There has been a lot of discussion about playing small , and the NBA is certainly sliding this way . Despite this , and despite everyone's wishes , we can't go into the season starting Ariza or Paul George or Gordon Hayward at the 4. Sure they can play it, sure they can even play significant minutes at those spots . But look at Cleveland and GS . Golden state started zaza so green could start at the 4. My point it this , the length of the season will wear small ball 4's down. Neither Ariza nor George nor Hayward ( if we were able to land them) could sustain a whole season of banging vs other PF's. We had to try to use James in the playoffs to guard that spot , and James (who is a very good post defender ) got worn down in a couple of games. Of course , our actual 4 spot (and 3 for that matter ) need an upgrade . But bringing in a wing and sliding Ariza (or the new wing ) to the 4 shouldn't happen. Yes , that could and likely would be our best lineup, but that lineup should not be the one starting the game. Therefore , we would still need to figure out the stating 4 spot ( please no Anderson)
I really think Gallo would be an underrated jackpot signing. I just have a hunch he'll stay healthy and have a great impact. Great size
ariza, along with anyy otherr wing who has enough height, can play the 4 if they bulk up and dont play superstar minutes. those 2 are key.
Ariza PT is just silly. I think the platoon method is the way to go here --> we have young talent on cheap contracts. Each one will give us a different look. We need quality not quantity from Ariza. Use your bench please, coach
Paul George could easilly play the 4 if he wanted. At least spend half of his minutes there. But he doesn't want to. There aren't that many fearful 4s in the league that will bang you around.
the league has gone small ball for quite sometime now. it's not just starting. teams that are built traditionally with a 4 and 5 to win years ago really have no chance now. clippers are a prime example, utah/memphis have had their ceilings as a result. you have to be able to score and score in bunches, play at a quicker pace, stretch the floor, get stops when needed. small ball will be the majority of lineups used throughout the course of a season, especially in the playoffs for the foreseeable future. the real counter to defeating small ball is finding bigs that punish these lineups but unfortunately there aren't any bigs good enough in this league to do that on a nightly basis, especially when the majority of the ones that show any type of actual skill are outside shooting jumpers.
I think this oversimplifies it. Like the Grizzlies has had their ceiling because they're players are old and weren't good enough. Utah's ceiling will depend on their players top peaks. Currently it's not good enough. The Clippers could have been REALLY close to good enough, but for the fact that they are chokers and micro-managers, Doc is an overrated coach, an extremely overrated coach/GM combo, and CP3/Blake still don't really mesh all that spectacularly (because like DJ before him who wanted to leave and didn't have the balls to do so, Blake also doesn't love playing with CP3). I'm not saying small ball isn't the current/future. I think it clearly has a role. But more that we'll see traditional, VERY tall PFs incorporate both inside/outside games [see KAT for example]. Or more to the point, I think Karl Malone, Barkley, KG, prime Duncan would wreck in today's game pretty much just as much as they did... maybe slight changes.
there isn't a big in the league that is dominate enough both inside and outside. and no big that plays truly inside and dominate KAT included
KAT is most certainly that dominant, OFFENSIVELY. He puts up 25 a game, shoots 3-4 threes a game at 37%, hits 58% of his twos, etc. He had as dominant a 21 year old season as we've seen from anyone aside from the truly mt. rushmore esque's of the game.... ... EXCEPT his defense I don't know if people realize how good KAT is already.
we'll see how good he truly is this year and if minny can show any drastic improvement bc there really isn't much excuse now that a top all star wing has now joined the team.
Absolutely. There's stats and empty stats, for sure. But just pointing out KATs offensive/rebounding stats are ridiculous for a 21 year old. 25.1 ppg, 12.3 rpg, 2.7 apg with a 62% true shooting percentage and 26 PER. He's better across the board than AD at the same age, except defensively. It's better than KG, Duncan, Malone, etc, etc, etc... It's just stats, and given the win/loss record just empty stats for now. But he's RIDICULOUSLY good. He shot 67% on his three pointers. He can double his 3 point attempts to open up his game even more. Random aside... absolutely you can never be sure you're going to get a KAT in the draft, instead of an Okafor. But the reason I have been so strongly in favor of somewhat of a rebuild on this nature, given the GSW dynasty, the Harden playoff difficulties, the Rockets cap situation, the Rockets defense and roster situation, etc. is because we are now in a decent era of drafts. They're back to being "strong" and will be for a few years as the youngins who have grown up in an era of high bball IQ, but lack of bigs, develop. Fultz WILL be VERY VERY good. Michael Porter Jr. has insane upside, and Marvin Bagley has been described over and over again as the potential best basketball player of this generation - some say he'd have been the top pick this year if he came out. Unheralded guys show up, top guys drop (Giles), but we are in a mini era of great drafts here. And then you can find yourselfs like the TWolves in no time. They've sucked forever... BUT, the rebuild is 3 years in the making. They will absolutely be a playoff team next year, imo, and if they can make another smart move (lose Rubio, gain a solid FA talent) they have home court potential (because Utah may drop, LAC may drop, Grizzlies always have drop potential, Blazers are an unknown).
Um... Davis? 51% of his shots are taken inside 10ft (at nearly +60%). He also shot 30% from deep. Cousins? 54% of his shots are taken inside 10ft (at nearly 60%). He also shot 38% from deep. <- All in NO
Let me ask you this... how many "banging" power forwards do you really have to worry about now that most of the league is going the small ball route to matchup with the GS and CLE's of the world? Maybe a handful? Aldridge? Randolph? (he was coming off the bench last I heard) Horford? (he's been playing a lot of 5 but his natural position is 4) Anthony - Towns? (he plays in the middle but often ventures outside the 3 and drives in when facing up) That was off top... point is not very many that you have to worry about "banging" down low. Most of those guys are faced up to the basket rather than low post 4s that pound the ball on the block. Even when they tried (SAS for instance) we were pretty effective at having them matchup with us when Ariza was hot from the outside. So realistically it becomes our advantage rather than theirs. Just a thought. This entire league is evolving even moreso to the stretch 4 concept rather than finding players that can post you up.
