bajaden
Hall of Famer
and who is starting for the mavs? Shawn Marion the same guy kawhi Leonard is being compared to. IMO defense trumps shooting. sure it would be fun to have a team like the warriors that chucks up a ton of 3's and can score but they never win for a reason. 3pt shooting can win games and sometimes even playoff games, but it's a gimmick and not a constant. good defense will always win games. we already have Thornton and, if we get Leonard/singleton at sf, we have casspi off the bench.
my board would look like this right now:
Leonard/Biyombo either way
singleton
Hamilton (athletic and long enough to play defense and improve) and has skills that can contribute immediately.
Honestly I would have Kanter near the top if not for all my worries about him. he's got knee tendinitis and he isn't going to participate in any workouts even though he hasn't played in over a year? that's a huge red flag to me.
I don't think I would say that defense always trumps offense. If that were true, then there were some defensive players that should have been taken before Larry Bird. Who turned out to be a pretty good defender himself by the way. I'm all for defense, but there is one golden rule. The team that puts the ball in the basket the most times always wins the game. So I think you have to weigh the abilities of each player against the other players and see which one might be the most balanced, but without losing the emphasis on what holes your trying to fill.
Its seems your trying to do that. I don't have Biyombo on my list, simply because I know nothing about him other than what I've read. All star games and youtube is worthless as far as I'm concerned. Doesn't mean he's not the real deal. There are some here who've seen him play, and who really like him. And I respect their opinion. But I do have Leonard, Hamilton, and Singleton on my list. Any of the three would help the team in some area of need. With Singleton being the best defender and Hamilton being the best shooter, and leonard falling somewhere in between.