Brimah seems to me to be an athletic outlier. His learning curve is ridiculous. He appears to visibly improve each game.
Shabazz talked about the front court preseason, but we could not have dared to hope for this.
Learning sports is not easy. You have to understand the game and its rules. You have to see what a great player does. Then, you have to consciously model the better player. Or, at least, most athletes learn that way.
Andre Drummond was immersed in basketball culture much longer than Brimah. His freshman year, he had trouble acclimating to the level of difficulty and put in intensive work his rookie year. He deserves credit for coming along very quickly for a big, big.
By contrast Brimah must be able to get much more than most from only seeing the example and/or hearing the explanation because he quickly responds with play that includes new skills with very limited conscious thought. Sports at top levels are played in flow. Brimah seems to be integrating his learning without becoming conscious, which is extraordinary. I say this because it was said here after the mixed scrimmage that he would need to stop blocking shots out of bounds. That has diminished. It was said he would need a year to improve in choosing when to attempt the block and when to go for the rebound, he is showing improvement on that already. It may be extrapolated from soccer, but the man also knows how to position himself for a goal mouth pass and he knows how to catch and finish. If this kid's game grows at this rate and can add mass to his frame, the NBA will be watching.
