Long live the Vanilla Gorilla

[ziggy]

17 points, 16 rebounds, 3 assists, 8 for 9 from the field and no turnovers.  Last 4 games 13 points, 13.5 rebounds, 64% from the field.  Lots of losses lately, but we have been competitive against good teams, with lots of people hurt.  The playoffs are highly unlikely, but some of the young guys are showing that we have a real future.  That, and finally some guys you can root for.

[Joe Vancil]

Please tell me it's not...oh, no...Joel Pryzbilla, the Vanilla Gorilla?  Oh, that's just awful, Ziggy.  Told you you'd like this guy.  He does a lot of things the right way.  But don't expect that kind of scoring to continue;  that's NOT what he does well.

 

[WayOutWest]

Please tell me it's not...oh, no...Joel Pryzbilla, the Vanilla Gorilla?  Oh, that's just awful, Ziggy.  Told you you'd like this guy.  He does a lot of things the right way.  But don't expect that kind of scoring to continue;  that's NOT what he does well.

One thing he does well is bother Shaq.  Shaq doesn't seem to like bruiser white boys and lets the normal Hack-a-Shaq get him angry.  That's sometimes a good thing but more often than not it's a bad bad thing to make the Daddy angry.

[Joe Vancil]

Przybilla showed a bit of success in guarding Shaq back in the George Karl days in Milwaukee.  He essentially was willing to let Shaq beat him up just to stay in Shaq's way.  Smart way to play, if you ask me.  Shaq's even more unstoppable than normal when no one gets in his way.

 

[ziggy]

Please tell me it's not...oh, no...Joel Pryzbilla, the Vanilla Gorilla?  Oh, that's just awful, Ziggy.  Told you you'd like this guy.  He does a lot of things the right way.  But don't expect that kind of scoring to continue;  that's NOT what he does well.

Yes Joe I was referring to Joel Pryzbilla, the Vanilla Gorilla.  I am not fooling myself into believing that he will continue to score like he has recently.  Most of his scoring has come from the fact that Zach and Shareef are hurt, and until just recently Miles was also hurt.  We have to have at least one big guy who shoots, and right now it is the Vanilla Gorilla.
He is not an offensive player, but he also isn't a bad offensive player.  He has some decent moves down low, and I think he can be a 8-10 ppg game guy in the right situation.  He is a far better offensive player than Chris Dudley, but he is just as tough, and works just as hard.  He hasn't been blocking many shots, which I have been surprised with, but I think that could change once Portland is able to get some of their other big guys healthy.  He is really the only healthy guy taller than 6-8 that we have.