Do all the better NBA teams play a shot blocker?

[IfAt1st]

Again, the Kings had a shotblocker - Samuel Dalembert.

How'd that turn out?

 

[Prince_XY]

Blah, blah, blah...mandatory Petrie hate.

Don't you ever get tired of that same old tired refrain? And no, for the record, I am not wishing we had a shot-blocker on the team. For me it would be a nice luxury, but not something I'm going to look at first and foremost. If in your mind that makes me less of a fan, or somehow less knowledgeable about basketball, so be it. And for the record? I'm incredibly true to myself.

Why can't you say the same thing to those seemingly Maloof haters who never get tired too?

I think you are being too personal on me as you've always been. At one time you gave me an infraction for using the word "midget" on IT when some posters like Brick have referred to him as one. And I am still waiting for that infraction to be corrected.

I have an advice to you. As a moderator please criticize the post and not the poster because that is where the trouble starts. You should know that because you are a moderator. You are again being unbecoming of your job as a moderator.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

You know the beauty of the shotblocker paradigm? You know why people who fight it are kind of being ridiculous? Because its ONE player. ONE roster spot. That's your big disruption. One guy. And people will fight and kick and scream and pee their pants and refuse to go to bed desperately trying to find ways to avoid bringing in that ONE guy, while insted arguing for bizarre longshot schemes involving swapping out half of the roster. Yeah, that makes sense.

I don't think that's true. It seems to me that the argument is over whether this is a black-and-white issue: do you absolutely need to get a shotblocker to win a championship? I may have missed it, but I don't see anybody saying we should AVOID getting a shotblocker.

At the same time, I don't see a whole lot of ability to acquire a big-time shotblocker right now. The list of names of guys who blocked 2.5 per-36 last year and don't appear to be complete liabilities otherwise is: Ibaka, Chris Andersen, McGee, Brandan Wright, Biyombo, Dalembert, Udoh, DeAndre Jordan, Asik. That's pretty much it. Dalembert is about three burned bridges away from returning to Sac, and most of the rest of the list is untouchable. McGee probably does more harm than good. Andersen could be available, pending those ugly charges. Maybe a deal could be made for a Udoh or a Wright (and I've seen quite a bit of suggestions here on how to get Udoh), but this year our best option is probably to hope that Whiteside (5.0 blocks per-36 was #1 in the NBA last year) develops in the rest of his game. But would anybody scream bloody murder if we managed to land Udoh without giving up Tyreke or DeMarcus? I don't imagine so.

 

[slugking50]

Appearently reading this thread I learn Keon "Smokin' Doubies" Clark and Yogi Stweart weren't shotblockers;-)

Wasn't tank a shotblocker?

 

[dmj]

I'm afraid that assumption would be largely wrong unless you are planning on magically replacing 2 or 3 of our starters with All Defense Team members. Oh, and having multiple first ballot HOFers on the roster helps too.

You know the beauty of the shotblocker paradigm? You know why people who fight it are kind of being ridiculous? Because its ONE player. ONE roster spot. That's your big disruption. One guy. And people will fight and kick and scream and pee their pants and refuse to go to bed desperately trying to find ways to avoid bringing in that ONE guy, while insted arguing for bizarre longshot schemes involving swapping out half of the roster. Yeah, that makes sense.

The key connecting factor BTW is that AT ALL COSTS you have to protect that rim. You can do it wiht 5 great perimeter defenders so that nobody ever gets close to the rim. You cna do it wiht one superstud shotblcoker so that anybody who gets close to the rim meets him. Or you can do it with a whole platoon of good but not great shotblockers who collectively shoo people away. The problem for this Sacramento Kins team is that we have all 3 frontcourt positins theoretically filled, and of the three only Cousins could even be part of a shotblocking platoon as maybe the #3 guy. So we can't create a platoon, and there isn't even room for a big shotblkocker to get the minutes he needs. So you are forced down the most unlikely of paths, having to add 2 or 3 all world perimeter defenders, mwhile dumping a lot of current personnel, who have to be even better than normal because they have almost no backline shotblocking help at all. All in all getting one major shotblocker to make everybody's life easier is a far FAr more elegant plan.

