I know; it's stunning. It's like people have to weighs pro and cons and always feel like they have to give equal weight to both. "They gave up defense for offense." 'uh. ok. That would be true if Raja Bell were Bruce Bowen (3 yrs ago), but he's not. Not even close. "Yeah, JRich is a scorer, but he needs an uptempo game." not sure where that comes from. Are we talking about Barbosa, here? Adding an athletic wingman who shoots 45% 3s to Nash and Amare is perfect. Nash will get a leaper easy buckets in uptempo or half court, and JRich will spread the floor for Amare.
Glad Cabbage and HP got in here with some sense. If you watched Bell this year you would hardly conclude he is much of a defender at all. Certainly not at Grant Hill's level. I am going to predict Bell goes to the Celts for T. Allen & Scalabrine before the trade deadline. It would be what I would do if I were Celts, and knowing I needed another guy to help spread the floor if I expect to get over the Cavs. Now if I am the Cavs, I offer Pavlovic + pick (their own 1st or Chi 2 next year) for Bell as well. Bell could help some teams with title aspirations right now off the bench IMO, but he is of no use I think for anyone else.
Agreed, something along those lines is what I meant to say.......... It fits to a tee though does it not
If suns had never traded marion or joe johnson, they wouldn't need j-rich I doubt that nash will stay in suns, cause he lost his best friend
The Suns totally mangled the Joe Johnson situation. Marion, nah, he is nothing special without his crazy athleticism and it is leaving him. JRich is a better fit for them at this point that Marion.
Um, no. Tony Allen stays--he's the only all-around scorer on the bench. The Celtics will pick someone up from waivers/out of retirement, and the Cavs hardly want to fork over draft picks for the privilege of losing depth and scoring.
Personally I like what Charlotte got. They've been needing some strong leadership to mold a decent set of young players. When I look at J Rich I definitely don't see that. This trade got them a PF with good ball IQ and an outside shooter who gives pretty good on the ball defense. I can't wait to see how they start to grow.
Larry Brown coached Raja Bell when they're with with Sixers, where they had a Finals appearance and Bell made a name for himself. I'm thinking that familiarity played a part in the deal. Diaw straight said playing strictly at power forward limited his versatility and seemed kinda pouty about it. So then the Bobcats are getting a player not too enthusiastic about playing his projected power forward role, interesting to see how he adapts.
im a rockets fan first.. but the suns have gotten further than us in the playoffs the last few years...
Its a good trade. I don't know why you think it stinks. First of all, Richardson fits in ANY offense, whether it be half court or fast break. He has all the tools required to flourish in any system: dunking ability, speed, hops, ball handling, and more importantly shooting all over the floor (40+% in both 2 pt and 3 pt shooting). He can also create his own shot which is important because that means he's not dependent on Nash to get his points. What makes you think he's only good at an umtempo game anyway? Because he played at GS? He flourished in the Bobcats last season and this season, and Larry Brown is as un-uptempo as you can get. Secondly, Raja Bell and Boris Diaw are not good defenders. Look at Raja Bell! He's not only old, he's also slow and short for his position (only 6'6 at sg). Look at Bell's skillset and physical qualities, he has nothing which would indiciate him being a great defender. The media just needed someone to match up against Kobe so they hyped bell up as a kobe stopper to create tension (kinda like how they matched Kobe with Hamilton during the Piston-Laker finals). And Diaw as a good defender? He's soft as cupcakes and doesn't possess the strength to box out the Boozers, Duncans and Kgs of the league. We're not talking about Marion here, we're talking about Diaw. The suns just replaced a washed up sg and an offensively gifted but defensively challenged and soft tweener with one of the premier scorers in the league. The best part is unlike Bell, Richardson has the athleticism to be a decent defender at his position. In fact he had two blocks during the magic game. And we're not even talking about Dudley and the 2nd round pick next year. There is no downside to this trade for the suns. Kerr raped the bobcats, and MJ has tied Mchale for worst GM in the league. That's that.
It's average for a guard, below average if you want to be seen as a defensive stopper. if you're touting yourself as a great defender you should have either great height, speed, strength or smarts for your position. Bell has all of those qualities but not enough for him to be considered as a good much less great defender at his position. He's basically mike james except witha better attitude right now...
Bell's (lack of) ability to defend now has nothing to do with his size. He's plenty big and physical enough to defend SGs. Age is the reason. Bell's decline has been noticeable the last 2 seasons.
Actually Bell is a short 6'5". Not that he is too short to play SG, but nor is it good size (if he had Posey or Bowen size and arm length it would help). You combine average to small size for a SG and now average to slow athleticism for his position--he is no longer close to a stopper. When had above average quickness, up to maybe a year or two ago, to go along with his with intensity, commitment, toughness and awareness on the defensive side--he was a very effective defender even if maybe not a stopper.
