It's just an idle thought I had. I think its pretty clear what Andrea needs to work on next, to round out his offensive game. He's got a sweet jumper from the outside. He's massively improved his dribbling ability and can drive it to the hoop/take contact. And he's even got the beginnings of a down low game (its very raw, but the more you feed it to him there, the more comfortable he gets). What's missing is something to bridge the gap between driving to the bucket and stretching the defense with his shot. He needs a mid-range game. Sure he has a solid enough set jumper from the mid-range position. But he needs to be able to do what he does from the 3 pt. line (threaten his defender with the jumpshot/drive possibilities) a few feet in. Michael Grange pointed this out in an article recently. If you want to insist on the Bargnani-Nowitzki comparisons, you have to realize that Nowitzki almost always gets the ball where Bosh gets it (just outside the elbow). That's where he's grown to operate. Bargnani is a different player than Dirk, but to improve his offensive efficiency, he definitely has to learn how to operate there too. And that's where this question comes in. We need Bargnani to learn something that Bosh already does extremely well. If you're looking at this in terms of immediate success, developing Bargnani's mid-range game will probably hurt this team. He'll interfere with Bosh's offense much like JO did and there's be a learning curve (he'll certainly struggle early on). Do you make that sacrifice? With Bosh firmly entrenched on this team and with Colangelo desperately trying to prove that he should stay, can the Raptors even afford to do what's in the best interests of Bargnani? Thoughts?
chutney is an attention whore, pass it on!!! the question isnt whether bosh will hinder bargnani's development but are bosh and bargnani simply good enough? both of these guys have put up great numbers of late but the raptors have yet to demonstrate any tangible results in the win column.
Bosh and Bargnani together won't get you anywhere. Neither plays inside. I believe that in order for a team to be successful, their two bigmen should compliment each other in that one is primarily an inside scorer and the other more perimeter oriented. With that said, I'd keep Bargnani and try to trade Bosh for an inside post player. I don't see Bosh deciding to suddenly become an inside force, now that he's settled into a mid-range jumpshooter. Besides, Bargnani is a better post defender, can hit the 3, and drives more often. Try to bring in an Al Jefferson or an Emeka Okafor to compliment Bargnani.
I agree with Dark Magician. Bargnani and Bosh are far to similar for both of them to be our 'stars'. I also think we should try to get an inside presence by trading Bosh but i worry that making Bargnani the focal point of the team may be dangerous as he has not dealt with pressure well ie his second season
Is an inside post prescene really whats missing? I mean we had the JO experiment and he was suppose to be the guy but it didnt work out that well. I agree we need it but should it be at the expense of one of our better guys? maybe we should just draft Thabeet or something....
Was JO really an inside post presence though? I think we all had that expectation, but I never really saw it too be honest. Sure he played a few steps closer to the basket than Bosh, and did back down his opponent, but the end result was almost always a contested jumpshot which is not all the different from Bosh/Bargnani. Defensively, he was definitely what we needed, but he brought little variety on offense IMO.
Offensively JON is very much a jumpshooter (higher ratio of Jumpers than Chris), and not as talented at Bosh in that sense either. I thought he was anemic.
duckman i admire your ability to multitask. it must be difficult to type and give rich men a BJ simultaneously
