All this faith that Morey's going to fix this backup center problem is unfounded IMO. He should have been looking since he decided we were going to dump Asik, and he's found nothing so far. Backup C is a problem - don't just say they only play 10-15 minutes, so they don't matter. Just look at the +/- for the Thunder playoff series a couple years ago when Asik was starting - Greg Smith was something like -40 for the series if I recall. Man, I miss Asik. Black is undersized as a PF, not just C.
Black plays hard. That is about it. This team needs to make a trade with the Bucks immediately. Henson, Sanders.........Grab one of them.
Black is was un-drafted and on a mini contract busting his ass doing what he can. No complaints from me. He is what he is. If others played like him in years past we would have more than two banners hanging in the gym.
Pretty much Herrera and Thorpe in '94. But Hakeem was getting > 40mpg, and even more in the playoffs, like 42-43 mpg. So, we didn't really need a back up center. We went small with two PFs and a mix of Elie, Maxwell Cassell/Brooks. Often Cassell and Brooks played together. '95 Hakeem again racked up 42-43 mpg in the playoffs. So again there really wasn't a backup. Charles Jones mainly took the honor of logging the 6 minutes when Hakeem sat.
Black is never going to be more than a average big at best. SKILL VS WILL He has a lot of will and not so much skill; it is fun to watch. Skill with no will just pisses me off; TWill and Royce White come to mind.
I like Tarik Black a lot. He hustles. Rebounds. Tries hard on the defensive end. He's been a hell of a lot better at catching under the basket than Asik was. But he's young. He's inexperienced. And, really, it's amazing he even made the roster. I think he'll be a quality backup big in a few years, but in the mean time we could definitely use some help in that department. I'm sure Morey is looking for an opportunity to bring in another quality big. The good news is that Canaan and Terry are playing well enough that our PG situation isn't as desperate as we thought it was. Papanikolau is much better much sooner than any of us expected and I expect he'll continue to improve as he adapts to the NBA. And even D-Mo is doing something really unexpected - he's impacting the game in ways that don't show up on the stat sheet. I never thought I'd see him contribute more like Ryan Bowen than Ryan Anderson, but I'm not complaining. I'll complain even less if he ever manages to put it together offensively. (and yes, I know I've said recently that he is horrible and we should do whatever we can to unload him, but he's been winning me over these last few games with his hard-nosed play) Really, I'm kind of shocked by how good our bench has been compared to what I expected. I really think finding a quality backup big is about all that is required now. And the good news is that guys like Emeka Okafor, Jermaine Oneal and Kenyon Martin are still out there as a possibility if nothing better presents itself.
FOR ALL OF THOSE WHO COMPLAINED ABOUT BLACK.....IT'S DORSEY TIME! NOW YOU'RE FIXING TO REALLLLLLLLY COMPLAIN
I'm so tired of everybody acting like backup centers grow on trees. Most teams don't even have one good center much less 2. Most teams go with a backup 4 at the backup center position because of how many stiffs there are. Yes we are screwed if Dwight or Harden get hurt. So is OKC without Durant and Westbrook, GS without Curry and Bogut, Portland without Lillard/Aldridge, LAC without CP3/CP3/Blake, etc. Having the best backup C did not help us against Portland so please everyone get over it. Better team defense and Black/D mo at C>>>crappy team defense and Asik at C for 15 min a night.
I am ready to see more Joey Dorsey. I don't think he has really gotten a fair shake. He has been nursing injuries, and I think he is better defensively than he has shown.
Who gives a sh#t if they don't grow on trees? Does that make them any less important? No, that's why there's this thread.
And your comparison implies that getting rid of Asik is what got us good team defense. We could have gotten Ariza just by dumping Lin.
We weren't going for Ariza initially, we traded Asik and Lin to clear cap space for Bosh. And oh yeah, Asik didn't want to be here and didn't want to be a backup.
Obviously you have reading comprehension issues. What I'm saying is the team defense is much better so the lack of rim protection is less important for 10-15 min a night. Get it? Team defense. Why you brought up Ariza and the trade is beyond me.
Name all the contenders in the West and their backup centers. You will realize how sorry that position is across the board. If Dwight stays healthy and Jones comes back D mo and Black are fine at backup C. If Dwight gets hurt we are screwed anyway so this is a moot point. Find something else to b**** about.
Don't understand all the Black hate. A much bigger problem is that no big ahead of him in the rotation other than Howard is playoff-caliber.
