Marcus Lee is the most athletic big man to play at Kentucky.
- Thread starter smooth as butter
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Good ol' smooth coming over from the Carolina board with a drive-by
I agree and there's no doubt about it...who has had more chops on air guitar than Marcus Lee.
I submit Walter. Could shoot from the outside, handle the ball, overall great athleticism. Love me some Marcus, but Walter had over better athleticism imo with all he could do.
I'm not sure he's even in the top 5. Cousins, Stein, Davis, Bowie, Magloire, Issel, Nazr and Noel would all be candidates equal to or exceeding Lee. This is particularly true when you consider strength. I think Skal is learning the value of strength right now. This is no knock on Lee. This is a testament to the great physical talents KY has had in the center position.
Honestly, no offense but this might be the most absurd post I've seen in a very long time. He's not even really that athletic. He plays straight up and down, to be what u describe, he would have to be dunking all over people and running fast breaks...windmill dunking, crossing people over and all sorts of things. No offensive moves at all, no dribbling ability, hes a shot blocker and rebounder and hes really not even proven at that yet.
Marcus Lee is very athletic. He's a 6'10" pogo stick. Doesn't get much more athletic. Only qualm I have is, there's a lot of recent athletic gems to compare him to. Nerlens, Brow, and WCS just to name a few. WCS gets my vote.
Smooth is obviously just making his rounds.
He goes from site to site looking like an imbecile and gets run off.
Then starts the tour all over again.
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I absolutely love Marcus and admire his skills. But he is nowhere near the most athletic big at UK.
The Cats have been in the basketball business for more than 100 years. Being the most of anything is not something to bestowed lightly.
The Cats have been in the basketball business for more than 100 years. Being the most of anything is not something to bestowed lightly.
You are confusing "basketball player" with "athlete". Nazr can't compare to Lee from an athletic standpoint. Neither can Bowie, and I was at UK the same time he was, so I saw him play quite a few times. Issel is arguably the best player in UK history (personally I'd go with Mash, but that's neither here nor there), but he was not the athletic equivalent of Lee. My pick would be WCS, but I wouldn't argue with anyone that chose Davis. Lee is certainly in the conversation.
You lost all credibility with that statement. Regardless of the OP's position, or who you think owns the title of most athletic, Lee runs like a deer, can jump out of the gym and has incredible eye/hand coordination for someone that big. If that's not the definition of athletic, I don't know what is.
Really? How so? All he does is jump and dunk? Everyone on our team can do that, but most can also dribble and shoot three pointers to go along with it!
Actually you are confusing athlete with hops. That's an important element but physical strength at center is extremely important. I don't think Skal would argue that point. Hand eye coordination is also an important aspect.
To each is own, but I can tell you Cousins is a fabulous athlete.
Yes, everyone on the team can jump and dunk. But everyone on the team is not in the 6'-10" range, and no one on the team can jump like Marcus or dunk like Marcus (reference the behind the head fast break lob dunk against Duke if you don't believe me, he made it look effortless). The guy is fast, and he's coordinated enough to be one helluva volleyball player, which requires you to see the ball, and then time your jump and swing to knock the hell out of it. The guy is an incredible athlete. I'm sorry you don't see it. Too many on this thread are confusing "athlete" with "basketball player". They are not the same.
Actually, I am not. Apparently, however, I may be confusing someone that can run like a deer, jump out of the gym, and possesses extremely good hand eye coordination with being an athlete. That's entirely possible. Watch clips of Lee playing volleball and get back to me about the hand eye coordination thing. And once again, physical strength is an important part of being a dominant center. Lee is not a dominant center. He's nowhere near the conversation about best centers at UK. That doesn't mean he isn't an incredible athlete though.
Funny thing is , that statement would be true for 98% of college basketball programs .
WCS tested as the most athletic big man in the draft in the last 15 years or so. His combination of vertical, Lane agility, sprint were better than Dwight Howard's, with better size and length as well.
WCS is the correct answer. Although Lee is certainly top 5 I think. Hes an insane athlete.
I have. At pf or sf, we'd be on the same page. At center, strength is a key contributor to athletic success. Consider Chuck Hayes. Not long, not a big jumper. He did ok for himself due in no small part to strength.
Don't fall into the trap of thinking if someone isn't the best they suck. Lee is a fabulous athlete. However, this is Kentucky we're talking about. Lot of fabulous athletes in our past.
I love me some Chuck Hayes, but a great athlete he was not. Once again, we seem to fundamentally differ on" basketball player" / "athlete" definition. I'd say he did a lot more than ok for himself as a basketball player - he was fantastic and had an off the charts basketball IQ. But he had average foot speed, average quickness and he was earthbound. Average athlete.
![[winking]](http://l.yimg.com/j/assets/img/emoticons/classic/wink.r191677.gif "Winking [winking]")
I agree with all of this. If by "athletic" you mean can jump really high, then Lee is right up there...no pun intended. But as far as sheer athleticism is concerned, taking out overall basketball skills, WCS is the one for me.
Lee is playing awesome so far this season, but this thread has to be a joke. The dude ain't even the best athlete at center in the last 5 years at Kentucky, nevermind ever. Wcs would be considered twice the athlete Lee is. Lee has hops. Most of us just want to see the kid use them a lot more than he currently does. Smooth as butter has always been known to make some silly threads and then never reply in them again. After this gem, i'm sure we won't hear from him for a week or so.
Lee actually gets discredited in this department because he played with WCS. Unfortunately, WCS is the answer to this question and makes anyone else look un-athletic.
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