All this talk about Blake not being able to take us to the next level. About how we need a "real" PG. Check this out- http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...per/06/18/point.guards/index.html?eref=sihpT1
No, we don't need a star PG. We need a PG who can draw fouls and get to the line, or at least get others to the line, and sorta kinda stay in front of people on defense. Fisher shot almost twice as many FT's as Blake did. Fisher also plays with K*be. Roy is a wonderful player, but he simply isn't on that level. It the same reason Paxson and Kerr worked with Jordan.
Most teams that have won recently have had Jordan/Pippen or Kobe to help handle the ball, and the triangle offense doesn't require a standard PG. Wade and Miami is a similar situation, although running a different offense, obviously. Looking at the other teams, Parker and Billups and Rondo are all star PGs (or close to it) in my book, so the answer SEEMS to be that, except in rare cases, yes you need a star PG to win a championship. Ed O.
Most of the cases of not needing a star point guard seem to involve having another perimeter player with some amount of "point guard" skills. A player like, using a completely random example, Brandon Roy. So I would say that this team probably doesn't need a star point guard to win titles. But it wouldn't hurt.
I guess you could also add Doesn't throw the ball to the other team or step out of bounds at crucial moments during the game. Other then those two things, Jack would have been a good option.
I don't think the positions your stars are at really matters much, you just need stars to win championships. You need more talent then the other team. The position that talent is at is of little importance.
Blake isn't bad until the final minutes of a game. I think if we look back on the year there are atleast 4 games that Blake threw away (traveled, TO, ect.) and at least that many where he couldn't convert (open 3, FT, easy pass). Blake is ultra competitive but that hurts him in pressure situations.
Jarrett Jack. One of the few guys I have ever seen approach a triple double where one of the statistics was turnovers. Enough said.
Just like: Kobe Bryant - http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200801310DET.html Paul Pierce - http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200611080BOS.html Jason Kidd - http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200301200UTA.html Steve Nash - http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200802060PHO.html D-Wade - http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200511090IND.html D-Howard - http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200702260CHI.html Quite a nice company to keep, I would say (Stackhouse and R-Jefferson also achieved this fit). LeBron, Iverson, Big-Z and Bogut were oh so close but never really managed to get there... For the record - JJ never really was in contention - his worst TOV game was 7 - http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200802040POR.html
The only way I would ever think of Jarrett Jack and any of those other NBA players is that he probably threw the ball to one of them on a fast break
It depends on the system you run. It's funny that this was the "year of the PG in the playoffs" at the start, with all the talk being about Billups, Rondo, Rose and even Brooks. But by the conference finals only Billups was left and the rest were Mo Williams, Derek Fisher and Rafer Alston. BUT: we might not NEED a star PG, but we do need a PG who is just a bit better than Blake at: 1. Ball handling (he's easy to press) 2. Defending speed (he's "scrappy". Like Scrappy Doo. Everybody hates Scrappy Doo.) 3. Feeding the post (Rudy is much better, and Rudy is NOT a PG) 4. Imaginative passing. So, if Bayless is Jarrett Jack on Steroids, I want Blake on steroids. At this point in his career, Jason Kidd is pretty much that (except for the defending speed part). I was hoping that Koponen could be that - and while he's better at most things than Blake, he's rather turnover prone and he can't shoot. As many people have said, Fisher is designed for the triangle. In the Triangle there isn't really a PG, but you do need competent passers at all positions (which is why the Lakers are much better when Odom plays than when Bynum plays). But fuck it, do you want the Blazers to be boring, or do you want them to be the Suns with D? If the answer is the latter (and if it isn't, you're lying) then you need a star PG. I really really REALLY hate the trope of "we don't NEED a PG because ROY is our PG" because he SUCKS as a PG. He's a great PG for a shooting guard, but if he was our full-time PG we would break all records for slowest pace since the shot clock era. He WANTS to be our PG, but everybody thinks they're a PG, and most of them should be politely told otherwise. Don't make me bring up Larry Brown-Allen Iverson-Eric Snow again!
Actually he was in contention. I watched that game and he could have easily been called for several more turnovers, but they got blamed on other players.
Oh please, Jack was not horrible. He was a below-average rotation player that on a good team should play 20MPG - but we had him at 27MPG - because the alternative was Sergio (who was horrible). As unimpressive Jack was last year - he was still a better player than Sergio was this year (after the big improvement he made from his historically bad last year). You know - I really like your posts because they are very passionate - but even a passionate fan needs at some points to pay attention to the alternatives available on the roster and recognize facts. Your very own post high above - mentioned that we needed a player that had the ability to get to the line and try to get in front of people on defense - attributes Jack has. You used to complain how he was a walking turn-over - but are willing to ignore Sergio's ability to turn the ball over at a much higher rate... there is just no logical way to explain your disdain for Jack while looking for a player that has the attributes he does have - and ignore how much worse Sergio is at the things you hated Jack for... I will leave you with this interesting thought - the list of rotation players this year (played at least 500 minutes) that had a really bad TOV% - http://www.basketball-reference.com...al=&c4stat=&c4comp=gt&c4val=&order_by=tov_pct Jack is not on the list, nor was he last year... http://www.basketball-reference.com...al=&c4stat=&c4comp=gt&c4val=&order_by=tov_pct
Who isn't better than Sergio? You might as well have said "Well Jack, he was better than the worst player in the league."
