This thread sounds like a weed smoke circle. "Dude, dude!! if Anthony Davis and Ed Davis has the SAME last name, doesn't it mean that Ed Davis should be like at least 50% AS GOOD as Anthony Davis??" -"Whoaaaaaaaa, DUDE!." "Then why do we even NEEED another Davis on our team?? you know what are the chances of having like another Connaughton on our team?? SHOULD BE LIKE, A MILLION TO ONE!".
He does seem to have plateaued a bit. Never thought Gentry would be good for him. Anything that pulls him away from the post is a bad idea IMO.
Blame the GM. That team is so crappily put together that you can't blame him. The only thing you can blame on Anthony Davis is the fact that he's been injured. Other than that he's been a double double with three blocks waiting to happen.
I am coming to that conclusion as well. I watched him pretty closely last night and he had one of his better offensive games. Especially with a couple of post up baskets. But I sure would not describe him as a lock down defender. I would say both Aminu and Crabbe are both better in that regard. So if you are comparing him to Crabbe I would give the advantage to AC from the 3pt range, his runner (Which is really hard to block) and his D. Apparently Barnes has improved his mid range game this year (per the announcer) so I will call that a draw for now, and give the advantage to Barnes finishing at the rim. (Because of his great hops) But I really think we all discard how long Crabbe is. He has the same wingspan as Barnes and has a longer standing reach (By 2 ") I am starting to think Crabbe can be our SF for the near future. Anyone we draft will not be ready for 3 years. With Aminu backing him up, I think they could make a good tandem. (Or Harkless for those who favor Mo over Aminu) Re-sign Henderson to be our BU SG. But as I said in another thread we will have plenty of time to further evaluate Barnes as the Warriors will be on TV into June.
Exactly. It's much easier to gameplan around stopping a post player than a player that can handle the ball. I will say however that a team with McCollum, Lillard AND a post player like Monroe would be damn near unstoppable...at least offensively.
That's convenient. His team hasn't won more than 45 games since he's been in the league. He's never been in the top 10 in defensive rating, and neither has his team. How exactly is this guy a transformational player? What has he transformed?
Duncan and Dirk won recent titles. You can build a contending team with the best player at any position. There are no absolutes. Limiting a franchises options, trying to force very small specific criteria, having a closed mind are more damning strategies than having a teams best player at one specific position. Its a game with 5 player on the court at a time and at least 8 playing significant minutes. There is no one exact blueprint that has to be followed. Creativity, ingenuity, embracing core competencies, zigging while other teams are zagging has lead to more success than attempting to replicate historical rosters.
Can you name the last power forward/big man that, by himself, elevated a team to relevance? Boogie hasn't been able to do it. Aldridge couldn't do shit without Dame. Duncan had Robinson and then Parker/Manu and now Kawhi. Dirk had Nash/Finley and then Kidd/Marion. Bosh, at his peak in Toronto, had the Raptors at 40-42. Griffin has CP3. Love was never good enough to get the TWolves into the playoffs. So who would be an example of a big man, in recent memory, that could elevate his team by himself? LeBron is a once-in-a-generation talent. That's like saying Barkley wasn't a star because he wasn't as good as Jordan.
Go look at the company surrounding Anthony Davis in per leading for a regular season. http://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/per_season.html It's not the end all be all, but a 30+ per is impressive. Love had a good year his last year in minny. And lets not act like Davis plays shit defense like love
The only way the OP's premise is true is if Noah Vonleh has some heretofore unseen leap in production that puts him in the all-star conversation . . . like a 500% leap in production. I'll wager the odds of that being possible are somewhere south of 10%. It's certainly surprising that this team is better than most predicted, but that doesn't mean they have an unlimited ceiling. Just "letting it ride" and swapping out the middle of the roster for the next two or three years might make this a reliable second or third tier playoff team, but actually competing for titles with Damian and CJ as the backbone seems like a long shot at best -- Primarily because of their defensive shortcomings. I would have thought by now more of you would be tired of the team getting stuck in the "pretty good" phase, with no hope of sniffing a title? But I get it, no one really wants to suffer through the pain of a rebuild and most are unwilling to endure unless there's some kind of guarantee. I'm different I guess? I'd take ten lottery seasons in a row if I thought it would give this organization just a 25% chance at a title.
Thanks for proving my point. If you gave me a franchise today I'm not picking any of those guys first. Dirk might be the exception. He carried the Mavs. Kidd was a role player by that time. Marion was always one.
