So what is your point? Size wins NBA games? As those before me here have said, the Heat, Thunder and Bulls would beg to differ. Teams with two 7-footers (Lakers, Grizz, etc) may have gotten to the playoffs but seems to me it was their SG and SF who more responsible. Hmm, so you think size wins games! I always thought it was.defense, defense and defense.
What's his point? Are you being disingenuous? You don't see the difference in the makeup of OKC, MIA, Chi and us? I understand people wanting to spin things in a positive way but acting like they don't understand valid points is a bit ridiculous.
We don't have the size or defense a Deng, Asik and Noah frontline rotation had. Sure Boozer was a weak spot, but they had size and defense around him to help cover. Who is our Noah/Asik equivalent, or now Noah/Mahammad? We run out IT/Brooks, two undersized PG;s, they run out Rose/Hinrich. Larger and better defensively.
Mia isn't the blueprint, as had been brought up countless times, as they have two of the top 5 perimeter defenders in the game, along the lines of Pippen/MJ. Are you implying we have similar wing defenders to Lerbron/Wade, plus Chalmers? I mean, you failed to point out the difference in roster construction so I can only guess you don't see the difference and think because Mia doesn't have great size downlow that we somehow compare, yet it's been stated numerous times it works for them because of their size and defense on the wings.
OKC? Perkins/Ibaka/Collison don't count as have size and defensive minded players? Again, who's our equivalent? Nevermind that KD is a damn good defender and pretty big for a SF, they have a legit size SG defensive role player in Sefalosha and a large, very good defensive PG in Westbook.
You can also sit here and say that Kobe/Artest were more important than Gasol/Bynum, but they aren't getting close to a ring without them. That size pounded opponents inside. The SG and SF were nowhere near more important to Mem than Gasol/Randolph. They had their deepest playoff run two years ago when Gay was in street clothes. Conley/Allen obviously aren't undersized either, and one is a lockdown defender.
I don't know, your posts comes off as disingenuous since I know you watch a fair amount of basketball and obviously understand Carolija's point, yet try to trivialize it with points that aren't rooted in fact, in any way.
How about this. Since you don't think size is important and even seem to have an attitude against those who do think it is, how about you name all the playoff teams who've had success in the current era with three out of four in their backcourt rotation being undersized, to the point IT/Brooks/MT are, and at the same time on that same roster, if JT/Cuz are our supposed starters, don't have a single backup big who is over 6'9", and only one backup big who is over 6'6"?
If it's just defense, defense, defense, as you flippantly imply, show all the teams that had success on that end who meet the above size requirements. If you can't, and at the same time don't think Smart is the defensive equivalent of a Brooks or Thibs, two coaches we interviewed as passed on, Thibs twice actually, two years apart, then you might understand why some of us don't blindly follow your viewpoint.
