Liability? They almost swept the Heat. Diaw wasn't put in the game for his shooting. He didn't even do a lot of that. He was put in for his playmaking within their offense. He also did a good job defensively. If they were going to put in a big for shooting they would have gone with Bonner.
The idea was to increase the spacing without creating an even worse issue defensively than they were solving offensively.... Once you hit the playoffs, you stop getting situations where poor shooters get their shots challenged, the defenses just sit at home clogging penetration, like what Portland did to us and Ibaka was doing to San Antonio (queue Boris).
The Spurs had this guy named Boris Diaw. He is a multi-tool offensive power forward who is a very, very good jump shooter. Diaw was the key to the Spurs winning the series because Miami simply could not match up with him. Boy o boy. First of all we're talking about winning a championship, not just easing by the Blazers in the first round. Secondly, game 3 happened to be the game that we replaced a guy that could neither shoot nor defend nor rebound effectively against Portland's bigs with a guy that could defend and rebound but could not shoot. From that point on we went 2-2 against Portland after they raped us the first 2 games. They raped us in those first 2 games because of the fact that our 2 superstars did not have enough space AND Dwight had no help defensively on the interior. Those factors generate the "bad decisions", the "not boxing out", the "terrible execution", etc. This team needs spacing for us to win a championship around Harden and Dwight. Both guys....desperately need spacing for their games to have the most impact. Dwight is your low post horse. He can't shoot out on the floor and never will be able to shoot out on the floor. He's a low post horse. He simply isn't skilled enough offensively to be great without spacing. Harden's game is predicated around having the space to either take his man one-on-one or get a pick and roll it to the rim without having help defenders drag in on him because the defense would prefer him to throw it out to a poor shooting power forward. Both men are built for a game of spacing and being surrounded by deep spot-up shooters. Shooting is the most important skill in today's NBA. Elite shooting is the most valuable skill that a player can possess. It translates across teams and systems. It's always been that way and has become even more so the last several years with the relevance of the 3-point line and all the non-foul contact allowed on bigs in the league today. If you're going to have a championship team today you've got to have 2 big guys that can control the paint/protect the rim and control the defensive glass...and you need at least 1 very good shooter in your big rotation. 2014 San Antonio: Duncan, Splitter, Diaw, Bonner (2 guys to lock down the paint and rim and 2 guys that can shoot it) 2013 Miami: Bosh, Anderson, Anthony, Haslem (4 guys that could defend and 1 guy that can shoot it from deep....and most of the time they only played with 1 big and they subbed in Battier or another shooter around 1 big) 2012 Miami: Same thing 2011 Dallas: Tyson Chandler, Dirk Nowitzki, Brendan Haywood, Mahimni, Peja/Cardinal (3 big paint/rim defenders and 3 dudes that can shoot it) These are the most recent championship team rotation bigs at the 4/5 spots. There's a pattern here. It's very definitive. They all have one of their top 3 big man rotation guys that can spot up and shoot the 3-ball very, very well. Because of the above and because I have watched thousands of NBA games over the last 35 years of my life...I am convinced that in today's NBA you have to have at least one primary rotation big that can shoot the basketball efficiently from distance. He has to be a player that is good enough to warrant top 3 rotation minutes at the 4/5 spots. We've got the best rebounder in the business on our roster. Yes, the 4 man or the other big man and the other players have to help out on the boards. So there's no question that you've got to have 2 (count'em 2) bigs that can rebound and play effective defensive in the paint and at the rim. And there's no question you've got to have at least 1 big in the primary big man rotation that can shoot the rock and spread the floor. Right now...we've got Dwight. We've lost our second defensive big. And we've not been able to acquire that 4/5 primary rotation big that can shoot the 3 effectively. We've added Dorsey and Adrien. They're a couple grinders. Adrien is efficient in his role. Perhaps one or both of them can emerge as the second defensive big that can lock down the paint and rim and defensive boards for us working with Dwight for a full 48. But NEITHER guy can shoot the basketball. The other 2 bigs we've got are Donuts and Terrence. Neither of those guys has shown that they can shoot the basketball efficiently either. I do hold out some hope that Donuts can become a plus shooter from 3 for us this next year because of what I've seen from him this summer. But I'm simply crossing my fingers and hoping and praying that Terrence can do the same. Because Terrence is not big enough to defend the rim, control the paint, and control the defensive glass, and he's never going to be big enough to do that, his only chance to be a primary big on a championship team is to become a plus shooter from distance. And up until this point I have seen NO INDICATION of Terrence's ability to shoot from distance NOR have I seen any desire from Terrence to improve this facet of his game that we so desperately need for this team to compete for championships. Yes, me and this idea that we have to have a 4 that can shoot the ball. You betcha.
Good points. But would you take Rubio at the max? Bc he's represented by Fegan and it's going to cost the max. I'd personally rather go for Dragic and milsap who if they're not able to obtain now would both be free agents next year when we have $14-16m in cap space. Sign one then and sign and trade for the other. Of course if you can trade for one or both now that wold be even better!
Another good question. I would trade for Rubio definitely, right now. And then I'd let the season play out and see how he established himself, how his shot improved, and see if he got an offer at the max in free agency. I would most likely match that offer. He is restricted. I believe he is that good. And a max at $15 million is a little different than a max at the 7-year or 10-year mark. Howeva.........as you can see from my signature...if Rubio isn't available....I'll gladly take Dragic and Millsap if we could acquire both of those guys.
C'mon now.....Apples and oranges....keep it in context as to team needs and comparing the attributes of a PF and a PG. Rubio brings court vision, the ability to put the ball into people's hands when they need it/taking care of the ball, defense, etc....and he's only getting better
Regarding Ricky Rubio....is even on the market? From everything I have seen from Flip, this team is in "win now" mode. As evidenced by their eventual follow up Bennett for Thad Young trade. Why move Rubio if you are trying to "win now?" And what assets would they be interested in for Rubio? I might have more faith that Rubio was available if the team was looking to blow it up and obtain draft picks etc, but it doesn't appear to be going in that direction.
Why do you need a PF who can shoot? It's to provide spacing. What kind of spacing does Rubio provide? Rubio's 2nd year(22years old), his offense was terrible, and he turned the ball over a ton. His improvement last year was incremental at best.
Exactly. You can't just name all the other things a PG can do and not name the things a PF can do besides shoot as well. Defense, Rebounding, Post game, Good passing, running the court, finishing in the lane....ect....
Of course we need that out of our 4....and we need other things that we aren't going to get out of Jones. But, he has value....... Assuming health it would be foolish to bet against Rubio.....and I just reeled off other things that are important that he has in spades.... I think you completely misunderstood my post...which is okay.
I think you misunderstood his post. It's not that he's dismissing these qualities in Rubio, but rather basketballholic seems to be dismissing similar qualities in Thad Young. If one were to promote one player because he can do many things besides shooting, then he should also promote a different player with similar attributes, right?
