As many older members know how I feel about SAR. I think he's been viewed as a loser because he's been on some bad teams. many said the same about Bibby and Jason Terry until they were with good enough players around and now people see what kind of players they are. I think the same about SAR. He's consistent and very professional. He never complains and just does his job night after night. He's durable and wont be 29 until the season starts. Many think of him as a 4, which he can play, but i think the Rox should pursue him and play him as a 3 and move T-Mac back to 2. Why? If the Rox get SAR and play him at the 3, it really makes your team versitile and very hard to defend at all times against anyone. If you play the Spurs, Bowen has to guard him in the blocks as well as out to the 3 pts line. His midrange game and ability to get fouled are his strongest assetts. I say the Spurs, not to disrespect the other teams, but thats the team the Rox will have to beat to go to the finals. All others don't even matter. Many think the rox defense would suffer, but i'm not one who thinks that. The rox defense was just as good this yr as it was last and that was after we trade a good defender in Mobley and Cato. Its all about team defense. Just the sheer length of Sura or Daniels(if they get him) ,T-Mac,SAR,Howard,and Ming would be a better rebounding and defensive team by size. Then once the rox bring in Barry and James off the bench, T-Mac can rest and the offense can stiil run smoothly because SAR can be a #1 option. I just think it makes all the sense in the world to go after SAR, Daniels and Marshall with 4yr contarcts and see what happens.
My impression of SAR is that he isn't the same ball player he was before his injuries.Maybe it's just been him playing out of position,but I'm not sure he'll ever be close to where he was. Anyway,when I think of SAR,it's about silky moves around the basket.It's not great defense at the 4.He's been a capable rebounder(we need more from our 4),but doesn't block or alter shots. The asking price will be high and I'm not sure that we can't get someone better suited for our skillset requirements at the 4. I see him as a liability at three.
Interesting idea. I don't like Shareef playing 3 because it means T-Mac has to go back to guarding 2s, and I disagree that our defense won't be affected. I think our perimeter defense will be worse, putting more pressure on Yao to cover for swingmen blowing by Shareef. I'm not opposed to getting Shareef, but only as an upgrade to Howard, and Howard would have to go eventually, if that were the case.
I see your points. The only thing that stops SAR from being on this team is the fact that we need a big, quick, banging, shotblocker at the 4 who can hit the midrange jumper. I don't see SAR being that player. Yes, He would create the mismatches on the offensive end. But if you play him at the 3, you have to move TMac back to the 2, which is where we were last year with TMac and JJ, except SAR will be slower than JJ on the defensive end. We will get killed against teams with perimeter quickness. On our team, the way we play, we have to have TMac guard the 3's and then a quicker player guard the 2's. Quicker 2's beat TMac off the dribble and then if we have SAR defending the 3's, he will be one of the 5 slowest 3's in the league. I don't think we can play that way. Van Gundy is the anti-D'Antoni. He wants to D it up and force the other team into bad shots and frustration. Now if we are playing some team like Dallas, then defensively playing SAR at the 4 and TMac at the 3 may work. But still, SAR isn't a good defender, period. We'd still be better off with TMac playing on Dirk and going small. Once again, SAR would be a great 3rd option on the offensive end, but I think that's all he gives us. He would be great playing a Stackhouse type role for a contender, instant offense off the bench. But I don't see him helping us by being a 3rd starter. To me, I like the idea of getting a bigger, longer, quick, defensive minded 2 who can shoot the basketball on spot ups and maybe take it to the bucket occasionally. That is players in the mold of Bonzi and Pietrus. I really think that Van Gundy is looking at veteran PFs in the mold of Kurt Thomas or perhaps Theo Ratliff to anchor the defense alongside Yao and then have length and quickness on the perimeter with TMac at the 3, someone like Bonzi or Pietrus at the 2, and someone like AD at the 1. I'm not saying SAR may not have a place on this team. But if we got him, it would not surprise me one bit, if he came off the bench as the sixth man and we still started Howard. However, if we traded some expirings for maybe some combination of Darius Miles, Ratliff, and some perimeter player, either Bonzi, Pietrus, or somebody in that mold, it makes a lot more versatile defensively, long and quick on the perimeter with the ability to poke the ball out and get some steals and cheap buckets going the other way. In transition Miles is a great player to run the wings and finish. Bottom line is, if we got a player like Bonzi, he would be our third option. Then we have someone like Howard for the 4th option or we pick up somebody like KT to play more D, board more, and be the 4th option with the 15-17 footers. Then we have a point like AD that defends and can drive to the basket a little bit, hit the pull up jumper, and has a good shooting percentage from the 3 point line. I'd like to see what this team could do. TMac Miles(or SAR) Bonzi(or Pietrus) Sura AD James KT Howard(or Miles or Ratliff or C. Anderson) Yao Deke SAR only fits on this team if he is willing to resign for low dollars and we could do a S&T and include him in a package without using up our MLE and he is willing to come off the bench. I would not use the MLE to get him. Now, if SAR could defend, be the hardhead that we need, and board, everything changes. But he's not that kind of player. I don't see him becoming that kind of player now that he is nearing 30.
