Sounds like Webster is gonna start.... and some thoughts

I think it'd be better to try to find players who don't end up being liabilities for you, though, on one end of the court. Not that Bass or Foster necessarily are, but Foster is a C, not a PF. He's not going to play alongside Oden or Joel. So he would take up Joel's minutes, basically. Bass isn't happening, but he would strictly backup PF. I agree that we need role players, but if you look at rotations, and hwo Nat emight keep people on the floor, one of Joel or Greg is generally always going to be providing toughness and defense down low. Adding a PF that does the same makes him potentially a poor fit alongside either of them, which means they'd be at their most effective with Aldridge at C, which takes our two defensive anchors off the court. Looking at the rotation, you start Oden and Addldridge. You take out Oden and put in Joel. Stillhave good spacing from the PF, and defense at the C position. Then, you remove Aldridge and put in Outlaw, and soon after remove Joel and put back in Oden. Again, the continued spacing from the PF position, and the ability to spread the floor.

I am not a big fan of Outlaw, would prefer a different role player in that slot, but don't see a bruiser type as the ideal fit at PF, except for instances when Aldridge is at C.

 

Come on Nik, you know as well as I do you can look at a Pre-Season box score and predict a season and indeed the eventual NBA champ. Just ask Kobe about how serious Pre-Season is...

 

The problem is, unless you throw in another player or two in the mix to get that player, then you still leave yourself with the same problem. Another guy among many that needs his time. I would make it a consolidation type deal and I would target Turiaf.

 

This is turned into a pie now? Damn Kp, what did you put into mix?

 

Exactly... Use a couple players to consolidate to a very nice veteran role player. A player that isn't too concerned about "playing time" and is happy coming in whenever needed.

 

Foster is listed as a 5, but he is very capable and has played 4 plenty of times. He is a rebounding and defending machine, plus doesn't have a big ego. It doesn't have to be him though. Just someone able to accept a nice back-up role.

 

Right, I'm just saying Foster duplicates what Joel gives us. He can play alongside Aldridge, but isn't going to be effective alongside Greg or Joel.

 

I've stopped reading your posts. It's just getting too repetitive and boring and silly. I used to find some of your stuff interesting, so maybe I'll try again in a few days.

I know you probably don't care. But just in case you do, I thought I'd let you know.

 

You honestly don't think he could play with Greg or Pryzbilla? I've seen him do it in Indiana playing with other PFs and Centers with no "real" perimeter game.

 

He usually plays alongside Troy Murphy, who is mroe perimiter oriented. He could play alongside them, just like they COULD play alongside eachother. But, not too many teams have big bruisers at backup PF AND C. So when they have a smallish PF in the game against us, which one of those guys is covering him? Foster? That'll suck.

 

Yeah... Miller is jacking up shots and only making 57% of them. I hope he continues to jack up shots like that all year. =) Batum looked good in the intrasquad game and has sucked since.

 

thats not a fact, thats an opinion that statistics disagree with. None of Martell's seasons have equaled what Nic did last year on the boards in either Rbs per minute or using the advanced stats. Sorry.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/batumni01.html
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/w/webstma02.html

if you actually read the facts/stats, you'll see that Nic has outdone MW in most everything.

STOMP

 

Well that's why they are called "role players". I'm not just advocating "Foster" as the only option. I used him as an example. Fact is, Outlaw isn't a rebounder and his post defense is novice at best. Regardless, we need someone that plays with his back to the basket, not from the three point line. We already have our outside shooting PF in Aldridge. No need for overlap.

Usually the bench comes in for specific purposes. If we need stops, then you bring in your defensive "role player" to help get them. And sparing 10 minutes a game, by sacrificing outside shooting by a PF to have a better rebounding and shot blocking unit on the floor would be a more versatile option.

 

I am using what we've seen in pre-season. Not using Webster's stats from 2 years ago.

 

Yeah doesn't make too much sense does it? I mean it seems many fans were happy with teams taking the ball out of Roy's hands during the playoffs and forcing Blake to be the playmaker. That totally exposed us last season. Let's try and be a little more surprising to other teams. Punish them for focusing on Roy.

 

I've felt this way for about 5 years. Outlaw is all "promise," and very little "delivery." He hurts you as much as he helps you, and his game is still woefully raw. We're a dumb team when he's on the floor, and I hate it.

 

webster is a more COMPLETE small forward where as batum is limited.

i said this in sept... if you want batum to start then blake has to start so they can stretch defenses..... if you want miller to start then its gotta be webster. no other way around it.

miller and batum on the floor is too easy to defend cause it leaves just roy who can hit a three.

thats the deal. webster starts.

 

What, in your mind, makes Webster so much more complete?

 

Not like I want to say bad things about Outlaw, but in all honesty, you have a point. Sometimes I've watched painfully as I saw him be "wide-open" and choose to dribble into the defensive to take a tough mid rang contested jumper.

The big picture for me is, when he's scoring you feel like we are doing great until you see the scoreboard. For some reason, I've seen us fall behind with him being the focal point on offense. Just seems weird to me.

 

Seems like we're just going to go around and around with this. But again, if it's just very limited, situational, why not play Joel and Oden together? If there's no need for overlap, then we already have our banger rebounding, defensive big off the bench in Joel.

I mentioned them not playing well together, and you brought up that we don't sub 5 guys in at once, which didn' tmake much sense to me. But if there is a rotation, and you are looking for a back to the basket big off the bench, it sounds like you are putting that person alongside Joel. Because if Aldridge is in the game, he can play with his back to the basket, and so can Greg. When is it you are envisioning this person playing? Alongside LMA? I think Joel and Greg could do just fine alongside LMA. Alongside Greg? Or alongside Joel? Which pairing are we lacking the defense on? And which pairing, when adding this player, is a good pair, which could effectively cover opponents when they might go a little smaller off their bench, as a lot of teams tend to do.