What I love about his game is that he plays the post like a true post, old school big man. But his bball iq is so high he seems relative to the old school posts a little finese because he passes so well.

I know there are comparisons with ivan and tim d which is high praise but I think ivan plays with much more fire and agression. Frankly his inside reminds me more of david robinson. Back you in and dunk in your face. As a huge knicks fan patrick is my guy but a 7 fter shooting fade way jumpers drove me nuts. I was always envious of the spurs having d robinson. Its refreshing and great that we finally have a true post who is also very skilled. Just has to stay in the game.

berkeleyhigh91;842596647 said:

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What I love about his game is that he plays the post like a true post, old school big man. But his bball iq is so high he seems relative to the old school posts a little finese because he passes so well.

I know there are comparisons with ivan and tim d which is high praise but I think ivan plays with much more fire and agression. Frankly his inside reminds me more of david robinson. Back you in and dunk in your face. As a huge knicks fan patrick is my guy but a 7 fter shooting fade way jumpers drove me nuts. I was always envious of the spurs having d robinson. Its refreshing and great that we finally have a true post who is also very skilled. Just has to stay in the game.

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Rabb is a unique player. He's got a great feel for the game to go along with a mean streak that IMO is very desirable to see in your big man. He's far from a finished product, which is why it's actually scary to see how good he can become.

What makes Rabb exceptional is how soft his hands are. And like Tsuba says, he has a great feel for the game. Knows where to be, when to time his jump, etc. Just a very natural player. But it's those hands that make him truly remarkable.

Last night, he was the best player on the floor. What a fun ride this will be.

Just contrast Ivan's hands with Kam's last night. I don't mean to pick on Kam but Ivan just doesn't drop a thing once it reaches him whereas Kam was constantly losing the handle.

First off, Rabb has great BB smarts. Then soft hands, fast feet, great rotation skills, and no quit energy to the bucket. He just seems "too fast" for most big men he encounters. Let it continue.

petalumabear;842596715 said:

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Just contrast Ivan's hands with Kam's last night. I don't mean to pick on Kam but Ivan just doesn't drop a thing once it reaches him whereas Kam was constantly losing the handle.

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My favorite play was when he went up for an offensive rebound against the opposing big and basically just ripped it out of his hands. And almost instantaneously just two hand dunked it right in the guy's face. Incredible hands and agility


I don't think either powe or shareef could have done that.

Ivan is my favorite player on the team. Loved watching him make a couple of aggressive dunks last night. He will be even better when he bulks up a little bit. Right now, he can be pushed out of position in the low post by stronger bigs.

Agree with all on Ivan. No way will I miss a game this year. Unfortunately so many season ticket holders just wait till Pac-12 season begins. Oh what they miss. The strength and finesse of Ivan and Jalen at their age is amazing.

Did anyone else see Shareef two games ago? He was sitting on the floor at the northeast entrance, stayed the whole game, watching intently. He was with his son and another friend. His son is taller--but have not heard whether he is interested in basketball.

I am a great fan of Ivan. Maybe the most indispensable member of our team. An amazing talent.

However, I am surprised that he has not learned/been taught back to the basket post moves. And has not shown much in the way of moves when facing the basket from, say, 15'. Clearly he is so talented and such an intelligent player that he will learn these.

He will be unstoppable when he does.

south bender;842596769 said:

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I am a great fan of Ivan. Maybe the most indispensable member of our team. An amazing talent.

However, I am surprised that he has not learned/been taught back to the basket post moves. And has not shown much in the way of moves when facing the basket from, say, 15'. Clearly he is so talented and such an intelligent player that he will learn these.

He will be unstoppable when he does.

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I don't think he's been given much of an opportunity to show what he can do facing the basket from 15' or even back to the basket post moves in the first 3 games. I saw some of his games in high school on TV and he's a pretty capable offensive player out to 15 ft. He (and Austin) were the focal points on offense in high school......not so much at Cal. With Brown, Wallace and some of the other shooters, we may not see Rabb's complete offensive arsenal. I think Martin will be content with Rabb grabbing offensive boards and dunking put backs.

jyamada;842596774 said:

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I don't think he's been given much of an opportunity to show what he can do facing the basket from 15' or even back to the basket post moves in the first 3 games. I saw some of his games in high school on TV and he's a pretty capable offensive player out to 15 ft. He (and Austin) were the focal points on offense in high school......not so much at Cal. With Brown, Wallace and some of the other shooters, we may not see Rabb's complete offensive arsenal. I think Martin will be content with Rabb grabbing offensive boards and dunking put backs.

