I think you are placing way too much emphasis on 1 game vs Yao. 9 of Yao's 29 points were FT's and Miller still outboarded Yao. http://www.nba.com/games/20021218/INDHOU/boxscore.html Yao's toughest matchup is Shaq and here is how Miller fared in two games vs LAL - Miller 16-8-0 vs Shaq 26-11-5 Miller 13-10-2 vs Shaq 10-10-1 Avg's Miller - 14.5-9-1 Shaq - 18-10.5-3 Webber will take Duncan. Miller can handle Rasho. Miller never faced Kandi last season but the Pacers beat the TWolves both times. The Kings are not paying Miller $60m as a backup. His is the eventual replacement for a 35 yo Vlade. IMHO, this is a major pickup for the Kings.
I'd personally rather have Turkoglu and Mercer than just Stephen Jackson. Mercer's a more consistent and better rounded offensive player and is also pretty good on the defensive end. Turkoglu has had the support of his teammates in practices who said he was very skilled and deserved more time. With his skill set at his height, it's a pretty rare combination. I think he still needs a better mental mindset though, and some d will always help (although having Duncan behind you and Bowen beside you is helpful). Bruce Bowen is not a 40% 3pt shooter normally, but you put him w/ Tim Duncan and he is. Just look at Derek Anderson, who shot about 40% from 3 in his only year with the Spurs, but has a career average of below 35%. It helps when all you have to do is stand in one spot, wait for your guy to run off and help, so you can get the ball for a wide open jumpshot. That's what playing w/ Duncan does for you. It's a lot like the Rockets when they had Olajuwon and Barkley. Dump it in, draw the double, kick it out.
Bruce Bowen is NOT a 40% shooter from 3pt., last year was an abberation. He's 38 percent for his career.
The Spurs are more than just spot up shooters now. A starting lineup of Parker Ginobili Turkoglu Duncan Nesterovic gives you 4 guys around Duncan who are triple threats. This is a superior offensive crew to last season's, without question. Defensively we'll have to see if the Spurs' system continues to work. As for Horry, the Spurs aren't going to use him for heavy minutes like LA did last season. Keep him fresh during the regular season, let him play cards with Kerr on the bench, then get him ready for the playoffs. Mercer is just there. Perhaps he finds a way into the rotation...provided the Spurs keep him. SJack isn't necessarily gone. But his agent (Fegan) done F*ed up another good situation for a young client in search of the almighty large market $. As for Bowen's shooting %, it's kinda hard to have a "fluke" like that for an entire season. He shot well during a stint in Miami with Mourning in the post. Now SA will be free to use Bowen whenever they need more defense and they can use Turkoglu whenever they need more scorers on the court. They lose DRob's experience but they gain a younger player with a solid offensive game that meshes well with TD's and they don't have to worry about limiting his minutes or him being out for extended periods of time. The Spurs do lose some here defensively, but not as much as might be expected, IMO. Rasho fits what the Spurs are doing moreso than Kandi, which is one of the reasons the Spurs didn't make a play for him. I do hope that the rest of the league thinks that the Spurs are in as bad a spot as that poster does.
