The great thing about DaJuan Coleman for SU is that he's been a huge guy for 3-4 years already. So he's had his entire high school basketball & AAU career to work gain experience as a big man. Meaning he comes to SU as a pretty polished basketball player already, who knows the game, positioning down low, has played against the best, and has won 3 state championships already. He is well ahead of many of his big man peers in this regard...he will arrive at Syracuse as a player, instead of a potential player.
Often with big men right out of high school, they are still acclimating to their size & how they need to play down low. Guys like Isaiah Austin, who almost thinks he's a guard instead of a 7 foot tall center & needs to be more willing to stay down low, Kaleb Tarczewski needs to hit the weightroom and get better develop on offense, Grant Jerrett has been called a "late bloomer" who needs to add muscle & gain experience, Cameron Ridley is known as a "mostly upside player right now, and scouts may have to temper expectations for the time being", Steven Adams doesn't have much experience playing good comp, and does not have a very developed post game yet, Brandon Ashley needs better footwork and physical play down low, Willie Cauley is raw offensively and needs to add strenght to bang in post, ect.
To me, the only guys in the 2012 class (that are on Coleman's level athletically) that are more "finished product" than "great potential" are Anthony Bennett and Tony Parker.
I mean, it's great to get guys that are ranked in ESPN's top 10 recruits and all, but many of these centers and power forwards are ranked highly more on potential than actual production. And by the time they are ready to fully contribute to their college team, sometimes they do so for a year then leave.
After having to develop Fab & Christmas these past few years, it will be refreshing to have a guy like Coleman come in and be able to contribute from day one.
