Cousins at the PF?

[bajaden]

Care to link that page you're looking at, as I'm looking at both 82games and basketball-reference and there's no breakdown for scoring in the post. Actually, I haven't seen that stat anywhere. And I believe the reason why is because no one actually tracks post ups.

Now, there's breakdowns on both sites for where Cuz is scoring from, but points inside, dunks, close, doesn't define a post up or back to the basket scoring opportunity. I hope you're not looking at 47% of Cuz's shots coming from inside as meaning he's scoring in the post or in post up situations as that's not true. The closest thing I can find is hook shots on basketball reference which almost always come from post up opportunities. But other than that, it's far from accurate. Layups many times come from Cuz beating his defender off the dribble or a dump off. Same as his dunks, many times a lay off diving through the lane. Tips aren't post up opportunities. So I'd like to see what you're looking at.

And who said to change Cuz's game? I didn't. I said he plays more like a PF. He has a lot of similarities to Webber. He has the skillset to operate very well out of the high post. He can face up. Attack off the dribble. Utilize his passing which no one has done since Westphal was here. He's generally a good 15-18ft shooter although this year has taken a number of contested jumpers which is largely due to our poor offense, IT coming down, dribbling in a circle, quick pass to Cuz and a forced jumper. Cuz's skill set has to be taken in the context of a different offense which I've outlined before with video, not Smart's crap offense.

But just because I say he plays like a PF doesn't mean I don't want him posting up. He can post up. I'd like to see more hooks. But if you're implying Cuz is best as a back to the basket post player I disagree, and while he can score inside and I'd like him inside part of the time, it doesn't begin to use most of his skill set. He's not a Shaq, Bynum, Hibbert, D12 type player who essentially need to operate within 8-10 ft out of the post.

First of all, I was speaking in generalities as opposed to referring to you when I spoke about changing his game, and I never suggested you said that. Your far to sensitive about defending your ideas, when no offense was intended on my part. I said it all in my final line. It doesn't matter what you call him, his game will probably remain the same, regardless of what position you designate him to. In all likelyhood, he'll still be defended by the center on the opposing team. So were actually talking semantics here. Put whomever you want next to Cuz, and call them anything you want. None of that matters. All that matters is that you put the right player next to him. Ibaka would work out just fine, as would Anthony Davis. Unfortunately, there are few of those around.

What I don't want is to put two big 270 pound players side by side and have one of them chase Millsap or Landry, etc, all over the floor. If Cousins has a hard time, and he shouldn't with the right approach, guarding Gasol and Kaman etc, how much luck does anyone think he'll have trying to guard Josh Smith, or at times Rudy Gay. How about Blake Griffin? All he'll do is collect more fouls than he does now. Cousins, in my humble opinion, is a center. He's played center his entire life. And I'm a believer in playing players to their strength, and not their weaknesses. Right now, at least on offense, he's quicker than most centers in the league. Make him a PF, and the only advantage he has there is strengh, but the quickness is gone. Just my opinion! But we have a potential great center in Cousins, with emphasis on the word potential. Solve the problem by finding the right person to put next to him, and not by trying to change what he is.

 

[bajaden]

Al-Faroq Aminu.

I'm not sure what your love affair with Aminu is, but whomever we put at the SF position, has to be able to defend (he can) rebound a little (he can) and shoot the ball, (he's terrible). I watched Aminu play in college, and saw no improvement in his outside shot. He's now in his third year in the league, and his outside shot has gotten worse, not better. He's currently shooting 23% from the three. We already have a player on the team that can defend the SF positon, but can't shoot a lick in J. Johnson. As a result, no one bothers to guard him on the outside. They just lurk near the post where they can double on Cuz, or stop the ball if JJ decides to drive to the basket. No more freaking projects please!

 

[bajaden]

watching the dallas game...what about brandon wright? hes really athletic averaging over a block a game in only 17 minutes..i kno he is still a little bit lean bt i think he would be a good fit next to cousins..and hes a free agent not sure what kind of money he would want..

I think at the right price, he'd be someone I might be interested in. He has improved his game and thats a plus. He seems to have figured out when to score and when not to. Not sure about his rebounding. Someone to put on the look see list though.

 

[Bricklayer]

I'm not sure what your love affair with Aminu is, but whomever we put at the SF position, has to be able to defend (he can) rebound a little (he can) and shoot the ball, (he's terrible). I watched Aminu play in college, and saw no improvement in his outside shot. He's now in his third year in the league, and his outside shot has gotten worse, not better. He's currently shooting 23% from the three. We already have a player on the team that can defend the SF positon, but can't shoot a lick in J. Johnson. As a result, no one bothers to guard him on the outside. They just lurk near the post where they can double on Cuz, or stop the ball if JJ decides to drive to the basket. No more freaking projects please!

The difficulty there is that its hard to find guys who can both shoot and defend, and when you do, they are in demand for the same reasons we want them. While I'd love to get one too, we may very well have to settle for one who can do one or the other, at least in the short term. Or fudge a bit about the shooting part. For instance, Kirilenko and Iggy both shoot over 30% from 3pt now. That might have to count as "shooting" form the starter at least. Find me a Kyle Korver with defense and I'll kiss you.

Not really.

 

[UK_King]

Cuz is 39th in points per possession from the post and "average" there apparently.

 

[bajaden]

The difficulty there is that its hard to find guys who can both shoot and defend, and when you do, they are in demand for the same reasons we want them. While I'd love to get one too, we may very well have to settle for one who can do one or the other, at least in the short term. Or fudge a bit about the shooting part. For instance, Kirilenko and Iggy both shoot over 30% from 3pt now. That might have to count as "shooting" form the starter at least. Find me a Kyle Korver with defense and I'll kiss you.

Not really.

Well, now that I have incentive! Well, maybe not. No doubt that its hard to find a SF that fills all those needs, so compromise is probably necessary. A kid I liked in college at Florida St. was Chris Singleton. He's 6'9" and was a terrific defender in college, and a good spot up shooter from the three. His three point average with the Wiz is terrible, but then he's only taken a handful of shots, so its not a true indicator. He's only averagiing around 16 or so minutes a game. I don't really know how he's being used, but in college he knew his role and stuck with it.

He has some holes in his game though. His ballhandling is suspect and he's not a good shooter off the dribble. Of course, once again he's a bit of a project. Be much easier to plug in an Iggy or a Kirilenko. Hey, not impossible if new owners are willing to open their pocketbooks.

 

[rainmaker]

First of all, I was speaking in generalities as opposed to referring to you when I spoke about changing his game, and I never suggested you said that.

You directly quoted me, so why would I expect you not to be referring to my post? I've seen you speak in generalities many times and it's usually not when quoting someone. You quoted me, I responded.

I noticed you neglected the majority of my post. You said perception isn't always reality, then gave stats on Cuz scoring in the post. I questioned those stats and asked for clarification of what exactly you were looking at. Would still like to see what you were looking at.

And if you think conversations and debating points made on a forum is being sensitive, maybe it's not the place for you if you're too sensitive regarding your posts being questioned to the point you ignore the points being made. When you've said a number of times you'd leave KF's because it's just getting to be too much for you, that strikes me as being overly sensitive. You know, the whole pot and kettle thing.

Cheers.

 

[DesertFox]

When it comes to the SF, that's the nice thing about having Pat or another 4 with range. You can get by with a defender who is less than a stellar shooter.