Never thought I’d say this, but...Elton Brand reminds me of C-Webb. Not the old, crippled C-Webb WE had, but the younger Sacramento version -- a passing/scoring forward who could work the high post, command a double-team, and facilitate your offense. Hmm.
He ain’t a banger. And as we already know, neither is Sammy. So really, we got no one to lock down the middle. Not good.
Umi and I went to the Center and caught the Sixers on a poor shooting night, which was a good thing. Strong shooting can hide other offensive weaknesses -- like sloppy ball protection, lousy communication and choppy ball movement, and piss-poor rebounding. (Yeah, Sammy had 11 rebounds, but just about every one of those either fell into his hands off a weird bounce, or he was able to pick it out of the air with his height; dude gets position on NO ONE.) So we saw some concerning blemishes live and in full-irritated-color.
This offense simply doesn’t know what it’s doing. Sure, they get out on the break well (when they’re rebounding, that is). But they don’t know what to do in the half-court. At all. They have no pick-and-roll skills. They don’t have a 2-guard who runs off screens to get open. They’re getting no second-chance points, which means they’re giving up the ball too much on the offensive end (...and that doesn’t even count the 17 turnovers they coughed up).
This is what I saw over and over again last night: ‘Dre bringing the ball up, and four guys hanging around the perimeter, lost for what to do.
I’m going to allow myself to be less-than-measured here and ask some possibly too-dramatic questions:
1. Is Mo the right coach for this team?
2. How much do we need ‘Dre? (Strange question to ask after a night where he led the team with 25 and 6. But if you do run your offense through Brand, which they kind of have to, how important is the PG position? $10M/year important?)
3. Who can we sucker into trading for an “athletic, shot-blocking center,” so we can clear Sammy’s $10M off our books and get something that works instead?
4. Why isn’t Speights getting more minutes? He gets position in the paint and has shooting range out to 12-15 feet. Am I missing something?
5. Why is Willie Green getting ANY minutes?
6. Why are ‘Dre and Lou Williams on the floor together so much?
Let’s say hypothetically, the front office was able to trade Sammy to Chicago for Ben Gordon (not beyond the realm of possibility), and ‘Dre to Miami (who is desperate for a pure PG) for Udonis Haslem and a draft pick. Your starting five would look like this:
1 – Lou Williams
2 – Ben Gordon (running off screens for catch-and-drive/shoot)
3 – Iggy (playing his natural position)
4 – Brand (running the offense from the high post)
5 – Haslem
With Thaddeus, Reggie Evans, and Speights coming off the bench (plus Rush and/or Donyell in reserve if you need to spread the floor and/or nail a couple 3s). Add a coach who stresses perimeter D and knows how to use screens and picks (whether that’s Mo or someone else).
To quote Martin Landau from Entourage, “Does that sound like something you’d be interested in?”
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5 comments:
What we saw was pretty ugly, but i'm not going there wiht you yet. There's too much talent on this team, and too little time so far for them to figure out how to play together. No trade for Ben Gordon or Udonis Haslem makes us better.
The half court offense was bad. Brand didn't get enough touches when they were in it. The interior defense was weak, and Deron kept blowing past his man to get tot he second level, setting up easy looks.
They did look good when they ran. Almost every one Dre's shots were layups. He's one of the best in the league at taking what the defense gives. A crack of daylight, a little hesitation dribble and boom - 2 points. I'm not eager to trade someone that crafty. Plus, the offense looked horrible with Lou or Iggy bringing the ball up.
CJ Miles scored all 16 of his points in the 4th quarter. That can't happen. Btw, isn't that Iggy's man?
Anyway, there was something that really jumped out at me about last night. Iggy, Elton and Dre are all quiet contributor type guys. There's been a lot of talk about there not being a true #1 guy. You could say it that way. But I think it's got something to do with the personality of this team, moreso than the talent. I like Elton's game. I don't totally agree that he's not a banger. He's very physical in the post on offense. Iggy's got all-world athletic talent, if not ball skills. And Dre is a steady hand for this team. Talent-wise their not top shelf, but they are better than a lot of teams top 3. And they've got a few very nice complimentary pieces.
