P.S. -- CR2, remember -- the Warriors do have franchise players -- they've commited to them long term with big-ride contracts. The staples of the team? Among JRich and Baron you also have these franchise centerpieces: - Adonal "Democracy matters...but so do $$ Millions" Foyle - Mike "Dunnah why he's paid" Dunleavy - Troy "Double Double your paycheck" Murphy - Derek "0.4 million per game" Fisher These are our franchise guys, like it or not. Foyle and Fish combined make what KG makes. Foyle will be making $10 in the last year of his contract. These are the face of the Golden State franchise. Stevie Franchise? nah -- Adonal Franchise.
I disagree AlleyOop. It's more like "franchise abominations." Okay they aren't that bad individually (except for Foyle and maybe Dunleavy), but together boy they suck hard.
What's crazy is 3 of those 4 players would be nice additions to the Heat. Posey's going to be gone, Payton and Zo probably as well. Foyle fills in for Zo on the defensive side playing role player minutes, Murphy next to Shaq is a perfect fit on the offensive side, and Fisher's catch and shoot next to Wade and Shaq is perfect as well (It's the Lake-show all over again). Too bad we don't have Shaq in the middle and Wade at the 2. Actually if JRich learned how to dribble, we'd only need the big man in the middle to help all of the other pieces.
Well, just goes to show how a lot of few dimensional players can look good standing next to an inside-outside threat of Shaq in the paint and D-wade on the perimeter. I still think former all-star Alonzo Mourning still kicks Foyle's ass on any level and at any age. Watch how Mourning defends and its worlds apart from how Foyle only knows how to defend. Mourning is pretty crafty all-around defender that can pick away passes, body bump somebody into a walk, he can actually win jump balls, he can pass, he can score some with his footwork and ability to score with either hand. Foyle on the other hand, just plain sucks that badly and would be terrible to rely upon if Shaq were to ever get injured or mired in foul trouble. Alonzo Mourning was kind of an unsung hero in Miami's win because he was actually scoring and defending in Shaq's place. I don't think Foyle could handle them passes from Wade, Payton or Jason Williams. He's too clumsy and unaware at times. Murphy could provide some areas where Haslem lacked, but I think Haslem is more effective because he's stronger and more athletic, thus makes a better enforcer inside the lane. Who cares if he's small, the guy plays big. He was another unsung hero because he also scored within the flow, got some big second chance opportunities for his team, and also played some pretty good D. Dfish is excruciating to watch as a playmaker, but its obvious the Warriors used him in all the wrong ways possible. We didn't have the talent for him to be effective every game. He would most certainly have been money for the Warriors had they made the playoffs and had the formula that made Fisher so great in the first place as a 3-point marksman for punishing double teams on the Lakers. I like Dfish actually and I'm sure the Olympics team could have used him to show Marbury and Richard Jefferson how to shoot. I just don't like him controlling the ball because he'll do something stupid with it.
Yeah, if we had a real center we'd be closer to the playoffs than ever before. If we go after a center though I hope we're not specifically looking at height. It's really about their all around defensive abilities, their intimidation level/ability to enforce the paint, wingspan, good broad shoulders, good bulk, good strength, nice I.Q. to run the high post or show timing when to kick out while posting up on the blocks, the ability to use fluid footwork in the post, finesse at short and midranges, the ability to recover balance after contact, and also nice passing. Just stuff like that. If Ike was maybe a little bit bigger I wouldn't mind him at center. But 6'8 in shoes is just stretching it a bit, whereas 6'9 with an afro, athleticism + muscles + excellent stamina + good anticipation, playing for the East with a 6'11 defensive power forward is a bit different, maybe. One player Ike draws comparrisons to is Elton Brand and both Ike and Brand could play a center in college. The clippers have never really made Elton Brand a center in the NBA and he only recently added the longer ranges to his game to make him more of a face-up power forward than solely a back to the basket scorer. Elton Brand could have been a center since a power forward that can't really drive, shoot at more than 15 feet is basically a center. But now Brand can step out and then actually drive around people sort of like Chris Webber's face up game. Meanwhile, Brand's former backup, Chris Wilcox is still stuck in between being a center and being a power forward's size. He's not even Nene size. Chris Taft is sort of in the same boat. No ballhandling or shooting game to speak of. Even Troy Murphy has some ability to put the ball on the floor and drive and we know he's got the shooting.
