The O'Bryant Signing

The Celtics have signed Golden State Warriors free agent Patrick O'Bryant to a contract. There were various reports on the contract, but it seems that it is a 2 year contract at the league minimum with the second year a team option. It may also be a contract that is guaranteed only if he is on the roster after a certain date. He has considerable potential although he hasn't shown much progress in his two seasons with Golden State.

O'Bryant is legitimately 7 feet tall. While O'Bryant doesn't appear particularly athletic at first glance, he is quite athletic for his size. He has a 7’5 wingspan and a 9’4 standing reach which is freakish even by NBA standards. But there are plenty of questions about him.

In spite of being picked 9th in the 2006 draft, he has't shown much progress. His coach, Don Nelson, had this to say about him:
I told him if he goes down to the D-League and isn't a dominant player, there should be red flags all over the place, and he should be the first to notice. He's not only not dominating, he's not playing very well. He's a long-term project. I really liked him the first week of training camp, but I assumed there would be great progress. He hasn't gotten better one bit."
In his 2 seasons with the Warriors, he played in 40 games and averages 1.7 points, 1.3 rebounds and .4 blocks per game. He also spent some time in the D-League in both seasons. In '06-07 he played in 25 games for the Bakersfield Jam and averaged 12.0 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 2.9 blocks in 29.5 minutes per game. In the '07-08 season, he played in 8 games for the Jam and averaged 16.0 points, 10.1 rebounds and 3.5 blocks in 36 minutes per game. Those are encouraging statistics. Could it be that he just didn't fit in Don Nelson's system?

It seemed when he worked out for the Celtics that he wasn't all that impressive. Here is what the Globe had to say about his workout:
The 7-foot center showed decent range and solid footwork taking feeds in the post. But when he hit the low post against Wisconsin's Brian Butch and Detroit Mercy's Ryvon Covile, who had each been practicing since 9 in the morning, O'Bryant was tugging at his shorts not even 15 minutes into the drill, struggling to muster enough strength to defend either.
Celtics spokesman Jeff Twiss pointed out that O'Bryant arrived in Boston at 1 a.m., although he tired quickly against players who had been on the court all morning. O'Bryant took the court at approximately 11 a.m.
Maybe if he spends the rest of the summer working with the Celtics strength and conditioning coaches and with Clifford Ray, the Celtics may have something. There is a lot of potential there in the right system and with the right coaching and conditioning. This is the kind of low risk, high reward signing that could pay off big time and make Danny look like a genius this time next year, or he could go the way of some of the other off season players who are cut after training camp. Either way, not a bad signing.

Amazingly enough, in his 5.5 minutes per game, he showed enough to make a highlight reel for him.

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