Luka Garza’s transformation from college superstar to king of doing the dirty work
He’s been great for us.
Love the factoid that he has the highest *average speed* on the team. Go Go Garzilla
He might not be the fastest dude, but he’s basically just non-stop moving. He’s got an unreal motor.
Garza needs to be in our center rotation moving forward. He’s so cheap and brings so much energy off the bench. He’s already good enough to be a 3rd big and he still continuing to improve
Yeah, I see him as a perfect 3rd big. Brings something uniquely different to the table.
We had him in for a pre draft workout.
We went with Juhann Bengarin at #45.
Garza went #52.
Coincidentally, Charles Bassey went #53.
Queta went #39.
Bassey seems to be doing okay in the G league. Avg 19 pts 11 reb and almost 3 blocks in 27 mpg for the Warriors in 8 games. https://stats.gleague.nba.com/player/1629646/
I really wanted them to sign him back before the season started
Yeah, probably would have been able to fill a low-risk role when we desperately need defensive rebounds, at the very least. But also injury-prone, and I guess he didn’t show enough outside of summer league.
Article mentions Garza is a great offensive rebounder but don’t provide the numbers- he’s not eligible for league leaders but if he was he’d be 4th at 14.5% rebound rate between Duren at 15.8% and Mark Williams 14.3%
7th in OREB per 100 possessions too. And he definitely passes the eye test, it feels like every time he’s on the court he creates havoc for other teams defensive rebounding. Those extra possessions are even more important given how slow our pace is.
But I thought the Celtics need to push all in and trade for an “athletic big” like JJJ and his 4 total double-doubles and 10 dunks this season (Garza has 4 dunks by comparison).
Garza has an in-game average speed of 4.72. By comparison, Steph has an average speed of 4.31. Wemby and Walker Kessler have average speeds of 4.17. Zach Edey has an average speed of 4.16. JJJ has an average speed of 4.12. KP has an average speed of 4.09. Jokic has an average speed of 3.83. Luka has an average speed of 3.78. Embiid has an average speed of 3.71. Lebron has an average speed of 3.63. Harden has an average speed of 3.53 - last of any player with more than 2 games.
This makes sense now and must be the reason that once he turns red Garzilla is released.