Novak should be spelling Mcgrady and he should be made the focal point of the offense when McGrady is out and the second unit is in. He's too good a shooter not to be utilized and his offensive skillset exploited. Sounds crazy, but we gotta find answers on our roster. Trading deadline is past. So, you gotta play the cards you're holding. I don't like Luther or Novak defensively any more than anybody else on this board. They are both terrible defensively. But we won't consistently win scoring in the 70s and 80s every night, much less the 60s. And for that matter, Harris is not good defensively either. Relies too much on his athleticism to make the block/steal, gambles too much and is out of position way too much. He's not an effective defender but he is playing. And we are already playing small when we've got Rafer, Bax, and Harris all out there at the same time. BJax is another one. He's not a very good defender and you sure don't want him dribbling around out there. His handle is almost as suspect as Luther's. He should be receiving the ball and either shooting, passing, or making a strong move to the bucket, not dribbling around the arc with it. Basically, if he doesn't come in making shots or getting some serious backcuts to the basket for layups, you might as well sit him down and try somebody else, because that's his forte and about the only things he does with any kind of effectiveness. He was a measly 1 for 5 last night in 13 minutes while Novak, Luther, and Brooks combined for 7 minutes. Shoot, I'm in favor of bringing Brooks back. You gotta find an answer. Looks like Rafer's back to the 3 for 13 shooting. Get him out and if BJax throws up some uglies, get the kids in. WE HAVE TO HAVE GUYS HITTING SHOTS! It's the most important part of our game. When Rafer was going to town and hitting all those shots, we look great. The minute he starts throwing up clunkers.....we start struggling. Offensively, we are easy to stop. Double McGrady hard, force him to give it up and he's way out of the play because he dribbled backwards toward halfcourt and faded away when he gave it up. Rafer receives and if he is off, all they have to do is run at him, then it goes to Shane, who is hit and miss, he cannot consistently break down the D at the rim, gotta do the old heave ho, then if he can't get it, we're stuck with him dishing to Deke and Chuck, both guys clogging up the paint area and poor finishers. Take one out and bring in Harris and all of a sudden we've gotten a lot smaller, but still poor spacing. Harris ain't a 3 point shooter at this stage of his career. I love the guy, hope we re-sign him, but we gotta spread the floor like we did against LA. You gotta have 4 guys that can hit from the perimeter and one guy down at the FT high post area, then run your stuff, perimeter passing, shots, and cuts for layups off the high post entry. BRING ON THE SHOOTERS!
everything you said was correct...but this is the most important... we cant win any other way...atleast not untill yao is back next season...