In praise of Mason Plumlee

Yeh, I doubt it too. In fact latest rumor today says they want another front court player. Well, how about Davis and Leonard for Dieng and take Pekovic's contract off their hands? Somehow I don't think Thibideau would want Leonard though, unless his ego is so big he thinks he can make a defender out of him.

 

It seemed like Plumlee brought the ball up the court after rebounding it quite a few times last night. Not many centers in the NBA that can do that. Probably because they don't need to I guess.

 

Plumlee is playing like a guy on a mission to build his brand...I really like him and he's obviously worked on his weaknesses from last season this summer...I hope he keeps it up

 

I think Plumlee has a place on the team for sure. we just need to move meyers + crabbe or turner for something, and resign Plums

hopefully some team out there needs what we have n vice versa.

 

I really wouldn't mind keeping Plumlee as our PF, but that would require a C that would work well with Plumlee's limited offensive game.

I know that spacing and 3-point shooting is all the rage these days, but it wasn't too long ago (okay, maybe it was) that you could play a PF/C together where neither player had any range past 10-15'. Buck and Duck never ventured out near the 3-point line and that didn't negatively impact our offense - those teams averaged more PPG than this current roster! I see Plumlee as a PF version of Duck.

 

My biggest fear is that Mason is playing for a contract .....JJ Hickson looked like a superstar double double machine his contract year...somehow I think Mason is a higher character guy.....I want Mason to grow with the core if he keeps it up. There are just some matchups that'll give him trouble

 

You can't help but think about Boogie's 40% from 3 this year when you read something like this. Dame-AC-Moe-Plums-Cuz with ET, Aminu, Ed, Meyers off the bench is a potent 9 man rotation with pretty much every skill covered.

 

Even Brooke Lopez has added the 3-pointer to his game this year. Proving you can teach an old dog new tricks. After making only 3 total 3-pointers in his first 487 games over 8 seasons, he's made 42 in just 21 games so far this season. He's gone from averaging one 3-pointer every 162 games to averaging 2 a game. That's quite a turnaround.

I'm not saying BroLo is our answer, just that there are guys out their who could work next to Plumlee, at least on the offensive end.

Personally, I'd rather add a true rim protector like Noel than worry about how some new guy would fit in next to Plumlee, if we even decide to keep him.

With Boogie supposedly off the table, my best case future center rotation (that's actually feasible) would be Nerlens Noel starting, backed up by Andrew Bogut for 18 MPG.

If that's not possible, my Plan B would be Noel starting and Plumlee backing him up. As much as I appreciate what Plumlee brings, I am not enamored with the idea of starting him at PF. I think his best role would be back up center on a really good team. Imagine the luxury of having a high energy big man with his handles and passing ability coming off your bench.

BNM

 

He'd definitely be an upgrade, but he's never been a good rebounder for his size and, while not an elite level rim protector, by shear size, he's more of a deterrent in the paint than anyone we currently have on our roster.

Watching the CHI vs. MIN game last night made me nostalgic about how much better our defense and rebounding was when we had Rolo. He's having a nice season for the Bulls and had two big BLKs right before halftime - one where he totally denied a KAT dunk. Out of the four starters we lost during the summer of 2015, I think he's the one we miss the most. We could really use him right now.

BNM

 

I've been thinking about this a lot lately...we do miss him...the pick and Rolo made him a steady double double rim protector

 

I generally rate Plumlee as slightly above Meh. However, he has the 3rd highest PER on the team, and we only have 3 players above 15. Furthermore, his PER of 17.8 is significantly higher than the next highest Mo Harkless (14.4).

Third highest on team in Win Shares.
Tied for 2nd on team in VORP.
2nd highest on team in Box +/-.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/POR/2017.html

That all being said, we have the worst defense in the league, and some share of the blame must go to Plumlee.

 

I can't seem to wrap my head around people expecting a guy named "Mason" to be able to shoot well.

 

No kidding! That was some quality bullyball Mase was handing out. . .