Why have a great PF or PG when that's what all the other teams have... you're forgetting we have a great SG with playmaking abilities and the most dominant C in the league right now. Having a great PG/PF will simply cancel out the other teams strength, nothing more.
nobody is going to be able to handle yao or mcgrady in a seven game series. As good as those point guards are, there is NO way they can keep up the real Tmac. With the exception of Duncan, none of those power forwards are on the same level as Yao. When healthy, we have the most potent 1-2 combo in the league. We just need need our role players to be decent, just look at the Heat last year.
Exactly my thoughts that others have expressed. We shouldn't be overly concerned about matching up against other teams. Instead, we should be concerned about how to exploit our own strenghts. If you spend all your energy trying to matchup, then you are playing NOT TO LOSE ...and when you do that, you always lose. Guys like VSPan, Snyder, Battier and Bonzi can play tough defense on any permiter player. Against PF's, Yao and Battier can hold down the fort there too. The ONLY PF's that give us a hard time are guys that are good outside shooters like Brad Miller. Physical guys like Amare can't play their normal game against Yao. So in short, if we are playing our best, most teams are MORE WORRIED ABOUT HOW TO MATCH UP WITH US than the other way around. All we need to do is figure out how to play at our best.
I think we'll be needing Bonzi to be a consistent sixth man to make a run in the playoffs. If Bonzi is not in our plans, then we need to trade him for someone who can play a similar role. Luther Head has been great for us off the bench, but he won't be enough. I'm a bit worried about Hayes' lack of size and shooting touch, but if Juwan Howard can play at the level he's been playing, which I think he can, then we should be able to get by at power forward with the two of them. I'm okay with Alston at the PG. Bringing in someone from the outside to be our starting PG at this point in the season may hurt our chemistry more than help us. (That is, unless we can a top-tier PG, which I think is unrealistic.) As for backup PG duties, as others on the BBS have pointed out, it isn't as pivotal a position for us due to McGrady's role as distributor. If our team can get and stay healthy, our bench will be the difference to our playoff success, IMHO.
We need a replacement PG for sure, but we don't need to replace Hayes. Hayes, Battier, and T-Mac do a good job defending Dirk and Duncan. Last year, Dirk was being contained by Ryan Bowen and T-mac. Battier+Hayes+T-Mac>Bowen, Howard and T-Mac Nobody is going to take Alston and Howard and give Okafor, David Lee, or Haslem. The free agent PFs out there are pretty pathetic.
