Yahoo Sports senior NBA analyst Kevin O’Connor is joined by Andrew Sharp to discuss how the former top-ten pick has evolved with the Trail Blazers into one of the more underrated players in the league. Check out the full conversation on “The Kevin O’Connor Show” and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.
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Video Transcript
My second pick, Deni Avdija.
Again, hmm.
…
Right on the line, because there’s been a lot of, uh… Deni’s love over the last couple of months, but he’s never made an All-Star game.
Never made an All-NBA team, and he just puts so much pressure on the rim for the Blazers.
I love… Like, people complain about him getting the Line too much.
He’s a grifter, this, that, and the other thing.
A lot of the time he’s getting the line, it’s because he’s just putting his head down.
Going straight into the lane and getting good looks at the rim.
Finishing through contact.
I think he leads the league in and-ones.
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The first couple of months here.
And he’s a good shooter from the outside, Um, I think his defense has slipped a little bit, but he’s solid defensively.
Somebody you worry about on that end.
So, just a big fan of Deni and his game.
Has grown into, particularly from like, four or five years ago.
Watching him in DC.
It’s kinda mind-blowing watching him turn into Like, a bonafide star for the Blazers so far.
Did you see this coming?
Um, I did.
We started to see this version of Deni in his final season in Washington.
Yeah.
Uh, it was really that fourth and final year, right?
Exactly.
Like the final couple of months in Washington, It was like, “Whoa, what is this?
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Is this real?”
Um, And then he got traded, and we found out since he’s come to Portland that, Like, it is very real.
First couple of years, Though, he looked very raw offensively, and I did not see any of this coming at that point.
Yeah.
I mean, I think with him, this was kind of the dream when he was playing overseas, what he’s turned into.
Totally.
…
Uh, now, now in Portland.
He’s turned into the best version that you could have expected when he was taken in.
The top 10, uh-