Right .. I think it's system limited .. Which is a shame because his highest upside is probably at the 3 ... Or at least a guy who can guard the 3 a significant amount of the time . He's essentially a rookie . Which means that he needs to learn how to play NBA D . Ultimately to become an above average defender at the 3 he will need to do 1 of 2 things. 1. Gain lateral quickness ... Not unheard of esp with NBA training but runs counter to bulking up too much ... The organization has to be careful of this because if the mandate is to gain strength he may lose what chance he has at guarding the 3 2. Learn to use his excellent size to play the positional defensive game for wings . Battier with the rockets was never an incredible athlete , but he used great instincts and positioning to be an incredible defender . Hell , Trevor at this point is no longer a great athlete . So I think Sam can develop into a great wing defender but he needs playing time there to develop ... And an offseason of work . Like I said . My pipe dream next year is that our starting front court is Sam/ trez/Clint ... With a harden and bev backcourt . That lineup has so much potential with 4/5 capable of being good defensively . If we allow trez to shoot a midrange jumper and Dekker gains consistency with the 3 , I think it will be fine offensively too . Our bench will have enough scoring that we could sub in any position at any time for offense.
