twitter
Not only was he a center but he also a lot of his highlights here are as a playmaker and a rim protector. He looked like a real point-center here, and he also looked competent defensively. He had 18 points, 7 reb, 6 assists (all team highs) on top of 2 blocks.
Obviously it was a friendly match and it is FIBA ball, but I thought it was interesting enough to get posted here, specially since there’s always discussions on the 3 point shooting potential of a JJJ-Santi lineup, and I never had considered Santi as a center before. Considering we’ll be load managing Steven Adams, do you think a JJJ-Santi lineup would work better with Jaren at the 5, or Santi at the 5, or should they never share the floor? Also, do you think he can be a starter 3 and D wing at the 3 instead of Roddy, LaRavia or Vince Williams Jr. for the first 25 games of the season?
PS: lot of defensive lowlights in this too lol but he looks better than I expected
by Althaea_00
1 Comment
Talking about Jaren vs. Santi at the 5 in a lineup is a simplification, it’s not that black and white. If you’re playing Aldama + JJJ you are putting JJJ on the worst shooter so he can help protect the rim. He was the best rim protector in the league last year. There should be no discussion on what a Aldama + JJJ lineup would look like on defence.
We also have a much larger sample, last season, of Aldama getting cooked on defence. Cannot play Aldama as the only big. Aldama/JJJ should be sharing the floor A LOT though I am not sure what the breakdown is going to be because they need to give Adams and Tillman time and they’re probably combining for > 40 minutes. Could be the closing 4/5 lineup against some teams though. Starting is a less interesting discussion but I would start with LaRavia or Konchar at the moment.