What might Memphis do with Mayo? Should we make a offer?
- Thread starter upinsmoke
- Start date
Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
What would we possibly do with OJ Mayo at this point?
Maybe if Thornton signs away elsewhere. Otherwise the backcourt minutes are all accounted for.
Maybe if Thornton signs away elsewhere. Otherwise the backcourt minutes are all accounted for.
bajaden
Hall of Famer
Throw in Thornton where, the trade? If so, your crazy!
Glenn
Hall of Famer
Thornton is very good, ya know. His addition to the team took the Kings from a team with potential to a very good team with far more potential.
The Basketball Kings
G-League
Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
OJ Mayo is one of the more overrated talents to come into the NBA in recent history. The other might be in Minny now, but we'll have to see how he does.
Thing is he was never supposed to be what he is now -- undersized SG. All the damn hype back in high school was about him being able to play the point as a big scoring PG, like a Gilbert Arenas. Except he has shown repeatedly in the years since that he can't. And so now what you are stuck with is an undersized shooting guard who's best trait is his three point shooting. Well we've got one of those in our own system, only our guy has proven he can average 20ppg if you just let him, and has a toughness and versatility to his game, not to mention fire in his belly, that you would be foolish indeed to set aside just to get a guy who was hyped in high school.
rainmaker
Hall of Famer
Is there a more similar player to Thornton in the league than Mayo? They're almost carbon copies of eachother, with Thornton having more talent. Both are undersized sg's. I like Thornton a lot, but think his most natural position will be 6th man down the road. Same for Mayo. Absolutely no reason to have both. Reke is a natural scorer. Thornton is a natural scorer. Mayo is a natural scorer. How about someone who looks to pass in our backcourt?
upinsmoke
All-Star
I agree on you on this count. I feel he is fire power off the bench which is great. The way i see it is Reke and Mayo would be one heck of back court.
Hoovtrain
All-Star
You can never have a shortage of talent off the bench. Last time I checked neither Barea (minus those couple games in the finals) or Terry (minus a couple games during the regular season) were starters for DAL, yet they played some pretty key roles. We had Bibby and Christie starting, yet Bobby still managed to get major minutes. I think it is flawed logic to say there are no minutes for Mayo if he came here.
Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
No its perfect logic.
Right now aside from Thornton's stubbiness, a trait which Mayo shares, our backcourt trio is perfectly balanced. We have: 2 scorers (Reke/Thornton); 2 PGs (or semi-PGs) in Reke/Beno and the classic PG/SG/PG-SG 3 man rotation. Actually maybe PG-SG/SG/PG-SG, whihc is even more veratile. In any case we are covered, and were actually trying to create extra minutes for that trio by the end of last season b7y running some three guard lineups.
Now you add Mayo in..where? How? In place of Beno? Who the hell runs the point then when Reke is out? We need more passing, not less. In place of Thronton? Thornton is better. In place of Reke? Just stop. There are no minutes and no role for him.
Think about the teams you were citing. Dallas. Yeah Terry and Barea both come off the bench gunning. But you know why? Well first of all Terry is a starter in all but name. They jsut throw a spot starting imited mnute defensive specialist out there ahead of him, but you know who is closing. But even ignoring that Terry and Barea score...but nobody else does. That is the key. Kidd and Stevenson were non-scorers. In fact basically everybody but Dirk was a non-scorer. So those guys are effectively weapons #2 and #3. It would not work if you then swapped out JKidd for another scorer. Or our old Kings? Bibby was a middle of the packs scorer -- about 15ppg at the time. Bobby came in shooting off the bench. But what about Doug? Again a scorer/scorer/non-scorer trio. Shots are the great limiting factor in basketball. The one thing you absolutely can have too many of is scorers.
Go around the league, now, or in the past. Find me a backcourt with all three guys being scorers. Does not work. There are not enough shots. Somebody has to be the passer/roleplayer. That guy for us at the moment is Beno. Teamed with him inthe backcourt are 2 guys who have shown they can average 20 a night in Reke and Thornton. That is already too MUCH offense coming out of one backcourt. Let alone if you tried to add a thrid scorer to the crew. After you get your offense in place, and we have it, then you hae to try to get guys hwo do other things. Miami and Dallas do not have 10 scorers a squad. They have maybe three. Everybody else brings the ball up, defends, rebounds etc. That's the way you do it. Get your scorers in palce, and then try to be great at everything else out there, because in the end the "everything else" is normally what separates teams at the top.
