Despite having one of the greatest summer league debut performances in history, the skeptics are still strong with No. 2 pick Chet Holmgren when it comes to his skinny frame.
One of the bigger criticisms for Holmgren has been his lanky size: He is 7 feet, 1 inch yet just 195 pounds.
Tuesday’s summer league win against the Utah Jazz should quiet those criticisms a bit. Holmgren dominated his matchups against Kofi Cockburn and Tacko Fall — two players who have 100-plus pounds on him.
Apparently, that was not enough as an NBA assistant coach doubted Holmgren’s ability to withstand the physicality of the NBA. In SI’s Chris Mannix’s recent article, an NBA assistant coach sounded off on Holmgren.
“‘I’m not sold on him being a star,’ said an NBA assistant sitting courtside for Holmgren’s debut. ‘He’s obviously an excellent shooter, skilled, but he is so physically weak. He can’t get by his defender, and he realized that early and settled for threes the rest of game. He’s so thin in hips and legs that he makes (teammate) Poku (Aleksej Pokuševski) look like he has thick legs. I don’t think he’ll ever fill out. He will need to make difficult shots this season to have a good year because he settles for jumpers and can’t play inside. He was able to use his length to block shots on drivers tonight, but NBA guys will just get into his body. He has a long way to go.'”
Time will tell if the concerns are legitimate or overblown, but for one night, Holmgren silenced the doubters — even if it was just a summer league game.
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