What is the one skill we need most out of our starting PF?

If I had to pick one aspect to look at for the ideal PF it'd be who can run the Josh Smith play from the Dallas series. Who can set a good pick for Harden, get open quickly going to the paint and check mate with the ability to quickly decide to lob to Capella, dish out for a 3, or finish themselves. Does Dmo have the athleticism? Can Beasley make the right decision? Can Jones not have a nervous breakdown and catch the ball?
Montrezl Harrell may actually have the skills for this.

 

Can health be a skill?

 

I respect what you are saying, totally agree his role off the bench was to put in the bucket. However, we need him on the court to start and end games his presence off sets a defensive front focused on Harden. He is getting and can take advantage of passes from Harden. You get more fire power on this team Harden's iso turnovers will go down .. book it.

 

It depends on the center we have. The PF should complement not duplicate what the center does well.

That said, defense is always needed. Good individual and team defense, not necessarily a shot blocker.

 

I want to start a Luol Deng/DeMarre Carroll type 6'8"-6'9" SF who can defend bigger players, hit threes and play off the ball. We need to pick up a more traditional PF (or keep D-Mo) to come off the bench in case we do need more size.

But we'd need better ball-handling from the 3 spot, and a guy like Batum would be perfect.

 

Kinda agree...and anyway at this point we're literally without a starting 4 so, not sure you can look at one skill, we just need more than one.

If you want a one skill player you can sign one between Anderson, Teletovic, Ilyasova...but yeah, players who are just able to make some threes and suck in every other aspect won't make enough difference to justify the pay, at this point would be better to use the money in other spots and keep D.Mo, Beasley, Trez and Dekker (if you see him as a 3/4).

 

The only quality that can't be worked around is getting a 4 that can defend 3's and 4's.

With the speed of the nba, 3pt shooting, incessant PnR these days, no matter how good you are at everything else, teams are gearing up to make you bleed this way.

We're on the right track with Capela at the 5. That guy has the quickness, length, athleticism to defend even the quickest 4's, and some slow 3's. But with Capela being so offensively limited, our 4 has to be able to make space for him by demanding defensive attention at least from mid range.

Now an athletic player who can defend and score is the IDEAL option, but those are not exactly lying around. The closest person to that on the market is IMO Al Horford. However, technically I would put Horford at the 5 (operating a lot of high post, and hitting wide open 3's) and Capela at the 4 (bringing that grit, quickness, rebounding, shot blocking). I like that tandem a lot.

The chances of getting Horford are slim and expensive though, so who's the next alternative? I'd ask these questions:

- Can Batum move into the PF spot and we go truly ultra quick and small full time, shocking defenses and pushing the envelope? Would definitely require a good backup big though to have different looks.
- Can Ryan Anderson play any team defense? Enough to guard the weaker of the opposing PF/C with us having a good team defensive system? I'm not a fan, but we have a huge hole at PF and he's available. Can Jerebko or Teletovic give us the same for less money?
- Can Deng give us 2 good years at the 4?
- Can we survive having Noah/Ezeli/Biyombo at C and getting zero offensive output from both PF and C?
- Do we have any faith in Jared Sullinger getting into shape? He's had a very good coach and played in a good system. Offensively and on the boards, he can do it. But he needs to drop lbs and keep it off. This might be a decent risk to take.

Not a great market. I wonder if there's a trade out there for us with the average assets we have lying around. Is anyone trying to dump a PF contract? Should we try to move up in the draft, or is that too much inexperience for our front line? Or do we not have enough youth?

How many questions can I ask in one post?

 

The ability to be a small ball five that can be useful in multiple lineups.

Proficient in shooting, rebounding and defense.

Basically, a better version of D-Mo.

 

As today you always need a good defensive 5, no matter who you play at the 4, but Horford is a very good defender, both in individual and team defense, miles better than Anderson which in fact is one of the worst defenders in the league. Horford can also play the 5 in small ball lineups.

 

A tall ThreePointDefboundPicker is what we need

 

Defense should be paramount because capella cant do it all.

 

-Rebounder
-Capable holding his own when switching on smaller guys
-Hit at least 35% of 3's

 

marc gasol?

 

I was just wondering if he fell in that category in general. didn't take into account FA or not. my bad

 

Does it matter what we want?

Thankfully we have a GM who does all our thinking for us.

 

9 or 10 rebounds per game guy
Moving well around the block and within - agility, passing, blocking (athleticism)
Post game and shooting