MJG wrote:
And I don't think we can dog the guy too much for not being likely to get many minutes this year: we're going to be rocking one of, if not the best 1-2 combo in the league at the SF spot with Caron and Miller. Even if McGuire improves as much next year as he did last year, he'll still likely be the third best SF on the team.
Consider also that Flip has said he'd like to go Big and play Jamison at SF, Caron at 2G.
PG: Gil, Foye, Critt, James
SG: MM6, Nick, Foye, DSteve,
SF: Caron, MM6, Jamison, DMac
PF: Jamison, Blatche, DMac
C: Haywood, Blatche, McGee
Interestingly Miller and DMac are the offense/defense yin and yang of each other. Both rebound and pass well, Dom defends four positions, Miller shoots from outside and off the dribble. If they were fused as a single player, well surely they'd be an allstar. Though neither really takes it to the ole to finish (Dom can bounce for putbacks, but tries to tip it in with finesse more than anything). As it stands though it provides an interesting option if you need to go one way or the other, late game substitutions.
On the plus side, Miller provides a nice role model for Dom. Gym rat, constantly working on his situational shot, knows how to use a screen, hit off the dribble. An outside shot is one of the few skills you can reliably add with practice, Mike Miller can't add the athleticism that Dom displays, but Dom can at least add a catch and shoot aspect to his game, if not necessarily off the dribble yet.
The fear for me is that with that depth at 3-spot the Front Office regards Dom as a nice trade piece.
I'd rather him play understudy behind Miller, slowly improve, re-up at a reasonable rate, then break out into a reliable open shot; and the team can allow Miller to safely expire or not.
Pat Riley once said if you gave him 5 6'8" guys like Magic Johnson he'd beat anybody. Well duh. But still a visionary could look at a team with guys who rebound and pass like Dom (with a jumper and a finishing move), Caron, Miller and think: 'How can I get these guys on the floor at the same time?' Add one nasty Big who can catch and finish, and one sweet shooting PG, play zone, play motion on offense, you could drive opponents to distraction. Ball flicking to the open man, screens set by 6'8" guys, dumping over the defense to the Big for the oop.
Just a dream (unless McGee knew how to defend in a team concept and added a stronger base) but still.