It's not his height. It's his frame. He lacks the bulk and muscle to go up against true centers. Leonard has that, and he seems to like going against the really big guys in the low post. Meyers confounds me. I think he has the agility and strength that he should be able to defend inside and out. What I always felt he lacked was good instincts more than anything.
I think Portland should go small for this series. Start Aminu at center. Henderson and Harkless at forward.
Our most clever lineup last night had Robertson at PG, CJ at SG, Henderson at SF, Harkless at PF, and Aminu at C; it totally confused Kerr for two full minutes.
That's the funny thing though. Meyers can really help us against certain teams and not so much against others. Strangely enough, most of the teams that he matches up well with are playoff teams. I think Dallas is the only team in the western conference playoffs that he wouldn't really be needed. Does this carry more weight?
You called it. Totally disagree. Myers is a one-trick pony. We also need to have Harkless play the 3 and replace Aminu with a bruiser at the 4.
Difference is they had Draymond Green at center. One of the highest BBIQs in the league. Aminu's BBIQ is..............not so great.
Meyers is not agile, nor is he actually that strong. And there's maybe three big guys in the league that he's actually good at defending.
The Pick and what else? I think Mychal Thompson was talking to him and he said Vlade just laughed at his ideas. and if you think about it..... he is right. Who on the Lakers would you even want? They are all good bench players, but average starters. Even with the pick. How does Sac benefit from that? I still say Boston has the most to offer.
This is all true, however, I still think some of his perceived length problems are actually something else in disguise, especially in regards to getting stuffed in the paint. One of the tnt announcers pointed out that Plumlee needs to take another dribble closer to the basketball ring before elevating for his shot. I had never thought about that before and started paying attention to that detail. And it is totally true. He is taking off from the ground entirely too early and this is making him jump more horizontally than vertically. And this leads to not as much lift and consequently getting his shot eaten alive. This is a teachable moment for him if they look at film. Will this make his arms grow? Nope. But, I think he could measurably increase his chances of successful drives.
Ryan Anderson would be awful. We'd be even more of a one-trick-pony team. Stotts would love it, but it'd be awful in the POs. The only thing he has over Meyers is the ability to put the ball on the floor - something I believe Meyers could do if he puts in the hours of practice necessary. One guy who use to get mentioned all the time, but hasn't in ages, is Taj Gibson. I'm not sure why he fell off the radar (injury? got old fast?), but I think he'd be just about perfect and could probably be had cheaply (Vonleh?).
You guys have done a good job covering the better ideas to fill in the rotation holes. I am going make a suggestion to fill in the other end of our bench, spot 15. FA Dewayne Dedmon, 7’ Center, will be signed by someone for next to nothing. He went undrafted, bounced around the NBA & D league for a couple of seasons. He was very raw and needed a lot of development. Then he spent two seasons with the Magic. Fast forward to today. He has now played in 148 games for the Magic, starting 41 of them. He has made good progress, but is only 26 years old with room to grow. He is not ready to start for a playoff team, but probably would do fine in certain situations off of the bench. I would consider him as our 3rd center on the cheap to replace Kaman. His low cost vs ceiling is worth the gamble. http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/2580913/dewayne-dedmon
If it's the number one pick, I think Simmons or Irving are more valuable than anyone on Boston. The Celtics best player is someone that Sac cast off.
Gibson is an name that I haven't heard around here but he's interesting. He's on a very team friendly 9 million next year and is an expiring, despite being 30 years old. Great defensive player and has the ability to shoot the midrange jumper. I think if you grabbed Monroe, you can theoretically play Gibson alongside him as someone that can space the floor a bit and cover up some defensive weaknesses.
LA has the 2nd best odds of getting the #1 pick. But Boston is right there with the 3rd best odds...... PLUS the 16th and 23rd picks. And with Bradley and Thomas at guards, they can afford to include Marcus Smart in the deal. (Who I think is better than D'Angelo)
Yeah, I guess it just depends on where the chips fall, and how deep this draft is. If Boston doesn't get top 3, is it still enough to get Boogie?
What about Gasol and Noah? Gasol is a good 2way player and Noah is still a great rim protected. It'd leave us with some money for a SF especially if we traded Aminu
Noah is a shell man. He didn't play much in Chicago. His minutes were the lowest that they've been since his rookie year.