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Interesting. However, given that Ivan has the skills you have seen, he ought to be given the opportunity to use them now, assuming his high percentage shooting will be part of them.

south bender;842596777 said:

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Interesting. However, given that Ivan has the skills you have seen, he ought to be given the opportunity to use them now, assuming his high percentage shooting will be part of them.

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He definitely has post moves and can finish with both hands. Everytime he got the ball in position last night he was instantly doubled.

Young Ivee is a bad bad man.

He is, by far, the best rebounder on the team. He's kind of stuck.

Bobodeluxe;842596794 said:

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He is, by far, the best rebounder on the team. He's kind of stuck.

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"Stuck"?

Meaning?

south bender;842596777 said:

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Interesting. However, given that Ivan has the skills you have seen, he ought to be given the opportunity to use them now, assuming his high percentage shooting will be part of them.

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I think that's what Shocky has been trying to say all along. :p

south bender;842596769 said:

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I am a great fan of Ivan. Maybe the most indispensable member of our team. An amazing talent.

However, I am surprised that he has not learned/been taught back to the basket post moves. And has not shown much in the way of moves when facing the basket from, say, 15'. Clearly he is so talented and such an intelligent player that he will learn these.

He will be unstoppable when he does.

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Before he can post up he will first need to be able to establish position on the block. He's getting pushed way too far back at this point.

Civil Bear;842596803 said:

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Before he can post up he will first need to be able to establish position on the block. He's getting pushed way too far back at this point.

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+1

Last night was also a poor opportunity against ECU's physical zone (hard to get position, hard to get the inlet pass then the inevitable zone collapse). I think we'll see more against other competition.

Given our luck, I just hope he stays healthy. Knock on wood

SFBear2012;842596817 said:

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Given our luck, I just hope he stays healthy. Knock on wood

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Don't even... With our past luck we would never have signed both Rabb and Brown.

jyamada;842596801 said:

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I think that's what Shocky has been trying to say all along. :p

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Rumor has it that Shocky will soon replace Martin as the Cal coach...

With that one astute move, the Bears should go undefeated this year!

And all the walk-ons will play in every game!

south bender;842596823 said:

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Rumor has it that Shocky will soon replace Martin as the Cal coach...

With that one astute move, the Bears should go undefeated this year!

And all the walk-ons will play in every game!

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Shocky bleeds Blue and Gold!

south bender;842596798 said:

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"Stuck"?

Meaning?

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If doesn't position himself for a rebound against teams with good size, like last night, there will be few offensive rebounds for the Bears.

jyamada;842596827 said:

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Shocky bleeds Blue and Gold!

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Blue in the arteries and Gold in the veins?
Or vice versa?

jyamada;842596774 said:

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I don't think he's been given much of an opportunity to show what he can do facing the basket from 15' or even back to the basket post moves in the first 3 games. I saw some of his games in high school on TV and he's a pretty capable offensive player out to 15 ft. He (and Austin) were the focal points on offense in high school......not so much at Cal. With Brown, Wallace and some of the other shooters, we may not see Rabb's complete offensive arsenal. I think Martin will be content with Rabb grabbing offensive boards and dunking put backs.

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With all the faith I have in Cuonzo, and in Murphy's Law (under which there will be games in which all the other shooters will have bad nights at the same time, and the other aspects of Raab's game may turn out to be the best alternatives at crucial times), I find it hard to believe that Cuonzo would be content to ignore those skills and accomplishments.

NYCGOBEARS;842596818 said:

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Don't even... With our past luck we would never have signed both Rabb and Brown.

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With Rabb and Brown being the physical specimens they are (and with Nickodemus bringing everyone else on the squad up toward that level), and with the extraordinarily high basketball IQ and court awareness of pretty much all our players, I PREDICT that, barring outright mugging with the most malicious intent (which i think is NOT foreseeable in our schedule), we are not going to have any trouble this year with anyone not staying healthy. Cal pessimism, I think, derives from the predilection of intelligent people not to want to ignore provably important contingencies, regardless of disapprobation (like Galileo and the Church); but it goes off the rails when it ignores the facts in favor of the attitude. Face it. We've got a team here that is set up for success (which includes, like the Warriors' second stringers, all sorts of reasons to believe that, should something happen (like one of our best players getting injured in an event unrelated to basketball), then one of the others (e.g., Singer, Domingo, Moute) will rise to unexpected heights, I imagine inspired by the other players.

south bender;842596769 said:

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I am a great fan of Ivan. Maybe the most indispensable member of our team. An amazing talent.

