Athleticism and Shot Blocking Concerns in our Front Court

Not the sexiest offseason but that would be a great team. Add Foye to be a pg with size for the bigger PGs and play some SG if u don't feel Bud is a true sg. That is a great team. Both now and for the future. And you don't have to give away much talent to build that team.

If we don't get Bosh, I hope we do something like that.

 

How does adding Thabeet make us a contender? He is unproven in the NBA. I'd rather keep Taylor and Hayes and give more minutes to Hill.

 

We would have great size and shot-blocking for the whole game. He would be like Mutumbo, more or less. Plus adding Brad Miller, a Randy Foye, and a healthy Yao would most certainly push us from 42 wins to around a 55 win team. Plus, the improvement of our young guys and Patterson.

 

A combo of Patterson, Hill, Thabeet and Yao would give us, as a whole, the Athleticism and Shot-Blocking that few other teams would have.

With Brad and Luis, that would be one of the best pf/c rotations in the NBA.

 

TO THE OP: Very good post, just didn't want to quote it due to length. I agree with you 100% that Brad Miller, IMO, is the opposite type of big man we need. We need a long-armed gazelle that can run the floor, get up on alley-oops, and most importantly, block shots.

The unfortunate thing about this is our best shot to get a backup in this mold is a trade... and teams tend to value these types of players pretty highly, even if they're not 20 & 10 guys. There are no proven centers that fit this mold on the free agent market, except for Brenden Haywood... who we both cannot afford nor can we offer him a starting spot (which I assume he covets).

The list of centers after that are guys that fit this mold physically, but have not performed... Josh Boone, Johan Petro, Kwame Brown, Steven Hunter, Randolph Morris, Nathan Jawai, Josh Powell... I could go on.

Is Theo Ratliff, in a Dikembe-type role, our best option? (Not that I expect him to be catching oops!)

 

Marc Gasol is a border-line all-star. I think we can swoop in and get Thabeet without giving up any more than what I suggested in my earlier posts. Thabeet is very long and can block shots. If Yao can teach him a thing or two, even better. I think he has enough potential to warrant his salary. I'd rather have Thabeet than any of those guys u listed, included haywood. He will get overpaid and while he's not old, he is not young either. Thabeet has potential too. Even without living up to the potential, he can block shots and rebound. As of now, he'd be a great back-up (with the ability to be more than that in the future).

 

According to draftexpress and what I've heard, Patterson measures similarly to Al Horford. And Jordan Hill is slightly bigger than that. Couple that with Yao, I don't think we are in too bad of a position. Although, I think it would help us to add another true C.

 

That's why i was pissed when Pops MB got released. A cheap shot blocker with decent skills around the basket.

 

I would be fine with Thabeet if we didn't give up too much (as suggested). That's who Whiteside (who I would've loved to buy into the 2nd round to get but didn't want at 14) reminded me of.

All that said, I do think we can "get by" with a frontcourt rotation of Scola, Patterson, Hill, and Hayes. Hopefully Hill can improve his shot blocking and work at center, Patterson can handle the 4, and Hayes would be our specialist.

 

K&M, I like your post and I think you're right, but I would replaced "blocks" for "inside defense."

I think with a Yao-Scola-Hill-Miller quartet you improve noticeably what you had with Hayes-Andersen-Scola-Landry. Yao may have an impact similar to Bynums in L.A., a deep impact in the lane. Hill is a super-athlete with evident potential on the defensive end to change shots and get rebounds (and blocks too, actually). As for Miller, I think the signing would be very interesting also thinking in our defense. Remember who is Brad Miller and what is he made of. He's a fighter, he doesn't care if he's against Perkins or Shaq, he's gonna respond to the challenge. Physically, he's quite limited right now, ok... an accurate comparison could be the Sheed Wallace of last year. Did you see his defense against Gasol? The best of the Celtics frontcourt by far. Miller also has lived a thousand battles, and with 7 feet and 270 pounds has the size and strength to compete face-to-face against everybody. His experience and wisdom can help this team a lot in playoffs.

Anyway, other big men that could help us are: Foster, Thabeet, Chandler (expiring), Dampier, Mbenga?, Fesenko?...

From Europe, the better defensive prospects at NBA level were Splitter, Pekovic and Mozgov, who is still not available until next season.