Let's oversimplify things for just a second here, shall we? Offensive 5 1. Brooks 2. Martin 3. Budinger 4. Scola 5. Miller Defensive 5 1. Lowry 2. Lee 3. Battier 4. Hayes 5. Yao Obviously a couple players there are not totally one dimensional, but you get what I'm trying to say, I hope. Let's say we need a little more offense, bring in Bud for Battier, the opponents 1 is abusing Brooks, bring in Lowry. Martin struggling to guard his man, bring in Lee. It's all about providing options. Ariza, while a good player and a great role player to be honest, he was a bit redundant with Battier on the books. Also, keep in mind how often we'll be in the bonus, Ariza's FT shooting would be a massive liability for what we're going to be trying to do. Unless I'm mistaken, isn't Lee a mid-high 80's shooter from the stripe? Great fit, and I really think in a few months people will be laughing about how Morey did it again.
I like your list and the idea your thread brings up. I think if healthy you should give Yao more credit on the offensive end, I think he could be on both teams depending on how he looks after the back to back first two games. We were 8th in the league in Offensive PPG without Yao and the new players (and martin with a full year to gel, and CBud/Hill year 2). I think our offense will be pretty good.
Offensive 5 1.Yao 2.Martin 3.Brooks 4.Scola 5.Bud Yao gets the number spot based on him being healthy. If hes healthy he should be are first option and then pass it back to Martin or Brooks. Scola is a work horse and will give you legitimately 12-15 points a game. And Bud will hopefully continue to grow into the player that we saw glimpses of during the later part of the season.
Of course, Yao is the best option on offense, but that's what I meant in my disclaimer in the original post by saying they aren't all one dimensional. My intention was to point out how different players could boost the team from one side or the other in particular without repeating, and well.. I wasn't about to put Brad Miller on the defensive 5 over Yao.
Don't get me wrong, good list and idea to bring up. I think you were the first person that I read to post this idea. A second superstar would be great, but man this team has such a high ceiling (if we stay healthy asterisk). I would have to see how we do this year to say for sure if we even need one.
I think we proved we could score just fine without Yao but our defense was god awful. Even though Yao is our best offensive player, his contributions on the defensive end are much more valuable to the team.
