hugo reminds me of avery bradley.
both are pests in terms of perimeter defense. both can find different ways to pickpocket players. and both are really athletic.
i know people are talking about cooper flagg, but hugo is the steal of the draft.
Avery was one of the quickest players in the league. Unfortunately, he was always limited by his height. He was a 3D wing in the body of a 6’2” 180 PG and was not a ball handler or playmaker. He also couldn’t really switch due to his size. That is why, despite being regarded as one of best on the ball defenders in the league, he was usually very bad in advanced defensive statistics. That lack of size is why Brad wanted Ainge to move him.
Hugo can switch thanks to being 6’6” 210lbs. He is a lot more like Smart. And the thing that stands out about Hugo is his 10.25 inch hands. He is guarding guards and forwards with hands the same length as Shaq and Wemby. Kawhi’s hand measured at 9.75 and that was considered freakish for a guy under 7’0” which is why he is nicknamed The Claw. Hugo’s make Kawhi’s look small. Even MJ, who was famous for his long hands at 6’6” was at 9.75. Dr. J, also famous for his hand size at 6’7”, was 9.5. Hugo is just insane.
Hugo’s hands are a cheat code. Jalen Brunson learned the other day what a 6’6” guy with hentai tentacle hands is like defending you.
Avery was a great defender for his era before analytics and the pace and space revolution sparked by Steph Curry changed how basketball was played. On ball defense was the most reputable defensive skill outside of rim protection and Bradley was one of the best. Versatile switching really didn’t come in league wide until late 2010s. It truly started with LeBron Cleveland 2.0 era with mismatch hunting and the pace and space Curry warriors. But the league didn’t fully adopt these concepts across most teams until after those teams won championships.
And of course we know much more about basketball now from analytics to understand switching and team defense is just as important as one on one defense. But back then, Bradley was one of the best perimeter defenders.
Shoot Avery Bradley coming off the screen for the catch in shoot was curry like before curry. Didnt quite have range like curry but he was lights out from mid range
I’m convinced that huge hands can be massive advantage on offense too. It certainly isn’t the biggest factor in both Jordan & Kawhi’s incredible offensive games but the ability to literally grip a NBA ball opens soooo many possibilities. So many of Jordan’s insane highlight layups leverage his hand size to make the last second fine adjustments. For the right guys (that have all the other tools too), I think massive hands can be enough to push from a very good to great player.
You know what they say about big hands…….
Big gloves
HUGO is a hybrid, he is Gigi Datome body with Avery Bradley defensive skills with voice of Vitor Faverani :)
Hugo’s hands DO NOT make Kawhi’s look small.
You are looking only at hand length, not span.
Where Hugo is freakish is that his hand (but essentially finger) length is absurd for the overall size of his hand.
Kawhi’s hands are much, much larger than Hugo’s.
Yeah they Traded AB to get a bigger and better Version in JT back in 2017.
Hugos length and hands just put him in a totally different stratosphere as a potential defender
Avery was a menace on ball but he struggled guarding guys with length and wasn’t able to guard up much at his size—Joe sent out Hugo to guard KAT when he was on a heater a couple of nights ago and he shut him down to the point KAT was flopping for foul calls.
19 year olds don’t do this shit. He’s gonna be really special.
He could honestly be so much more than a 3&D player. His athleticism is insane
Reminds me more of Marcus. AB didnt have the same feel for the game that Marcus and Hugo showed right away. Gonzalez has a much higher ceiling than AB too with that extra size and BBIQ.
bradley never developed a feel for the game. he was brutal lol. total waste by ainge to heavily feature him for so many seasons
Completely disagree
He was never a good player, but I think he had a 2ish season peak where overall he was a slightly positive player. I am hard pressed to call it a waste when he was one of their best players and they were trying to establish a culture of hard work and accountability. They just didn’t have enough good players in general. Danny knew what AB was which is why he traded him before he walked for nothing since there was no interest in re-signing him here.
the avery bradley disrespect here is crazy
12 year pro
NBA champion
leading vote getter among guards for defensive player of the year (2016)
current VP of Player Development for the Utah Jazz
put some RESPECT on his name
Did the Lakers give him that Mickey Mouse title after he protested the league? I love AB by the way. Just never thought they actually gave him a ring.
Pretty fair comparison. He reminds me of a longer, more under control Marcus Smart.
Same. Tall Spanish Marcus.
Marcos?
AB come on down as a developmental coach
I’d say that Kalkbrenner the big man from Creighton was the steal of the draft. He’s looked really good for Charlotte
Strongly disagree. I watched Nic Claxton destroy and embarrass Kalkbrenner the other night. Claxton could do anything he wanted. Kalkbrenner is slow. Glacier slow. He always gets beaten when trying to box out which is why he is just a terrible defensive rebounder. He has zero offensive game and all he can do are putbacks. He cannot switch. He cannot guard beyond a few feet. He is very long and you can see that. But my god is he unathletic. More athletic bigs just destroy him. He needs to be on the bench.
But I don’t think he is any steal. He is starting cause Charlotte doesn’t have any bigs. Diabate is probably Charlotte’s best big which tells you all you need to know.
Yeah he’s very one-dimensional. Hugo is an X factor type and his potential is very high for someone taken in the late first round. Up until a couple years ago he was projected to be selected in the top half of the lottery.
I’ve been playing some 2k14
Tayshaun prince
once he learns not to foul….
I remember AB putting a full court press on a then-prime Jameer Nelson, who couldn’t manage to get the ball over half court against him. Dude got so frustrated.
Avery Bradley was a league wide elite perimeter defensive player for…5-7 years?
Can everyone calm down?
This is like when Tommy Heinsohn said Greg Stiemsma had Bill Russell’s shot blocking timing.
What is going on with fans these days?
The kid isn’t even old enough to buy beer
this is honestly disrespectful to hugo. bradley was 1000% overrated. dude was extremely limited as a basketball player. he could hardly make a basic layup. played some solid on ball defense for a short while and for some reason fans started to love him. hugo is already a better player.
I absolutely love Hugo as a prospect and agree with his potential and feel for the game. But a bit hyperbolic to call Bradley overrated. The guy is a 12 year nba player who was a starter in 9.5 of the seasons he played. 5 nba teams thought he was a worthy starter, beginning in Boston when he outplayed Ray Allen.
He played in an era where on ball defense was heavily valued because isolation scoring was king, much less movement and space than today’s game. And defensive specialists were totally ok being limited offensively, think Tony Allen, Bowen, Roberson, Danny green. Though Avery was not a skilled offensive player, he’s a career 37% 3P shooter who developed his off screen shooting to an adequate level to compensate for his basic on ball skills.
If Hugo ends up playing 12 seasons and being a starter on 10 of them, that’s a huge win