Ostertag

[stojakapimp]

I meant to post this after the Laker's game, but my registration hadn't gone through, so I'm hoping this isn't too outdated.

Anyways, I wanted to ask you all about Ostertag, and how he should be used. To be specific, I was pretty mad that he only played like 1 minute in the game against the lakers. It was obvious that defense was our biggest problem and we were just giving them layups...so what is our solution to this problem? The only shotblocker on this team: Ostertag. Yet he played for like 1 minute and then Adelman yanked him.

So this leads me to my bigger question: Should Ostertag play more minutes? I noticed that in tonight's game against the Hornets that he played for like 17 minutes and had 4 blocked shots, but he also fouled out in that amount of time. But it's obvious that the two biggest problems for the kings are their defense and rebounding. While Ostertag may not be the best rebounder, he's certainly the only King that tries to contest layups. Face it, Webber and Miller just aren't shot blockers anymore.

If you ask me, I think Ostertag will be one of the key factors in the playoffs. The games will be slower, scoring will be down, and teams will start to run in half court sets. Without a solid defense, kings just aren't gonna do it. I know Ostertag doesn't provide the best offensive arsenal, but more offense is the last thing the kings need. So I really feel that O-tag needs more playing time, and hopefully Adelman will see this. Anyone else feel this way, or am I just totally off-base here?

 

[VF21]

We've got a pretty good discussion going on about this at http://forums.kingsfans.com/showthread.php?t=1279

For the record, I agree that there will be times, especially in the playoffs, when we're going to need someone like Tag. Hopefully, Adelman will figure out the way to best utilize the skills of Webber, Miller, Tag AND Darius.

 

[bibbyweb]

Ostertag should definitely been used more in the Lakers game. That was a mistake on Adelman's part.

 

[SacKings384]

It's the same reason the Lakers haven't been using Vlade... The Lakers kept an athletic and small front court in all game, and Tag was unable to matchup... I would have liked to have seen him in, to see if he could just dominate the paint with his giant size advantage, but Rick didn't see it that way...

 

[thedofd]

It's the same reason the Lakers haven't been using Vlade... The Lakers kept an athletic and small front court in all game, and Tag was unable to matchup... I would have liked to have seen him in, to see if he could just dominate the paint with his giant size advantage, but Rick didn't see it that way...

Sometime I think coaches in general -- not just Rick -- worry too much about matching up with the other team and not making the opponent match up with them.

Obviously, Ostertag can't go out on the floor and guard, say, Lamar Odom. The problem is -- and this is not a news flash -- there's no one on the Kings' roster that can do that. We've needed an athletic big guy for some time now. In the Lakers game, once the Kings dug themselves a hole, I would have liked to have seen Adelman try to shake things up a bit by going bigger. It might not have worked, but what they were doing wasn't working, either.

 

[SacTownKid]

The truth is that Tag would have done better on Odom than Miller and Webber. He is a defensive minded player. Last night he played against Chris Anderson, who happens to be quite an athlete, and played very well against him.

At least give him a try when the others fail!

 

[SLAB]

Yea, but Chris Anderson is no Lamar Odom....Tag didn't have to worry about any sort of range with Anderson.

But, I agree, you should at least give it a try.

 

[kingsfan25]

Ostertag should definitely been used more in the Lakers game. That was a mistake on Adelman's part.

soooooooo true. 30 seconds of wackness.

 

[Bricklayer]

Its possible Tag could have guarded Odom, but then you are talking about a C on a SF, and Odom is fully capable of stepping out to the three point line. And the larger issue is jsut that Tag isn't going to give you anything on the other end. In that Laker game, Odom scored 22, but Webb scored 20 right back at him on the other end, and was one of our few guys playing a strong offensive game.

Tag's real strength is as a help defender. The matchups aren't always going to favor him one on one, but as a shotblocker he provides an extra line of defense for EVERYONE. If he had been inserted for Brad, for instance (who was largely ineffective), he could have helped shut down the middle by helping all of our other guys (of course Brian Cook makes that difficult -- not only is Tag not an effective defender out near the three point stripe, but that alos draws your shotblocker out to a point where he's no longer effective as a help defender either.).