New Plan With Pietrus Could Use Some Work

<span id="default"><span id="CCT_Article"><span id="default"><span id="CCT_Article">"he was most concerned with seeing his core players perform well as a unit."</span></span></span></span></p>

<span id="default"><span id="CCT_Article"><span id="default"><span id="CCT_Article">Did he mean that Nelson is more concerned about the core players not performing well as a unit? Or is he pleased that the core is performing well as a unit? That is a bit confusing.</span></span></span></span></p>

<span id="default"><span id="CCT_Article"><span id="default"><span id="CCT_Article">But Seattle is a big team. Pietrus is not going to do well as the starting PF against that team. Against some other teams Pietrus can do OK. I Al Harrington will probably be back as starting PF at some point.</span></span></span></span></p>

 

Al Harrington has no choice but to be the starting power forward, even though he's not a true power forward with the way he plays. Al's good on offense and pretty much average on defense and average on rebounding, but he's got a lot of useful skills in addition to his versatile scoring. I think that is more suited for play on the bench. Now if Biedrins had the all-around game he'd be my choice for a tall power forward, but he's got no choice but to be the Tyson Chandler guy primarily because of the lack of PF offensive skills... and also because he's on Don Nelson's small ball team where he craves the perimeter game.</p>

I think Nelson is just experimenting because preseason is the chance to do it rather than in regular season like he tried to do with Murphleavy at the 4 and 5. What happens if Nelson was gauging what would happen if Al Harrington were to get hurt... Who would he play instead? What just sucks is that we still don't have any power forwards despite drafting two of them and then rumors of both getting sent to the minors. I'm glad Brandan Wright was at least able to get some respect last night's game. Maybe he'll get more play than Austin Croshere at PF and slide Croshere over to SF.</p>

I just felt bad for Pietrus because I thought Nelson put Pietrus in a position to fail that game. How the heck is he going to guard Nick Collison, Jeff Green, Chris Wilcox or whoever. Those guys do have legit post skills. He can't counter that...even with his streaky offense. The only thing he can do on defense is try to reach in or flop and I'm sure he reached in. On offense, what can he get by himself, especially if they dare him to shoot or they foul him?</p>

I'm reading between the lines here. It was obviously the wrong matchup and it was because Pietrus is still too raw to play most perimeter positions except for maybe small forward.</p>

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<span id="default"><span id="CCT_Article"> "Rebounding-wise, you've got to use your quickness and get into their legs early, do your work early. He's athletic enough that if he could put a body on someone and get them low, he's going to be able to get that rebound because he's so athletic. Then make them pay for putting a bigger, slower guy on him offensively."</span></span></p>
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That's the problem, other guys have to block out for him because he's too small to establish anything. And if opposing guys block him out because he's not filling up the lane, the rebound goes to the position rebounder rather than the out of position rebounder. Plus, is Pietrus mentally aware enough where to be to get the rebound or is his game pretty much all about coming off the bench as a spark plug against tired starters or older bench players? I gotta chalk it up to the situation being explained and interpreting that in no position should Pietrus actually be expected to do what real post players do. He's a swingman closer to the guard side, not a power forward. His anticipation has absolutely sucked these days with the increasing number of fouls and bad gambles even when he's playing the smaller positions.</p>

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<span id="default"><span id="CCT_Article"> "(Pietrus) has the mentality of a (power forward) already, because he's a great rebounder and he's a great finisher," Jackson said. "The way we play, you need a (power forward) who can finish, dunk and can rebound. I think he's doing everything right. I just think it's taking him a little time to get accustomed to playing there."</span></span></p>
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Pietrus has the mentality of a power forward, when he should have the mentality of being a small forward/shooting guard. But that's not his fault since this was Nelson's idea to bump him up to a bigger position even though he plays big already for a shooting guard body. It's just that if Pietrus is trying to play a bigger position like that, he's got to affect the offense a lot more than what he is doing getting off-the-ball received passes, inside buckets or wide open 3 pointers. I feel like he's got to be like Boris Diaw or somebdy who can run plays and force other teams big men to try and counter him by going smaller. This is sort of what Al Harrington does and how Nelson tried to use Antoine Walker and Dirk Nowitzki. Pietrus ain't the guy to dictate that tempo unless he's a setup guy or primetime offensive option (which he isn't). He's first and foremost a defensive guy and Nelson just put him in a no-win situation considering his body type and the matchups he was facing. Quickness doesn't beat everything unless the skill and court sense is there. Otherwise... why not play more 6'9 tall point guards or have 6'5 centers. There's a reason why all the teams draft for a certain position physical requirements and tend not to mismatch them in a way where they sacrifice too much of offense or defense.</p>

I'll just chalk this up to Don Nelson experimenting and also not having very many options that he feels are ready to play in his system. I think he should just play Brandan Wright given our desperation for a good power forward. Otherwise, I'd rather have kept power forward turned small forward turned shooting guard Jason Richardson or tried to find somebody who can at least play close to like a real power forward.</p>