I disagree on a couple accounts. 1.) The Rockets FG% against rose from 41.2% to 42.3%. Still very good, but a definite decline. 2.) We traded Mobley and Cato and Jim Jackson, and essentially replaced them with McGrady, Mutombo, and Wesley. It's not like we completely sacrificed defense. I am very big on getting SAR to play 4 for us however. Defensively, I think he's an upgrade over Howard (he's quicker), and would be a great 3rd option. Everyone wants a guy who can be the 3rd option offensively and rebounds and blocks shots from the 4 spot. I'm just not convinced we'll find. With Abdur-Rahim, you're at least getting 2 out of 3. jopat- Why can't you sign SAR for the MLE and sign and trade for others? There's multiple ways of doing things. As for his age, "nearing 30"...he's 28. He's 2.5 years older than TMac. He's 2 months YOUNGER than Bonzi Wells. Why you'd want Bonzi Wells as your 3rd option over SAR is beyond me.
I would want Bonzi as the 3rd option because defensively he makes more sense on the perimeter with TMac than SAR does. And he is just as effective of an offensive player as SAR. SAR is a mismatch against us on defense. He can't guard post up 4's and he can't guard perimeter 3's. And if he plays the 3, then we've got other 3's beating us, as well as TMac guarding 2's and getting beat off the dribble by quicker 2's. I want a long, quick 2 or a long quick 3 that can defend 2's and shoot the jumper, ie Wells, Pietrus, possibly Joey Graham. Look, we have to be in a position to negate the advantages of the top teams right now. We've got to be able to make San Antonio have to defend us more on the perimeter and be able to defend them better on the perimeter. That adds up to AD and somebody like Bonzi to go with TMac. Artest in a pipe dream. If we could get Bonzi or Pietrus, AD, and a Kurt THomas type 4 without using the TE then fine, I wouldn't mind seeing SAR get the MLE. But I want perimeter quickness first, and then I want to improve our rebounding, and defense at the 4. After that, we can swap out Howard for SAR.
I think last yr when T-Mac played the 2, our problems were more of that 3's were guarding Mcgrady and jackson wasn't making them pay. The term banger is so overrated i don't know where to start. If Ming gets his conditioning right, we don't need this so called banger to hit the midrange shot. Why? Because if Ming grabs 10 rebs,mcgardy gets 6,SAR gets 8,Howard gets 6, and Sura or daniels get their 5 or so, how many is left? Take a look at the guys playing the 3 right now in the league or just in the west alone. Battier-memphis Finley or Howard-dallas Bowen-SA Peja-sac Lewis-Sea Wally-Minny Miles-port AK-47-utah Q-phoe Butler-la dunleavy-gs I'm sure i'm leaving a few out, but who would you feel uncortable with SAR guarding? You don't have to have shotblockers to have a good defense. Look at the rox defense this yr minus Cato and Cat and they were still good. SA has duncan who blocks about 2 per game, but the play great team defense. Then you look at it on the offensive end and see how those players will have to match up with him on the other end. When Ming struggles or the ball is swung of dribble penetration, you have to account for him. Its not Ryan bowen or someone like that. If you run at SAR, he can put the ball on the floor, shot the midrange or get fouled. Other than McGrady when he wants to, the Rox don't have anyone else who can consistently draw fouls.
Though I would love to have SAR at a reasonable price. I thought SAR was against being a 3. That was his beef in portland where Randolph had a lock on the 4 position.
So guys like q,finley, and Bowen who just hang on the perimeter he can't guard them? What a combo or Raja Bell and SAR at the 2 and 4 spots. would that satisfy people?
