Yes, I see your point. The problem is that Dragić you're seeing right now would not resemble Dragić in that situation. His efficiency and general value on the court would go way down. If you lock him up for big money because of his recent play, you'll never be able to justify his contract. You can get a 2 guard that would be able to produce on his level for a lot less. He'd underperform, eventually become untradable and a burden for his team, all while regressing ass a player. If you already have such a player locked up on a reasonable contract and have no other alternatives, you do use him like that. Dragić was often used like that this year in small stints, playing in the back court with Lowry. But the truth is, if you want somebody playing besides Lowry at the 2, you bring back Lee - he's the better off the ball player, spot-up shooter and will command much less money. My point is, it's not beneficial for the team or for the player to sing him with those intentions. The team would end up with a bad contract and the player would be in a situation where he'd regress, never being able to realize his full potential. I think both sides know that. If Lowry remains in the future plans of the franchise, they will not be ready to pay market price for Dragić and Dragić will not take less to be in a situation where his growth and use will be limited.
I agree with your explanation but not so much your premise. Dragic has experience playing at the 2, that's why I say it's possible. Remember that McHale also said some of our best lineups involved playing both Lowry and Dragic on the court. Running Dragic and Lowry for 25 minutes a game together, and have Lee sub in for either one of them certainly doesn't seem like such a bad idea. The argument comes down to whether Dragic can or cannot play the two. I personally think he can, and considering the fact that one of our better lineups consists of playing both players I certainly think we could make it work.
I'd have to disagree. I explained my initial stand on the 2 position on the previous page: Quote: Originally Posted by mazinger He's good no matter where. And no, Dragic is not better than Lowry. If anything, we can trade Martin or let Lee go and put Dragic at the 2. Dragic is at his best when Lowry plays point. What? You're saying Dragić is at his best when he's degraded to being the secondary ball handler, assuming the role of a spot-up shooter? That's just completely false. Dragić has never been a good enough shooter to be really effective at that, with the exception of the last couple of weeks, but I think that will be hard to sustain. And his terrific length at the pg position becomes a negative mismatch on defense, because the bigger shooting guards can shoot over him. He loses his confidence, his efficiency plummets and he becomes a shadow of his current self. Like I already said in another thread, he's not a potent shooter, but he is a potential offensive threat from anywhere on the floor. As a primary guard he's putting that to amazing use by consistently breaking down the opposing defense and finishing or finding the open man - that's the bread and butter of his game. If you take that away from him, you limit his effectiveness considerably. I'm not trying to debate who's the better point guard, or who should start when Lowry comes back. But what's perfectly clear to me is that Dragić is not a 2, you're limiting his production and efficiency by playing him at that position and any long-term experiment trying to do that would fail. You can get away with that in stints, but signing him to a long term contract and expecting him to do that consistently would not work. And like I said, I think McHale has been using them together, because he had no better alternatives at the position, while Lee was on the bench and Martin was slumping.
I can agree with some of that, but some of that is theoretical. Like when you said that he will lose confidence when guards shoot over him or his efficiency plummeting if he plays 2. We know for a fact that Dragic and Lowry is a strong line up, whether it is sustainable is a different story. But then again we could argue whether Dragic could sustain his current level of play. Also, Courtney Lee is 6'5" and Dragic is 6'4". If Lee can play and guard the 2 I don't think it's far fetched to assume the same could be done for Dragic. Lee is after all also only 10 pounds heavier than Dragic.
Yes, I agree that his height is borderline, but he's still a bit short and not strong enough. He gets shot over and pounded to the post by bigger guards, where they can use their height advantage particularly well. Which is a shame, because his unique combination of speed and size - one of the fastest while being one of the tallest point guards in the league - makes him a mismatch and a nightmare to defend. Most of PGs that can keep up are to short to defend him and most that are tall enough are too slow.You're taking that away if you play him at the 2. All the while his speed and length are good enough to effectively defend pretty much any PG in the league. And his confidence is a big issue throughout his career. When he doesn't preform well he tends to lose his confidence and slump. I really hope he gets or already is enough mentally fortified to get over that. IMO It's been holding him back considerably. I don't think playing them together is a good idea, offensively they negate each others impact to a point and they lose out defensively, however you put it. You can disagree and I respect your opinion, but i think I made my case pretty clear. No hard feelings.
I'm Slovenian and I love basketball , that's my only connection with him. And of course I use a keyboard with all the alphabetical signs of the southern slavic nations
this isn't fiba. this is the diva association. you don't have to be physical to guard the 2 because if you are physical or dare touch the perimeter player it's a foul. Dragic has the foot speed and the wingspan to play the limited d the league allows. Dragic would strive being the slovenian manu. just a playmaker in general. people get caught up in the one, two, three, four, five. =/ oh noes tim duncan is a four! but dude, their five is 6'6! what? they can make it work.
The question isn't whether Dragic can be a 2-guard, but rather what's his "value" there. Suppose on a scale of 1-10, Dragic is an 8 at PG position, and 6 at SG position. Then his overall value becomes 7 if he splits time at the two positions. Also, shooting guards in general are more abundant than PGs, so that also devalues Dragic if he splits time. Of course, the flip side is that having 2 PGs mean the team can survive injuries much better due to the nature of the position. So overall there are many pluses and minuses here. I'll trust the Rockets to know what they're doing and make an informed decision.
This is a whole different conversation, I'm not getting into that here. Still think you need sufficient length and strength to defend a specific position.
