Aldrich not Athletic?

I dont understand how having more blocks makes you athletic?

It seems Aldrich is not an athletic freak, but still decent.

However, he seems to be pretty smart and alert when blocking shots. He used more of his height / timing than his athleticism to block shot. There are a few times when he just jumped a little to interrupt shot and if the shooter decided to pass, Aldrich was attentive enough to recognize it and recover for a weak side block.

The few times i have seen him, he is not that bad athletically and moves laterally better than Cousins and maybe not so much as Monroe but the thing is he is also like 30 lbs lighter than Cousins. Also in college you can be unathletic and still block shots

When your arms are as long as Aldrich, you don’t need to be all that athletic..

He’s 6’10” with a 7’5″ wingspan. He’s a decent athlete, but its more his timing and crazy long arms that allow him block all those shots.

I don’t think there is a big movement that is saying Aldrich will be out of the NBA after a few years. I think the guy is going to be a long time starter. He isn’t super athletic, but athletic enough given his size, length, and skill level on both ends. He is the safe pick, this year’s Brook Lopez, as a guy who a team can plug in as their starting center for the next decade. Greg Monroe also has a high floor as a prospect. Guys who are 19 years old big men are almost never as smart and skilled as he is. Intelligence translates, so does the fact that he can score inside and out. Cousins is a load, and incredibly talented. I don’t think he will set the league on fire early on, if only because he is going to face the same problems of getting in foul trouble, but is a great prospect going forward. These three aren’t cut from the same cloth. They are going to be different types of pros, best suited for different kinds of systems. I don’t think it is fair to say that one guy is definitely going before another right now for any and every team.

rtbt i totally agree with you. if you compare him to other centers as far as being athletic then he isnt below average. the guy gets up and down the floor and gets up enough to dunk on people and his side to side movement is pretty good as well

When assessing the athleticism of a center who is close to 7 feet tall, you must use different criteria versus evaluating a point guard or a small forward. Obviously if Cole Aldrich was a 6 ft. 6 inch small forward, his athleticism would be totally unacceptable by NBA standards. However, when you’re talking about centers, agility and lateral movement are important, but only relative to how other big guys move.

I think Bobbyb’s point is obvious, in order to be an outstanding shot blocker at the center position, you must have pretty good agility. In light of that, Aldrich does have pretty good mobility.

As for the particulars in this case, I’ll leave the assessment of Cole Aldrich’s athleticism to guys who’ve seen a lot more of him than I have.

He is a good athlete for his size. He is also big as hell which helps to.

Athleticism doesn’t always mean your a good shot blocker, Marcus Camby can’t jump much but he is i think 2nd in the nba in blocks.