And that said, I think we need to give more credit to Beno Udrih's adjustment once Thornton came in. As a veteran player he took it upon himself to change his play, trying to facilitate for Thornton and DMC's increased scoring. He still needs to find that balance ala Derek Fisher in terms of aggressiveness, knowing when he has to be a little bit more selfish and take the shot and not becoming a passive passer.
Beno largely carried our team when Tyreke was out, and then had to shift to an even lesser scoring role with the addition of Thornton.
AleksandarN
Starter
I would rather have Gay than Mayo.
Hoovtrain
All-Star
Don't get me wrong, I like Beno and like what he brings to the team and feel he fits his role for the Kings perfectly. I just don't agree that there is not enough minutes if you bring Mayo in. He can handle the ball well enough to be your backup PG/SG, in the same mold as Beno, only a little bit more dynamic, but not as good of a facilitator. As far as past or present teams with 3 scorers at the guard spots, the only one that I could think of off of the top of my head that was very successful was the old Pistons teams. Thomas, Dumars and Johnson. Yes Thomas could facilitate and Dumars was a stopper, but all 3 were scorers at heart.
upinsmoke
All-Star
If you ask me I would say Beno is one of our biggest trade pieces. He has shown to be very serviceable guard even if his contract is a little inflated its nothing crazy in nba terms. Gotta stop falling in love with these players fellas any chance there might be to upgrade we have to jump on it. Remember how much we liked J-will but then we got Bibby and Tony Delk was cool until we got B-Jax ect ect.
In short Lets get Mayo!
In short Lets get Mayo!
ParniValjak
All-Star
But here is the thing, Mayo might be a better player than Beno but he is not a better fit for this team than Beno. No one here is saying that we should not trade Beno, we are saying that the player that comes in to replace him does not necessarily have to be a better player but he has to be a better fit.
At the moment, Beno is a very good fit. Ideally you would want someone that brings what Beno does but with more defense and better 3 pt shooting. Beno is just about the only good facilitator in the backcourt for us. Replacing him with Mayo does not fix that problem, it actually makes it worse which is where you don't want to go.
Its not about accumulating talent, its about accumulating talent that fits in to what we are trying to do.
RookieOfTheDay
Starter
I don't think he's worth that. I'd rather draft Jimmer, Walker, or Leonard and take our chances that they turn into high caliber players.
Circa_1985_Fan
All-Star
I'd rather do this, and worry about getting a stud SF like AK47 or Prince, and Center(if Dalembert walks). It just makes more sense to me.
Dr. Spaceman
Bench
As someone who started multiple threads about getting Mayo on this team over the past year, I say to you, upinsmoke, just stop.
Thornton has filled the hole that Mayo would have attempted to fill in, and he's done it admirably. Thornton is a more reliable scorer and, most importantly, a more reliable closer than Mayo is. Does he have the handles that Mayo has? No, but the propensity he showed to create for others is more than we asked for, and blends damn well with Reke and Beno. Between the three in the backcourt and Cousins up front, you have plenty of playmaking. There really isn't much more room for another ballhandler out there.
Now if you want to upgrade some existing pieces (like, say, turning Beno into Jimmer, who will be at the very least a version of Beno with unlimited range and more athleticism), sure. But even as a proponent of Mayo last season, he's not an upgrade over Thornton. That ship has sailed...and then capsized and sank into the Mariana Trench. It's over.
Thornton has filled the hole that Mayo would have attempted to fill in, and he's done it admirably. Thornton is a more reliable scorer and, most importantly, a more reliable closer than Mayo is. Does he have the handles that Mayo has? No, but the propensity he showed to create for others is more than we asked for, and blends damn well with Reke and Beno. Between the three in the backcourt and Cousins up front, you have plenty of playmaking. There really isn't much more room for another ballhandler out there.
Now if you want to upgrade some existing pieces (like, say, turning Beno into Jimmer, who will be at the very least a version of Beno with unlimited range and more athleticism), sure. But even as a proponent of Mayo last season, he's not an upgrade over Thornton. That ship has sailed...and then capsized and sank into the Mariana Trench. It's over.
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