The thing about our Big 3, if you will, is that they're all mild-mannered muthafuckas. Put that together with Coach Cheeks, who never did nothin' to nobody except Matt Barnes, and you don't have any vocal leadership or emotional drive on this team. Keep going and you find Thaddeus (a studious, young prospect), Lou, Speights, Kareem... I mean, who on this team, other than Re-ggie and Samuel, gets fired up about anything on the court. When they run, they're juices get flowing. That's about the only time you see them excited.
It's going to take them a little to find an identity and learn how to play together. When they do that then we can judge accurately what else we need. Until then, it's too early.
What do we have right now?
Sammy: seems to have settled down (less dumb fouls) and learned how to focus on rebounds and shot blocking. If he could become a more solid one-on-one defender, he'd be worht his contract. It's not a lack of effort stopping him. He needs more/better coaching.
Elton: will be a solid contributor throughout the season. The offense should go through him. They need a pick and roll game to maximize his abilities both put the ball on the floor and shoot from mid-range. his abilities are not being fully utilized yet.
Thaddeus: is able to get to the rim of the dribble. he can shoot for outside. He needs to start finishing stronger at the rack. If he can become a lock down defender and mature his offensive game, he can be an All Star.
Iggy: got a quiet 15, 10 and 5 last night. The number sare nice, but they didn't mean much. His handle is not good enough for a 2. His drives to the rim are herky jerky. i wasn't seeing lockdown D last night, even tho I know he's capable. His offensive game needs to improve a great deal for him to be worth that contract. A nice player, but at $7M a year, not what he's making.
Dre: the only guy who could score or get to the line whenever he wanted. Everytime trade talk comes up leading up tot he deadline, let's just remember that. If we do move him, we need a solid point i return. Bcus...
Lou: ain't a point. He was second to Dre in his shot getting and making ability. And we need that.
Speights: got position down low, but they didn't go to him. The offense has to learn how to use it's two offensively oriented 4's.
Willie: nothing good happened when he was onthe court.
Reggie: seems like the odd man out. Could have some decent trade value come the deadline. I say that knowing we'd miss him come playoff time.
Maybe they can do somethign against Torronto tonight. I think there's gonna be a point in the season where they just gettig tired of losing and stop. Hopefully, that'll be soon.
Yeah, forget I said Ben Gordon. You’re right — we need at least one killer. With Gordon, I was thinking of a guy who could score. But we need a personality, as well. A huge-balls, Sam Cassell type. Don’t know who that might be.
But I gotta take issue with your analysis of Sammy. Come on, Yo. A player who “learned how to focus on rebounds and shot blocking”? Yeah, when he’s not being pushed around like a frail-ass bitch. All he needs is more coaching? Dude, Moses Malone SPENT THE SUMMER TUTORING HIM a couple of off seasons ago. Sometimes it’s the student, not the teacher.
To be clear, I like ‘Dre. A lot. But this might not be a team in need of a pure PG. And his contract is up after this year. In trade terms, he’s valuable due to the timing of said contract, and to the fact that he’s one of the top-five pure PGs in the L right now. Shit, dangle him in front of McHale for Kevin Love. Or what about the crap-ass Bobcats? Give me Nazr Mohammed and a first-round 2009 pick that will wind up being lottery.
And you forget: if you manage to dump ‘Dre’s and Sammy’s contracts, you’re suddenly in the LeBron/D-Wade sweepstakes next year. Eh?
As I said at the game, I've made my peace with Sammy. He's got lots of room for improvement, but there's just not a long list of really good, physical centers in the league. It's a lost art, as Shaq has told us. He was hurting us as much as our perimeter defenders letting CJ Miles and Deron penetrate into the lane. If they do their job better, Sammy can do his better. You're not winning a championship with Nazi as your starting center, or Kevin Love for that matter.
And those sweepstakes are a long time from now. That's two full seasons from where we are. We've got to try with what we've got right now if we don't want to waste the rand signing. I'm not absolutely opposed to moving Dre, but if we do we need a guy who can help us be more explosive right here/right now.
Sammy and Iggy for 'Melo.
Camby is gone. Your frontcourt can't be always-injured KMart and fucking Nene. Meanwhile, we get a scoring machine, who's also great in the clutch, getting out of a bad situation -- coming to us on a vengeance mission.
Who flinches first on that proposition?
They do. No way they make that deal.
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