We absolutely must add All-Defense and HOF caliber players to this roster. There is no other path to winning a championship. Simply adding a shot-blocker, no matter how good, isn't going to cut it. And, once again, such a player is not a necessity for a championship team.

Look at this year's Finals: the Thunder--who are littered with great defenders, who have two HOF caliber players, and who have by far the best shot blocker in the league--were nearly swept by the Heat, who don't have an elite shot blocker.

The Heat dominated despite their significant disadvantage at shot-blocking because they had superior talent. If the Kings want to compete for championships then we need to concern ourselves first and foremost with acquiring elite talent. If those players excel at shot-blocking then all the better.

 

[mac]

We absolutely must add All-Defense and HOF caliber players to this roster. There is no other path to winning a championship. Simply adding a shot-blocker, no matter how good, isn't going to cut it. And, once again, such a player is not a necessity for a championship team.

Look at this year's Finals: the Thunder--who are littered with great defenders, who have two HOF caliber players, and who have by far the best shot blocker in the league--were nearly swept by the Heat, who don't have an elite shot blocker.

The Heat dominated despite their significant disadvantage at shot-blocking because they had superior talent. If the Kings want to compete for championships then we need to concern ourselves first and foremost with acquiring elite talent. If those players excel at shot-blocking then all the better.

Thunder lost the finals on the offensive end, not the defensive one. If their defense wasn't as good as it was they wouldn't have made it past SA.

 

[Lockehead]

Get rid of the 3 undersized guards lineup at the 1 2 and 3, and we should be a lot better defensively.

edit: It's not a necessity to have a good shotblocker, but just a player (in the paint) who's capable will suffice i think.

 

[Bricklayer]

We absolutely must add All-Defense and HOF caliber players to this roster. There is no other path to winning a championship. Simply adding a shot-blocker, no matter how good, isn't going to cut it. And, once again, such a player is not a necessity for a championship team.

Look at this year's Finals: the Thunder--who are littered with great defenders, who have two HOF caliber players, and who have by far the best shot blocker in the league--were nearly swept by the Heat, who don't have an elite shot blocker.

The Heat dominated despite their significant disadvantage at shot-blocking because they had superior talent. If the Kings want to compete for championships then we need to concern ourselves first and foremost with acquiring elite talent. If those players excel at shot-blocking then all the better.

Your lone two championship exceptions since the age of bellbottoms have gone about it the same way, a way the Saramento Kings will likely NEVR have a chance to pursue if the franchise stays in town for anohter 100 years. Stacks of all time great talents and hordes of All Defense team members running aroudn? Legendary coaches and GMs driving the whole thing, demanding excellence? Ha! Its a window so tiny as to be nonexistent. You can do it with MJ, with LeBron, with nobody else.

Our path up will have to be different, and yet we still have to acheive the same results. We were the absolute worst defensive team in basketball last year. Expecting us to claw all the way up into the Top 10 where title teams normally reside without a big diffrence maker up front making everybody better on defense is almost a pipe dream.

 

[mac]

All right, I'm going to divulge something I shouldn't, but in this instance I have to. Telemachus is my son, and, he's a hell of a basketball player. So you sir don't have a clue what your talking about.

Now this is news-worthy! I feel like I'm watching an Empire Strikes Back moment. Pray tell what other secrets you are withholding from us!

 

[bajaden]

Now this is news-worthy! I feel like I'm watching an Empire Strikes Back moment. Pray tell what other secrets you are withholding from us!

Well, I also have a daughter too, who will remain nameless. I think both are better athlete's than I was. Of course I'm biased.

 

[mac]

Well, I also have a daughter too, who will remain nameless. I think both are better athlete's than I was. Of course I'm biased.

IIRC you were a pro baseball player?

Just to stay on topic: Umm... Not all but most!

 

[uolj]

Again, the Kings had a shotblocker - Samuel Dalembert.

How'd that turn out?

Well, the defense was a heck of a lot better than after he left.