However, I am surprised that he has not learned/been taught back to the basket post moves. And has not shown much in the way of moves when facing the basket from, say, 15'. Clearly he is so talented and such an intelligent player that he will learn these.

He will be unstoppable when he does.

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Bobodeluxe;842596794 said:

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He is, by far, the best rebounder on the team. He's kind of stuck.

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Definitely the most indispensable member of the team. I don't agree with the notion that his post/face-up game is lacking. He just gets a lot of defensive attention when he gets the ball in the post. He's either doubled or there's at least there's a secondary defender sagging and threatening to double depending on what he does with the ball. He gets this attention, because he's going to put up the highest percentage shots for our team if his defender doesn't get help. He can score over either shoulder with either hand. He can get around most guys who guard him straight up. He's got a very nice stroke. His offensive game is the legit.

Not sure about the comment about him being "stuck," meaning rebounding the ball on the offensive end? Ivan's low post presence will be the most important part of Cal's offensive success this season.

Skip To My Lu;842596938 said:

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Definitely the most indispensable member of the team. I don't agree with the notion that his post/face-up game is lacking. He just gets a lot of defensive attention when he gets the ball in the post. He's either doubled or there's at least there's a secondary defender sagging and threatening to double depending on what he does with the ball. He gets this attention, because he's going to put up the highest percentage shots for our team if his defender doesn't get help. He can score over either shoulder with either hand. He can get around most guys who guard him straight up. He's got a very nice stroke. His offensive game is the legit.

Not sure about the comment about him being "stuck," meaning rebounding the ball on the offensive end? Ivan's low post presence will be the most important part of Cal's offensive success this season.

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I hope you are correct that his post/face-up game is not lacking. I look forward to seeing it.

Until he gains weight, it is going to be interesting if Ivan will out finesse players his height that outweigh him by 25 to 30 pounds like Bill Russell did. Bill more than held his own with Wilt, who outweighed him by 55 pounds.

bearister;842596996 said:

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Until he gains weight, it is going to be interesting if Ivan will out finesse players his height that outweigh him by 25 to 30 pounds like Bill Russell did. Bill more than held his own with Wilt, who outweighed him by 55 pounds.

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And you can also worry a bit about what adding weight would do to Rabb's agility and foot speed?

Powe could do that stuff in high school before his first knee injury. He had quick hops that never came back.

ducky23;842596721 said:

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My favorite play was when he went up for an offensive rebound against the opposing big and basically just ripped it out of his hands. And almost instantaneously just two hand dunked it right in the guy's face. Incredible hands and agility


I don't think either powe or shareef could have done that.

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In my opinion he isn't getting enough touches. He's going to be doubled but he's a very good passer and the perfect guy to set up either Brown cutting from the top or Bird from the wing when that happens.

south bender;842596777 said:

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Interesting. However, given that Ivan has the skills you have seen, he ought to be given the opportunity to use them now, assuming his high percentage shooting will be part of them.

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Although his game is quickness and skill and he's not a guy who can only score down low, to I'd say get him the ball and some space to work in. Not arguing your point, just adding one.

Civil Bear;842596803 said:

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Before he can post up he will first need to be able to establish position on the block. He's getting pushed way too far back at this point.

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I don't think the BBIQ on this team is as high as you think it is. Guys are unselfish, no doubt about that, and want to play team ball, but not too many of them are making plays for others. Rabb has very high bbiq. Bird is pretty good. Matthews is getting there. Ty is ok. Brown is ok. The centers are mechanical. Domingo seems like he might be a pretty smart player but I am not sure. Singer sees the floor well but isn't sure when to do what in too many circumstances. After that, forget it. Now, maybe it's just an issue of meshing and young guys still having to think about plays rather than reacting to them, but don't go overboard here.

mikecohen;842596916 said:

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With Rabb and Brown being the physical specimens they are (and with Nickodemus bringing everyone else on the squad up toward that level), and with the extraordinarily high basketball IQ and court awareness of pretty much all our players, I PREDICT that, barring outright mugging with the most malicious intent (which i think is NOT foreseeable in our schedule), we are not going to have any trouble this year with anyone not staying healthy. Cal pessimism, I think, derives from the predilection of intelligent people not to want to ignore provably important contingencies, regardless of disapprobation (like Galileo and the Church); but it goes off the rails when it ignores the facts in favor of the attitude. Face it. We've got a team here that is set up for success (which includes, like the Warriors' second stringers, all sorts of reasons to believe that, should something happen (like one of our best players getting injured in an event unrelated to basketball), then one of the others (e.g., Singer, Domingo, Moute) will rise to unexpected heights, I imagine inspired by the other players.

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