Ruzious wrote:By all means - go after Bosh - but stay away from VC.
FWIW I lean towards your opinion on VC. I was looking for a consensus name for a back-court star who is likely to share the peak years of Gilbert, Caron, Haywood, whatnot and maximize our 'Win Now' potential. Thing is, in the current era the NBA isn't all that deep with 2-guard stars. Sorta the flaw in my argument. I would have said Rudy, but can't make a convincing argument that Portland would accept. I could have plugged in TMac and his massive contract, but he's about as problematic as Wince. Finding a star player who works well next to Gil is tricksy, a big unselfish ballhandler who plays defense, slashes, distributes, hts the three. Vince does all that (okay, 'unselfish' is arguable, but he passes). Mike Miller?
There are role players out there, possible available non-stars (argue merits of: Batum, Thabo, JChill in Europe, HInrich) but we lack roster space and cap room. Some part of the trade-down scenario involves both upgrade (to fit our core personnel--and new coach, new scheme) and ideally, roster dump to free up roster slots/ tax room.
The frontcourt is a different story considering we've seen on the market KG, Amare, JO, rumors about Bosh, etc. The value of that #2 pick gets us better value in trade for players of this stock.
Picking for perceived team need lands you Pecherov, not Rondo or Farmar.
In that case, pick Thabeet at 2. He has the most talent.
I'm on record early that Thabeet is a top talent in this draft. A Mutombo-effect player. Intimidator. For that reason I think he'd be coveted by teams willing to overpay to move up. We get better value listening to deals. We get picks this year, lower, at roster spots of greater need, and possibly future picks as well, in years when we have cleared up space.
Here? We need our Jeff Adrien. Thabeet makes stupid mistakes on positional defense. Adrien covers his ass by doing the dirty work behind him. We have our Thabeet in McGee, who will also be a better offensive threat. If we could swap out Jamison/filler for a Backcourt threat ideal fit, and land picks/roster space to draft DeJuan Blair or whatnot (depending on the coach and scheme) that's one pssibily.
But Thabeet is a poor fit next to either of Haywood or McGee. Some part of the trade-down take-best-available-talent scenario is value-for-pick. You get a cheaper player at any of various need positions, a higher quality role player, non-star. Less pressure for immediate impact to displace a guy in front of them who is currently better. Better ability to develop.
DeJuan Blair, James Harden, Stef Curry, Nick Calathes, Danny Green, Evan Turner. I expect guys like this to be available later (Harden will slide after measurements and workouts) who will find a clearly defined role and give better value for the pick than some of the unpolished top pure talents.
So, when drafting players... we should forget about defensive ability. It's not an issue. WHAT??? We can get someone from Europe to take care of that. Yeah... someone like Pecherov. That's the ticket.
I'm looking at Americans who had to go to Europe to learn to defend. Bruce Bowen is an example. Or Argentinians like Manu. You play one game a week in Euroball, spend the rest drilling fundamentals. Team defense. You don't ignore defensive talent in the draft, I'm saying you tend to get your best defenders out of veteran roleplayers who were marginal players until they learned to commit to defense. Veteran professional roleplayers, in whatever league. Posey, for instance. Veteran savvy comes from both instinct and experience. You can draft instinct. It's tougher to draft experience.
(Not impossible though, with high level NCAA upperclassmen with tournament wins. Ty Lawson, Danny Green, etc. Or even players raised around the game since day one. McGees notwithstanding).
That said, re: lil' Stef. People significantly underestimate the kid's defense. He makes no mistakes, plays strong, boxes out, anticipates, closes out well, cuts off passing and driving lanes. No 2-guard has killed him on the post-up yet, or run over him. Get past the babyface. While he ain't a lockdown threat, he's not as small as you think. Stronger than he looks.
More importantly, he knows who is supposed to be where, directs his teammates where to be. Point, shove, talk. Okay, bigger perimeter NBAers will shoot over him. Faster quick twitch players might get around him. But half our problem here has been smarts, not athletics. Not saying he's the answer, just saying he's not the liability you think. If the guy next to him and behind him have been put in the right spot, you'll take the occasional point given up.
Trade for vet, right fit, roster room. Swap picks. Pick best talent. And please Gawds of Ball can we draft some smart players who actually know what to do out there? Or Blake Griffin, either way.
How much?
