Yep, last year starting power forward was our biggest weakness. Neil attempted to address that long term by using our three first round picks to select two power forwards. But, like many rookies, neither were ready to contribute immediately. So, we're left with power forward by committee. This year, thanks to the disappearance of Mo Harkless, starting small forward is our biggest weakness. Last year, Mo was pretty close to average among the leagues 30 starting small forwards (I had him ranked at 16th based on an unweighted average of several basic and advanced stats). He was even pretty close to an average 3-point shooter (.351 vs. .358 league average). This year Mo has fallen off a cliff. All of his stats, basic and advanced, have plummeted and his third year in Portland is looking remarkably like his third year in Orlando (PER = 8.5 VS. PER = 8.4). Not a good trend! The difference is ORL had a pretty good player, in Evan Fournier, that stepped up and took his place. Due the lack of other options at small forward, Stotts has resorted to using an undersized SG at small(er) forward, which isn't a viable solution as it leaves us undersized at all of PG, SG and SF. So now, we need help, we need it soon and we need it bad, at the small forward position. At least at power forward, we get some defense and rebounding from Vonleh, Aminu & Co and have some hope for the future. We're getting nothing at SF, and don't even have any hope for the future. I'm not one to panic, but we really need a trade to address this issue. BNM
So, basically the complaint is that our small forward can't dribble? Is that it? Or am I missing something? Because explain to me why Kyle Korver is such a +/- leader then.
Whatever the theory is, it better explain why we're last in assists, just over half Golden State's total.
They can't shoot long-range to spread the floor, AND they can't dribble to punish the inevitable spread-out defense. The offense stalls when they touch the ball, because they pass when they're supposed to shoot, or they dribble when dear god please no. How many plays in a row against Washington did we end a play with a player getting stripped or dribbling the ball off his foot? Four? Five?
I think with Nurkic out we need to try putting Turner back in the post. Start (gulp) Leonard (or if you're feeling really brave, Zach), and you've got a floor-spacing five, so you can afford to put your wing in the post. That should help. Turner is the same player he was when Brad Stevens made him a useful cog in a powerful offense.
Still leaves us with two ball handlers, three shooters, and two guys who like to handle the ball and shoot but can do neither well.
Probably has something to do with the fact that Korver is one of the top 5 3-point shooters in the history of the game and he gets to play next to one of the greatest players of all time. In your scenario, who is our Korver, and more importantly, who is our LeBron? BNM
Because Harden is averaging 31.6 points, 9.4 assists, and 5.1 rebounds. Oh, and Clint Capela is breaking out well.
Quit with the Socratic method; bless us with your knowledge. Is it because we have too many Americans?
No !! We can't get rid of Vonleh or Davis. They are the future of our power forward game. We need to keep Napier too. I am anxious to see more of Swanigan and Collins though
Davis isn't the future of anything - he's purely a stop-gap until we get a second player capable of joining Vonleh as our PF rotation. Davis has reached his ceiling, and it's a pretty low ceiling. I like the dude, but there's no reason to re-sign him for anything more than the MLE.
I know that PER is not the end all be all, but it shows how much CJ has dropped off from last year, or hell, the year before that.
