[NYFLAVA2K9Participant]

      One of the more underrated players of the last 25 years – here’s to you Rik Smits. This guy Smits would give my Knicks fits (bars) back in the 90’s, hence earning NY’ers favorite "f$#%ing" middle name.

http://www.nba.com/pacers/classic-highlights-rik-smits-during-flo-jo-era/

     While his career averages at first glance aren’t eye-popping, take into consideration that his highest mpg in any given season was 30.5. When you per36 mpg his career averages you come up with a stat line of 20.1ppg/8.2rpg/1.7bpg. Pretty impressive stuff. Which leads me to my next point…

      You have to give credit to the Pacers    organization for recognizing and taking  the necessary safety precautions to preserve his towering 7’4" frame.  It could have been real easy to squeeze more court time out of  him but they stayed the course thus given him a mostly healthy career  especially in terms of big men.

      History has been unkind to players of that size who are that active. Such players are rarities so here’s literally just a few examples:

Ralph Sampson: Averaged 32.8, 37.6 and 36.3 mpg in his first three years in the league. He was injured most of the next year and yet the following year the Rockets and then the Warriors still stubbornly played him 33 plus mpg. He never fully recovered and it was down hill from there.

Arvydas Sabonis: He may not belong on this list because he didn’t play nearly as many games per season as his NBA counterparts. It is interesting however that 31.4 mpg was his lowest average I could find in a season before him coming to the NBA as a 31 year old rookie with an already established history of injuries.

Yao Ming: After playing at least 80 games each of of his first 3 years in the league with a high of 32.8 mpg in his second year the Rockets upped his playing time to 34.2 mpg in his fourth year. He played only 57 games that fourth year and was injury prone from there. Amazingly, the Rockets still couldn’t resist temptation and decided to play him 37.2 and 33.6 mpg in seasons six and seven respectively. He played in only five more games in career from there.

   Given the size and level of activity similarities, is it safe to say that current players like Joel Embiid and Kristaps Porzingis should be capped at around 30 mpg?

Thoughts…

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Andrew1984Participant]

When Jonas Valanciunas was drafted, I cited Rik Smits as a best-case scenario. This was mocked and scorned, but if you compare their numbers through their first four and a half seasons, they’re pretty similar.

[Magic JordanParticipant]

 I think Porzingis can handle between 32-34 mpg.  He isn’t the typical NBA giant.  Meaning he is completely proportionate.  He has very light feet and is extremely agile.  No signs of an injury riddled history.  I think he is just one of those rare specimens who is a normal person, just exceptionally big.

Compare that to someone like Yao who’s head made the backboard look like a sleeping pillow.  He was a guy, that was too big for his own good and was definitely not proportionate.  He looked like a giant, not like a big normal person.  

Is what I am saying making any sense?

Embiid I would limit because thus far he seems to be made of glass.  Albeit fine china.  Until he proves he can stay healthy I would probably cap him at 32 and that is being extremely generous.  In between 28-32 will probably be his prime sweet spot.

 

 

 

[StephGoneStephParticipant]

 It’s like the distinction between a "little person" (midget) vs a dwarf except for really tall people.  

[HitsterParticipant]

 Any big man who plays excessive minutes could be more likely to get injured, guys like AD and DMC play perhaps too many minutes. But for the real 7ft plus giants, they can get even more wear and tear as the bigger the guy, the bigger his turning circle and the pressure he puts on his joints.

Rik Smits for a man of his size was very durable, in 9 of his 12 seasons he played over 70 games and one of the seasons he didn’t was a shortened lock out season. Also he was a double digit scorer in every year of his career and retired whilst still playing to a very high standard. Interestingly for a guy of his size he wasn’t an elite rebounder only averaging 6 boards per game across his career.

 

[ItsVictorOladipoParticipant]

 Honestly when it comes to Yao and Sabonis (especially Sabonis), they were worn down not just by their workloads in the NBA but the time they put in for their respective countries as well. Both the USSR and China rode those guys hard and didn’t let them get rest when their bodies needed it.

[OhCanada-Participant]

 I think Porzingis gets too much leeway. He really doesn’t deserve the minutes he gets but the fact is New York has noone else to play. Sure he is a fascinating player and his potential to effect the game scoring, rebounding, and defending is outstanding but he still looks lost out there way to often and is a young player learning the game. Whenever he creates his own shot he takes off balance or fading shots and sometimes when he is left alone he passes up open jumpers. He is caught out of positition defensively way too often and lacks the type of second effort you want from a guy playing his role. These things really hurt his teams flow. He should continue to develop as he is a sponge and has learned fast and the Knicks have a real gem in a player with him but right now he is overused and overrated.

[ChoppyParticipant]

 My take is that NY are letting him play through his mistakes. Agreed, they have no one else, but by taking the good with the bad hopefully he’ll be a better player in the long run.

[rongataParticipant]

He is good but definitely overrated at this point. I even heard one announcer say he is better than melo right now

[Mr. HookShotParticipant]

Nice topic, the first and last NBA player from the Netherlands that you could consider an above average player. He was as consistent as they come, and he would’ve fared even better in today’s game given his outside shot. So sad to see that ever since Gadzuric and Elson left there has been no Dutch player good enough to make it to the league (only Norel got drafted afterwards I believe). 

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