That's the truth teller right there. SAR knows he looks like cannon fodder playing the 3. If the dude would defend big and board, he'd be a very good 4. But I have seen nothing that makes me believe that he can or will defend and rebound. By the way for the poster above who said we don't need rebounding, what????? We were almost dead last in offensive rebounds and in offensive rebounds given up. We need a glass cleaner at the 4 who is willing to do the dirty work and can do the dirty work. Nobody is going to be able to stop Duncan and Garnett. But we have to be able to dominate the glass. Just look at what happened to San Antonio when they picked up Nazr. He's the perfect compliment to Tim. He does all the dirty work, plays tough defense, and crashes the boards. The Spurs took off when he replaced Rasho. We need a player that brings that to the table. Don't quite understand why we couldn't have gotten him for MoT instead of the contracts that we got, unless CD and JVG have got bigger plans with those expirings.
SAR is a good rebounder no matter how many minutes he plays or plays with. If he plays the 3 he's a upgrade because Tracy goes back to the 2 and at the 4 he's a upgrade. Its all about team defense. Period
Yeah, I guess that would work. That means that every PF in the league would be posting up SAR and Yao would have to come over and play help defense and get in foul trouble reaching and then Yao's man goes straight to the bucket for a dunk. He can't defend. He can't defend 3's. He can't defend 4's. He's a sieve, the black Tom Chambers with a little more range, just another version of Glen Robinson. He can't guard nobody, except maybe Chris Dudley and Joe Kleine. And they would take him down in the block and torch him once in a while. Was Finley just hanging around on the perimeter against us? No, he was putting the ball on the floor and driving into the paint. Q drives when the matchup calls for it. Bowen???? Bowen isn't exactly an offensive juggernaut, but SA would just catch SAR going to help on Ginobilli, because Gino would be beating TMac off the dribble. Out to the corner to Bowen for the wide open bomb. He can't defend. He can't rebound. He doesn't like contact in the paint. He doesn't work for us unless we use him like SA uses Glen Robinson.
The yrs in which Rox won the ring, they were last in offensive rebounding. Most good offensive rebounding are bad shooting teams. If a team cleans up their defensive glass, it makes them more effective. SAR at the 3 would do that automatically.
Yeah, they were last in offensive rebounding and either first or close to first in offensive efficiency. That doesn't equate to a poor rebounding team. The first team had OT at the 4. What kind of 4 was OT? The second team had a combination of Horry and others at the 4. Both of those guys could defend, force bad shots, and weren't afraid of contact.
The best asset SAR could give us is his reliable rebounding. His offensive talent my be underutilized as a third option to Tmac and Yao. He doesn't have shotblocking. But rebounding is the key. Our record when Juwan Howard gets 8 or more rebounds: 15-1 Our record when Juwan Howard gets less than 8: 22-23 Sura doesn't guarantee that kind of success even when he gets double digit rebounds.
I like Shareef for all the reasons that have been discussed. The problem is that there's only one MLE and our main priority needs to be a shotblocking, athletic power forward. Our absolute biggest weakness is the lack of a frontcourt player that can make up for Yao's lack of mobility. Had we had that player, it would have been us losing in 5 games to the Spurs, not Phoenix. You have to get players to mask the weaknesses of your great players to make them even greater. If it's a mobile 4 sliding in to cover a driving Jason Terry rather than Yao, Yao stays on the floor, and you win games. I dont know if Stromile Swift is that player but I would take the risk to find out. If you can get SAR in addition through sign and trade or something, then fine. But he's a luxury. A shotblocking 4 is an absolute necessity.
Sorry for breaking in on your reunion, but we had this entire same discussion 2-3 weeks ago. Sar is not a significant enough upgrade over JHoward to warrant the whole MLE for him at the sacrifice of other needed players. So long as JVG is the coach you will never have a scoring 4 starting, never has and never will. JHo's production was cut in half almost from his carreer stats. Nothing to figure SAR won't have the same thing happen to him. His stats have fallen drastically in the last 3 years due to injury and playing out-of-position at the 3 anyway. JVG will have a boarding, defender like Oakley if he can find one and SAR is not an Oakley. I don't know whom he has his eye on, IMO is ain't SAR. IMO he wants an athletic 4 like Swift, a really banging swingman for a third scoring option, and a 1 that can make the entry pass and run the team. He may not get all of that this year, but he'll try. In other words we'll be very similar in structure to the mid-nineties Knicks. That is the baggage that comes along with JVG as head coach.
