Landale has a high motor, good bball IQ, great physicality, and is 6'11" at 256lbs. He is not a one-dimensional offensive player. Not sure where that idea came about. Just because he doesn't block a ton of shots I guess? That's not the only way for a big man to be valuable on defense. Just ask Chuck Hayes.
When has anyone ever been triggered by someone winning the starting position from Sengun? When has anyone on this team ever “won” the starting position from him by merit?
Everything you said about him is correct. He will be fine until the trade deadline. Dallas came to terms on a new deal with longtime Mavericks big man Dwight Powell specifically on Saturday, league sources say, because the Houston Rockets went after Powell. The Rockets then shifted their attention to former Suns center Jock Landale when Powell opted to stay put. – via Marc Stein @
Was first like, why does he have just the 4th fewest minutes? THEN I saw that, oh, he only played the Denver series. And stepped up vs the champs when Ayton sucked. Yeah that can earn you a look by someone.
Just so that you guys can differentiate between shot blocking and rim protection: Sengun is a better shotblocker per minute than Bam Adebayo. Sengun is 0.9 blocks in 29 minutes, Adebayo is 0.8 blocks in 34 minutes. That doesn't make Sengun a better rim protector or defender. Rim protection involves a number of things like shot blocking, positioning, understanding angles, alertness, quick decisions and yes switchability. What Adebayo has done is he's excellent at EVERYTHING related to rim protection except shot blocking where he's below average for a C. That still results in DPOY level rim protection. A lot of the "better" alternatives to Landale that people are suggesting are just better shot blockers. Landale is NOT a Bam Adebayo, but he seems to fall in that category of good rim protectors and good defenders who are not good at blocking shots. However he seems to have a really great attitude and more importantly - if he can ever so slightly improve his 3PT% - he will generate a lot more points for players like Jalen (via 5-out spacing) than a slightly better shotblocker can deny the other team. Basketball is always an offense minus defense game. Everything is linked to each other. You have to be a top 10 offense and top 10 defense. You have to understand that even if you were the #1 defense and #20 offense, when you come to improve that offense you're going to have to swap out defense so you might as well have started out with a balanced approach instead of creating one mirage season of amazing defense. We all have our inclinations regarding offense, defense and style of play. Things like "defense wins championships" and "the league is more offensive now" are debunked myths. We were near bottom in both offense and defense. Those need to be improved in concert with each other and any amount of improvement in offense is the same as improvement in defense (and vice versa). The goal is to be BOTH a top 10 offense and top 10 defense never forget that. Landale may not be the perfect defensive player we wanted at backup C, but he could very well leave the paint wide open for Amen and Jalen who feast on that type of stuff. Looking forward to how it goes. I think there's still a chance we'll pick up a nice defensive C at vet minimum once most teams have spent what they want to spend and some defensive C is left without a team. That's a good strategy, vet minimum players are more important than ever with this new second apron problem.
Btw Landale 3PT shooting stats: Partizan (2018) - 38% Australia (2019) - 46% Zalgiris (2020) - 30% >>> Euroleague, toughest league he played pre-NBA Australia (2020) - 60% Melbourne (2021) - 38.8% Spurs (2022) - 32.6% (83% FT line) Suns (2023) - 25% (75% FT line) The Suns shooting looks like an aberration rather than the norm. Monty does not seem to know how to manage non-traditional bigs. He actually took FEWER attempts on the Suns than he did on the Spurs. Most likely scenario is a 33-34% on 2 attempts per game which would be awesome from our backup C if he's playing good defense, making smart plays, diving for loose balls and doing anything to help the star scorers.
i actually saw a couple of his playoff games when he was playing better than ayton. and he missed just about every wide open jumper i saw. was impressive finishing in the paint w/ contact though
I've read that he was a net positive in 5 of 6 games against the Nuggets (i.e. some minutes against Jokic). That's a good sign. Yeah he didn't shoot well last season, but still seems like an aberration in his career. I'd be happy to give him another shot at those shots. Being open is not everything, as we've learned from our team's shooting %'s when open last season. The way the pass is delivered, the moment it's delivered and whether you've gone cold are all relatively important factors too. Defenses that had time to set up are also more successful at closing out on shooters - so even the very definition of "open" changes if closeout time can change. I'm seeing that rhythm is more important than I ever thought.
Ayton doesn't care much. He sucks. I like this signing, but he shouldn't get more minutes behind Sengun than behind Ayton.
Love this guy already! He'll fit perfectly as Sengun's backup and spot starter when needed. Yes, he's not a rim protector, but Bari should be able to bring some more of that to the team this year and we should have MUCH better team defense which will make that less of an issue and allow Sengun to utilize his shot-blocking skills as well. General comment: The compound I was in for Shock and Awe was right next to Australian SAS. Some wild and crazy dudes, but folks you want these guys with you in a fight. Jock knows his role and what got him to this point in his career, and seems like the kind of teammate anyone would want to go to war with. Excited we added him to the rotation!
