captain bill
All-Star
Bricklayer said:
Read the rest of what I wrote. I think that SAR does fit this team well, a scoring, rebounding and some decent passing, which would be sure to improve in Sac. He was a 20/10 guy when he was used properly, and has more recently been stuck in Portland's youth movement. I also said we could use SAR and then build good defensive role players and energy guys to come off the bench who could really make the difference. I also said that KT can fill that role, and far better than Evans or Griffin. I didn't say "ooh, let's get 5 scorers to start!" What I said was we shouldn't start throwing away our starters to grab guys who have shown some rebounding skills in limited minutes. I believe that both Evans and Griffin are overrated and think that they are not good enough to start. Nothing outside of rebounds. Divac and Christie were great passers and good defenders, and more fit a perfect role. With Evans and Griffin, Griffin especially, I just don't see that. They are as one dimensional as any scorer we would throw out, and they would be much better served to come off the bench. We also don't have those scorers that we used to have- Peja is not thriving without a good passing game, which is why I would prefer Thomas or Abdur-Rahim over Griffin or Evans, because they can complement the passing game, at least somewhat. We also lack that second primary scoring option that Webber used to fill. Maybe Wells and Bibby can step up and together fill that second and third role, but I don't think they will compare to the Webb/Bibby threat. But the problem is that we can't get stops, can't get rebounds, and can't open up our offense with passing. There are many problems that need to be addressed on this team, and part of it is on offense. We can flow for parts of the game but get shut down very easily when it counts. The offense is no longer fluid and moving, and I think the problem is that, for as free and open as it still is, we lack the passers to make it go. Just adding rebounding, especially at the cost of one of our starters, is foolish. You say that our guy can't outrebound Nowitski. Gee, I never realized that. Thanks for opening my eyes. I respect all your knowledge, but for all that you say about what doesn't work, you don't seem to look at what could, and everything you have said indicates that we need to scrap our team, lose Miller, get KG, Chandler, lose Bonzi or Peja, add an Artest, or Bowen. I know you can recognize pipe dreams, but you shoot down everything short of it. I'm sorry for trying to make the best of a bad situation and recognize the good in what could be done.
And you should notice that my comments on SAR were specifically in the context of Griffin/Evans. Understanding that they could be roleplayers and bring some things to this team that are lacking, I would still rather have Reef because of the things he could bring. Maybe help rebuild a coherent identity for our offense. Still can rebound some and play a little d, if not great. And yes, I do believe we have massive problems on the offensive end. We play 3 quarters, score in bunches, and get shut down when it counts. Our offensive grinds to a halt when anyone puts enough pressure on it. We need defense, yes, I have said that over and over throughout this thread, but we are still an offensive team. And that means that if and when we get stops, we need to turn it around and get the clutch points in crunch time. Pendulum swings both ways, and right now I see problems on both ends. For me, Griffin/Evans will not make us a substantially better rebounding team or defensive teams, no doubt. But in my mind SAR might bring back a coherent identity for our offense. Then we bring in roleplayers on the bench to help get those critical stops, and SAR can help get it done on the other end.
Is this what I believe is the best thing to do? How we get a ring? No. But in the context of this discussion I favor SAR over the other options that we have realistically right now. There are, in fact, shades of grey in the world.
