There is no doubt in my mind he holds the keys to our offense. Why? He is tired, you can tell. He's a kid who's only played 30 game college seasons, and then only sparingly last season. He is now starting to really tire out, and it is effective our offensive rhythm. We had no semblence of any sort of offense against the Bucks today, and against Houston and Minny we needed superb performance from Rashard, and then Ray down the stretch. We beat New Orleans because they are crap. Thoughts? The kid needs a break.
Thats a nice observation, he does seem a little tired I do agree with you that he is the key to our offense, and that he is a huge part to our success. But I think that the main reason we lost today was our poor shooting. And don't for get that Danny hasn't played these last few games either and he is also a major part to this teams success. All that put aside the kid does need a break. I think we are going to see a lot more of Daniels these next few games.
I haven't seen any games recently, so I couldn't tell you. It seems more likely that he's holding back so the Supes don't get too dependent on him. He is The Apostle, after all.
I think that all of our guards need their minutes cut to be honest. Luke probably extends the most energy b/c he picks up the opposing point guard the full length of the court on almost every possession. Do I think that he is the key to our offense? Not even close. He is the key to our transition game but he doesn't really create scoring opportunities for anyone in the half court. It's either Ray or Shard moving w/o the ball coming off of a screen or one of our bigs setting a screen for Luke, Ray, or Antonio on the perimeter. Shard gets thrown a couple of bones in the post but it isn't like Ridnour is constantly getting into the lane in the half court and hitting the open man for a high percentage shot. His assists mostly come from ball reversals. I don't think that Luke is playing poorly but I do think that the Sonics have to find more innovative ways to score. We can't rely on one post up threat (Sweet Lew) and expect to consistently get high percentage shots. More people have to take advantage of mismatches on the block. So if that means throwing James the ball more, getting Ray on the blocks when he's matched against a smaller player, and even putting Flip in the post occasionally, so be it. Nick could even get a touch here in and there to keep the defense honest. When teams don't respect our post games than can go small and neutralize our quickness advantages. That is the reason why we struggle so much against small teams.