Due to the relative lack of guys 6-10 and above-plus an NBA now having 30 teams,not 16,it's become hard to get that ideal C. You overpay guys likle Dalembert,Chandler,Foyle. You pick guys like Biedrens,Bynum,O'Bryant high knowing it's a year before they help you at all. A guy tagged as a PF,whether Kurt Thomas,Amare,Pau,Wilcox,Camby..or Sheldon Williams..even Troy Murphy can wind up a c by being the best available option. Ben Wallace? nobody saw him coming. Warrior fans talk of low post threat like it's the Holy Grail,but how much did Curry help NY? They'd have been a better team with our Adonal the Poet at C. ...or Murphy. Curry's 14 per came with rebounding Monta could top and Defense kindly described as apathetic. The W's are aware now that Adonal is no 9 million dollar talent-but that's no secret. The cost of making that contract go away...may exceed the benefit. The Added burden of Dunleavy's deal,is a multiplier.
Curry is pretty hideous with that NY backcourt, but it's also because Curry is such a bad defender for a center. Centers are supposed to be your defensive specialists and guys who can at least catch.
The increased focus on a Center as a defensive specialist kind of goes with having the more agile/skillfull 7 foot/6-10 guys play PF cause it gives them more freedom to use their skills. Not long ago,your best tall guy was your C. Now teams HOPE they can get a matchup edge,tall PF and tall C,but The supply of skillfull 7 footers did not keep up with NBA Expansion. I'd say there are probably 15 starting Centers-half..who score below 10 a game. I hope,if he's returning,Foyle has been asked to drop 10-15 pounds. Foyle had better overall mobility and hops at 255 than he has at 270. Murphy may also benefit from a game weight 10 lb lighter. A coach has to COACH. He has to install,teach,promote a style,a big picture strategy as well as tactical in-game plans. It's up to a coach to mold,teach,inspire. If "Murphy's D Sucks" or "Baron/Fish shoots too many 3's" or J Rich needs to practice the FT's or anyone needs to work more on some skill or play in a different way..the coach calls that shot,he does the teaching-coaching or delegates to someone who will. He may have to COMMUNICATE the basuic concept that everyone DOES want to win and his job is about pulling people togather into a team to do that. I still am seeing little evidence that Monty is doing much of this coaching. Monty seemed to be unable to much change anything intentionally. At times we'd stumble upon something...yet Monty would just seem to push aside what should have been progress,being more into the comfort zone,buisiness as usual. I saw a LOT of opportunities for us to push the pace-yet we'd back off. That does not seem to be the players choice....except for Fish who clearly can't function well as an on the run playmaker. We have the Dunleavy factor. Dunleavy has the skills-perhaps not the tools,to have a good game sometimes,especially in the right matchup. Dun however has tended to score best vs a bigger slower guy,or sometimes against a small player. He can't matchup with any starting SF with any consistancy,and he's too soft,too few boards to play PF usually. Because 1 game in 3 he seems to be fairly useful...he gets another chance..and another..and another and it adds up to a cumulative disadvantage. Murphy's priority role is to get the rebound. A stop is not much use if you don't get the boards. Our weird D often pulls our C away from the rim,so it's Murph or if the rebound is long-J Rich. We discovered that Murph CAN play good Man-on-man,and get 10-20 boards too,but then he twisted an ankle and Monty abandoned that idea ASAP. We know we can assign Pietrus to shut down a SF or SG and he will...but Monty forgets that too,along with Monta's apparent knack for great D on the fastest PG's
