It is possible that we have enough talent at the PG, SG and SF positions on this roster to compete at a playoff level. I would actually like Adelman to play Dragic very little, and adopt the following rotation: Lowry/Martin/Budd then Twill/Lee/Budd. The trio of Twill/Lee/Budd would offer strong defense at two spots. On offense, Twill and Lee could share PG duties, with Twill handling the ball more. Lee and Budd present strong shooting from distance coupled with the ability to attack the basket and play above the rim. Much depends on Twill's abililty to "cut the fat" from his game -- less flash, more efficiency. He reminds me a little of steve francis in that respect, but his passing and vision are much better. I was at the game against NJ and Twill is clearly a plus defender. He moves his feet well and is physical enough to bump off an offensive player without fouling. If you look at these 5 players, we lack an individual star, but have five very capable rotation players with dynamic skill sets. ----------- This makese me wonder what would happen if we simply added a Dalembert or Perkins to the C position. If we had a center to play 25-30 minutes of strong paint defense and rebound, I think we could challenge for a 5-6 seed next year. Granted, I highly question whether it would be to our long term benefit to improve our team in that way because we would find it hard to "take the next step". --------------- But I digress. My point is that we have 5 talented players that have size and skill at the PG, SG and SF position. By the way, I think Dragic is pretty limited physically. His lateral quickness isn't great and his max speed/athleticism does not create the separation he needs. He benefits from playing with aggression and sometimes in a herky jerky way like Ginobli. But I think Dragic has a very limited upside. We should be playing Twill to find out his role.
T-Will certainly has all the tools to be an impact player in this league. Maybe if he were on a team like the Knicks or the Warriors--isolation heavy teams lacking a base offensive scheme--he'd have the chance to manifest his skills in productive statistics. But, as we all know, you have to earn your spot in Rick's rotation, which is largely determined by practice performance--something that we can only speculate on. It's been said that it takes 2-3 years to learn Rick's offense, and those who can't do that are going to be buried on the bench (eg Gerald Wallace).
I've said all season long that with the addition of a good center and upgrade at SF we could be contenders. This team was built to compliment Yao, but Yao is not back, yet. I was shocked that we didn't pursue G Wallace & Dalembert. McGee was available and has a huge upside. I was also praying that we could have stolen J Smith from the Hawks or Kendrick Perkins from Boston. But we've got The Dragon & The Beet, we might as well play them and see what they have to offer. We are going to see how much AB , healthy AB , meant to the team. If Thabeet can block shots, rebound and run the floor; then add to his game year by year, we have gotten a steal, if not... 2012 hear we come. If he doesn't play we won't know. Here's hoping that The Beet becomes The Beast!!!
