We got Mags, but his contract isn't as bad as Brand's. Brand is better suited for a half-court offense. However, I'm not sure how he would do with Nellie ball. What do you guys think? Brand 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 $14,858,471 $15,959,099 $17,059,726 $18,160,354 Maggette 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 $8,937,931 $9,600,000 $10,262,069 $10,924,138
I would never defend Mags' contract but we did dodge a bullet by not landing Brand, Arenas, and Baron.
Brand would have been a better fit. He's a class guy who rebounds, defends, knows how to pass. Um, he also avoids the "I'm thinking I can go coast to coast by myself" mentality that Maggs puts out there the few times he actually gets a rebound.
Biedrins + Brand + Randolph + Morrow + Curry, is probably better chemistry than 4 guys trying to all score at once like when Ellis has the ball and he's got Sjax, Buike, Mags, all trying to go to the hoop or shoot way out of their range. The main problem I think is Jackson and Ellis. They only want to pass when they feel like it. You can't turn guys like Steve Francis or Gilbert Arenas into passers. You just can't. Frankly, we're better off without guys like that ruining our possessions. We'd be in better shape getting the veteran 20/10 big man and giving him two guards that can feed inside and shoot the ball. Plus Brand is no stickler on defense despite his shortness. Defense and better rebounding gives us the ability to leak out and run. Then we could truly see if Nelson can coach big ball and if he's the one to blame. At least Nelson started out playing big ball, until injuries and depth problems forced him to play a backup tweener at starting center and poor Randolph at center. So I think Nelson wanted to play bigger at first.
I want to see another reincarnation of the Webber, Billy O, Gatling, Spree and Avery team (Timmy and Mully were hurt). That was a big, fast team. Look at Webber and Billy O, they couldn't shoot a jumper.
Here's what I don't get CR2. If Ellis being a shoot first guard is the problem, then why is he playing the point? I don't think he's playing the right position. I agree that the Curry and Monta back court is too small, but it does not have to be that way all the time. If we still had Jamal Crawford, then I think he would fit with Curry and Monta and they could timeshare. Curry/Ellis at the point and Ellis/Crawford at SG. As for Brand, I think he's too risky. He's had that shoulder injury and maybe he's lost some of his explosiveness. He doesn't fit with Philly and that's a team that likes to run, rebound and release early similar to the Warriors (albeit they like to go inside vs outside for the Warriors). Nelson thought about playing big this year, but it was because the Warriors were getting killed too easily by being out rebounded on the defensive glass. Nelson finally admitted that other teams had the Warriors number. EDIT: I forgot about Morrow coming into his own. Replace Crawford with Morrow.
Ellis is playing the point because he's way better than Curry, Watson, Claxton, Ac Law for that matter (Curry's got the right mentality but he's not effective as Ellis at breaking down defenses). Ellis is way too small to play shooting guard every night so we don't want him playing off guard very much. I think the idea was to convert Ellis to be a point guard as effective as Tony Parker is for San Antonio. But Parker needs a big guy and a secondary setup guy to pass to. No Biedrins/Turiaf pretty much stops that, plus you got a secondary passer that just doesn't want to be here. I think we'd have better chemistry if we had a motivated Sjax type of player in addition to a point guard that can score and knows when to pass and when to shoot. We put in Azubuike or Mags, they're going straight to the rack or shooting the jumper. Now if Ellis and Sjax are hogging it, nobody else gets fed. That's just my observation and why Morrow doesn't seem to get the ball at the right times or enough times. Instead, we seem to have the ball launched from inconsistent shooters when we could do more to get the consistent guys open. Also, I don't think Morrow will be a Ray Allen in terms of passing. He's a guy that will finish the plays from deep. I'm thinking sort of how Peja Stojakovic was used for Sacramento with Webber/Vlade/Bibby/ all doing the passing. Peja just has to worry about hitting it. PG: Whether its Chris Paul or former shoot first player like Chauncey Billups, they need to have some floor general skills and the ability to separate from defenses. They are an extension of the coach like the QB in football. SG: A Brandon Roy or Joe Johnson type or Manu Ginobilli or Ray Allen type (a scoring guard at least 6'5 that can pass off the dribble, drive n' kick, cross between a point guard duties and those of small forward) SF: A guy that can score from everywhere and multiple ways depending on the mismatch PF: A guy who can act like a center on the floor defensively (such as in rebounding or shotblocking), but score like a small forward in some ways C: A strong defensive guy who can finish plays inside and be able to pass it out. He's good in the post and he can quickly move to the ball and body people up. If we can at least fill some of these prototypical positions, we're set. We can even cross-match the small forward and shooting guard positions or the center and power forward positions. But the point guard is the floor general. If he ain't basketball smart, he ain't going to win no matter how gifted he is. But it doesn't matter. We're down two centers. And that pretty much leaves us dead in the water. Playing two 230-240 pound centers is not the same thing as playing a guy that is 10 lbs heavier/stronger and is quick enough to do the job inside. That strength just wears down the scrawnier player.
