Detroit is saying his lack of improvement. The knock on him coming out of college was lack of motor, and weight concerns. Meaning logically the knock followed him, well if Detroit isn't lying.(I don't see why they would if they're gauging his value)
Gotta pull down the payroll. We've been living on borrowed time. His genius plan last summer was to overpay a bunch of talents who are highly valued around the league, have a great half-season honeymoon with all that talent as they inflate their values even more, trade them at the deadline, then come down to Earth and only make the 2nd round of the playoffs. Anyone who doubted the high contracts got routed by homers here, who would repeat the easy plan ad nauseam.
I predict IF we make any trades today....it will be with financials in mind first. A trade of Crabbe or Turner or Ezeli involved (hopefully Leonard too, but not because he's got a bad contract). I don't expect to see Drummond or Paul George for those guys. Okafor maybe!!
That's a really good question, isn't it? 23 years old, supposedly their best player, signed to a long term deal...... The only thing I read is that VanGundy doesn't really like his effort level sometimes. So you have a player whose value is based only on his athletic ability and intensity ( a terrible free throw shooter) and his intensity is falling off at 23, hmmm.
as BNM pointed out he is the worst FT shooter in the history of the league and while his rebounding numbers are great pistons fans complain about his actual D and the Pistons are a better defensive team with him off the court. His offense game is pretty much dunks and his offensive rating has plummeted the longer he has been in the league. The D rating is fairly good still. Still doesnt' make a lot of sense why he is on the block but he seems like a very big project still and if Van Gundy doesn't want to deal with him or doesnt' think he can work with him I'm not so sure we could bring him in and make him better.
With the new style of the NBA, ball movement is faster and shooting is paramount. Bulky giant Drummond would have been great 10 years ago, but now he seems unenergetic relative to this faster league. He's playing as energetically as he can.
I think this is the case. The old adage that you don't trade big for small is long gone. Centers are needed but not sure you pay them max contracts anymore because they don't play big minutes. And you really need 3 of them to get through a season. The center position has dropped in terms of priority. Again you still need them in order to be successful, but you really only need them for defense and rebounding. So you need energy guys at that position.
The post player is vital to a balanced offense. I realize I know nothing, but you all do realize Cleveland won last year because Lebron started posting up, right? A post player with shooters is the most lethal offense because the defense can't double, and if they do, shooters are open
yeah, I'm not sure I buy this "death of big men" completely. Prime Shaq would be devastating right now. Hakeem and Robinson would eat people alive, or else have the ability to pass to a bunch of people who can shoot open 3's not just a designated sharpshooter. Just because they're not plodding doesn't mean big men can't develop a skill. If Boogie, for instance, was even slightly above league-average at the rim, he'd be a 30-11 guy. That's pretty damn good. Same with Anthony Davis. If he used his freakish athleticism Hakeem-style instead of shooting 18' jumpers at an LMA-esque 42% clip, he'd be devastating (and likely into the 30's in PPG). EDIT: What MM and TBPup said while I was pulling stats.
Actually, what MM and TBPup have been saying was largely reflected by what Neil himself said today: Phones were ringing yesterday, today was silent and mostly waiting....and then getting nothing.