He doesn't need to jump to use his wingspan. His standing reach is 9'3", same as Dwight Howard's. Being a good jumper helps, but as long as he can extend his arms over his head when he's tired
That is a reach, considering most NBA players can dunk which is ten feet, they can jump over that reach. Jumping and timing matters, timing he has somewhat, I think he can jump decent for his size but Arn Tellem declined to have him jump at the NBA combine. Despite all these tools and that reach he only blocks 1.6 BPG for his career and 1.5 BPG for this year.
Right. I know it's reach. Someone said late in the game no one can jump (I'm exaggerating) so I said he still had reach that's as good as Dwight Howard. Which he does. He can certainly jump. Also, he only plays 13.5 minutes a game, so 1.5 blocks is pretty darn good.
No one is saying Biyombo is the second coming of Bill Russell, or even Ben Wallace. If he were, we would not be having a discussion about trading him for Brandon Bass or Jeff Green -- at least not one in which some could plausibly argue "Don't do it." He's a 22 year-old center who's an offensive liability, but there is some indication he can alter shots sometimes. Our interior defense is beyond awful, and clearly Ainge should attempt to find a solution. While praying for lottery balls to bounce our way for once is an option, as is convincing a proven center to sign here in free agency, neither of those can happen until the summer, and are anything but guaranteed. If in the meanwhile we got to try out an alternative who's an expiring contract, but is also a restricted free agent next year, for a largely duplicative player like Brandon Bass, that should be a no-brainer. At worst, Biyombo is likely to provide sometimes-useful defense at the expense of offense and be gone at the end of the year. At best, he develops into a viable rotation-level center who's worth having around.
Again, he's 22. There's a very real chance his best basketball is ahead of him. We have nothing resembling interior defense at the moment, and the entire NBA knows it. If he can be had for someone we've been trying to trade away for a year, that deal should happen as soon as possible.