I don't have any stats to back it up, but am I the only one to have this impression, that TMac has played his best as Small Forward? I remember that even if initially after the trade some of us have thought he would play as Shooting Guard, the consensus was reached, that he is at his best as Small Forward. I still think so. He creates mismatches wherever he is on the court (he could probably play all the positions apart from center). However, I believe, he plays best when he is quicker than his opponent and goes to the rack often and it is true, when he plays on SF position. On the SG position he creates mismatches as well due to his height, but on the weakside he is not faster than his opponent any more. So what he can do on offense in this case he can either pull up the jumper over smaller opponent (and this season many of us were complaining about too much jumpshots) or he can post-up (he is successful at it, however, because he is pushed at the injury-prone back by the opponent, he usually hesitate to post up) Conclusion: To make our best player most effective, we have to put him in the position, where he is most successful and where he plays up to his strengths. The question is: how to make it happen? Is trading Battier the only way? And if so, is it worth it? What do you think?
That's also what Barkley said when we got eliminated. But the problem with that is where would Battier play because he's too small to play 4. Even though Chuck Hayes is shorter than Battier, Hayes is a rebounding machine and I certainly wouldn't call Battier that. Also, Battier is a better perimeter defender than he is defending in the low post as shown in the series where Harpring killed him down low. So basically the only way we can have T-mac and Battier starting is with T-mac at 2 and Battier at 3.
Thats why i was a proponent of trading battier if he can help us upgrade either the PG or PF position. Battier is just a luxury when we have tmac and snyder to play the 2 and 3. THe question is a 2/3 rotation of tmac\snyder\head with impact PF or PG better then tmac\battier\head with just hayes and alston?
Shane has to go so because hes our most valuable asset, some team might be willing to take Juwans contract with him. But the reason I want this to happen is so we an upgrade more important positions (PG/PF) and use the MLE to pair Tmac with an athletic 2 gaurd like Pietrus. Heres the thing though, I dont see how putting Tmac at the 3 changes anything? For example if we are playing the spurs do you really think they are going to put anyone but their best defender on Tmac? Whether he plays the 2 or the 3 is irrelevant, Bruce Bowen will still be gaurding him. The only thing that needs to change is the playcalling. Id like to see Tmac operate from the post more often. I hope he works on his 3pt stance this year, and watches tons of game footage to see how Kobe operates from this spot. Get your jumper back Tmac please
Been thinking the same thing, Im starting to think Gay and Stro mightve been worth keeping but maybe not.
if we do trade battier, it shoudln't be straight up one for one. i think we should trade him with battier. may be the only chance to get rid of howard
nah man Battier is a great role player and is very valuable defensively. Tmac can be moved to sf and Battier can come in as either sg or bench. he is small for pf but then again that could be an advantage for us. A faster team like the golden state. Just a few suggestions here and also Juwan definitely got to go.
