he's been beasting with Camby and Przy out, should we make him our C and instead go after a PFOTF to complement him? There are not that many "true" old style C's anymore, LMA is a tough cover for other teams, get a PF who rebs well - I like the idea.
Andrew Bogut is actually a very good center and is currently listed as #7 in the league in PER for centers... He also plays for a team that is #6 in the league in defensive efficiency. I think it is pretty clear that when LMA is used as a Center and the team stresses running - he is a tough cover for most centers.
I've been thinking of this too. LA's got the length to hang with the defensive Cs like Chandler, Duncan, and Darko. And he can outrun and outquick the slowfooted guys like Yao, Bynum, etc. Annnnd, there aren't really any legit offensive post threats at C any longer. A guy like Bass would be a decent fit.
On alot of nights we can get away with it. Keeping up with LA is also a tough task for the bigger centers too. Would rather not have him trying to guard Dwight Howard though. Have you watched Minnesota lose so many close games this year? Rambis and Smart have not demonstrated anything yet. Skiles has not gotten out of the first round either. Nate has atleast done that once.
Yep and frankly how may D Howard's are there? I'd rather set our team up to win as many games as we can against the majority of teams.
Amare has made the same transition to C as he has gone to NY. He's having a lot of success there with guys like Chandler and Turiaf next to him at PF. But he's also experiencing a lot of wear and tear.
And in regards to Howard, and Aldridge getting beat on, How is it that Camby is then a good option at C? He's skinnier than Aldridge is. I'm willing to bet Aldridge is pretty close in size to Joel as well. There's not many people that are way bigger than LMA that we are going to have problems with.
Think of Aldridge like Pau Gasol: a natural PF but can play C for long stretches against the right competition. Lately he IS our C. Now, does the team play better with him at C? At the moment, yes, but that's partly because he's our most mobile big man and putting him at C allows us to run and play Wes Matthews, Rudy and Batum at the same time. So he plays C in our currently most dynamic unit. If you're asking: should we trade Camby and/or Joel for a straight PF, I dunno. Let's see how Aldridge does in the playoffs first.
Transition? He's played the majority of his career at C, certainly for D'Antoni. Unless you count the few minutes he played alongside Robin Lopez...
I think you want versatility. One reason the Lakers are so successful is that they have big men in Gasol and Odom who have the size to play one position but the skills of smaller men. Notice that Bynum comes back, they become less flexible, and (at the moment) they're less successful. So my advice would be: get an Aldridge clone, play him alongside LaMarcus and ONE of them can be C.
I was being more facetious than anything. But I would guess that Skiles never had teams with as much talent as McMillain, in all honesty. Even though the last year and a half injuries took its toll.
while I get what you are trying to say, none of those top 10 centers are available to us, so we might as well start doing the best we can with the roster we have IMO.
You know whats really funny? When we drafted Aldridge I wanted him because he was the only guy who I thought might be able to deal with Oden for the next few years. I thought we could swap him over to center, add 30 pounds of muscle on him and that is what we would take to battle against Oden, whoever drafted him. It seems to me that Aldridge plays better at center because for some reason it sticks in his mind to play more inside. But I think with the reality of the injuries, chances are that is how it is going to go down. It sure would be nice to pick up another front line player to team up with him and Camby though, just so they can have some rest before the fourth quarter.
