60WinTim wrote:We could just call our #1 pick "Okatowns"...
On the reveling side, one of the subtle positives to come out of this past season was Dieng's ability to play PF. I remember in summer league and early in the year how Dieng looked like a fish out of water at PF. But as he got more reps throughout the season his comfort level and effectiveness increased a ton. So if we draft Okafor, we will not be saddled with 3 guys that can only play center.
Some of you might recall me advocating for Dieng at PF to start last season, with Thad Young coming off the bench and likely closing most games. I just feel like most teams go bigger to start halves and that Gorgui and Pek would make a good pairing. The few games Pek was healthy and Dieng played next to him were very instructional. They played quite well together and we were a solid defensive team.
Dieng is not the ideal PF, but I think he's less exposed defensively as a 4 than as a 5.
Of course, Flip probably views Dieng as purely a backup 5 and he'll continue to throw out a platoon-style rotation at the 4 with some combination of KG/Bjelica/Payne/Bennett.
Q I see Towns as possibly being a PF/C but not as a tweeter but as a guy that playing him at both positions because it's adventagious to your team. Duncan is the outlier example because he is one of the best players of his generation but some guys like Pau or Al I think you get more out of them by playing both not just one position. In some cases it helps depending on matchups and covers up some weaknesses but I hope you get what I am saying. Dieng may become a PF/C but it's both adventagious and helps with his shortcomings also.
Camden0916 wrote:Not sure why you think bigs age gracefully. Historically, that's horribly inaccurate.
If u look at the list of players that' have logged the most mins in NBA history?
I think that list is somehow skewed since if bigs are able to stay healthy, they can play longer since quickness is not that important part for their game. So those freaks of nature that stay healthy despite their big size like Parish, Abdul-Jabbar, Duncan, Mutombo etc. will make minute leader list look like bigs would stay healthy longer. But there have been several bigs with quite short and/or injury prone careers: like Oden, Muresan, Ming, Bill Walton, Bowie, Daugherty, Emeka Okafor, Pervis Ellison, Bynum, Eddy Curry, LaFrentz, Bryant Reeves, Ralph Sampson and Jeff Ruland.
I have also feeling that modern NBA game is tougher for bigs than it used to be and thus it will be even more common that they will be injury prone in their late careers. For example from current bigs, Pek, Bogut, Varejao, Noah and lately even Howard have had several injuries almost every season.
I'm curious to hear your thoughts on why you think today's game is harder on bigs? The game used to be played from the inside out. Now it's all about perimeter play. The game used to be played with a lot more edge. Physicality was aloud. The league is way softer than it used to be, it's much like the NFL where offense is encouraged and the way the games are refereed proves that.. It wasn't that long ago the league was run by bigs and their ability to establish inside position by being way more physical .
Camden0916 wrote:Not sure why you think bigs age gracefully. Historically, that's horribly inaccurate.
If u look at the list of players that' have logged the most mins in NBA history?
I think that list is somehow skewed since if bigs are able to stay healthy, they can play longer since quickness is not that important part for their game. So those freaks of nature that stay healthy despite their big size like Parish, Abdul-Jabbar, Duncan, Mutombo etc. will make minute leader list look like bigs would stay healthy longer. But there have been several bigs with quite short and/or injury prone careers: like Oden, Muresan, Ming, Bill Walton, Bowie, Daugherty, Emeka Okafor, Pervis Ellison, Bynum, Eddy Curry, LaFrentz, Bryant Reeves, Ralph Sampson and Jeff Ruland.
I have also feeling that modern NBA game is tougher for bigs than it used to be and thus it will be even more common that they will be injury prone in their late careers. For example from current bigs, Pek, Bogut, Varejao, Noah and lately even Howard have had several injuries almost every season.
I'm curious to hear your thoughts on why you think today's game is harder on bigs? The game used to be played from the inside out. Now it's all about perimeter play. The game used to be played with a lot more edge. Physicality was aloud. The league is way softer than it used to be, it's much like the NFL where offense is encouraged and the way the games are refereed proves that.. It wasn't that long ago the league was run by bigs and their ability to establish inside position by being way more physical .
PC the reality is that the last 10 years centers once they hit the age of 26-27 they start missing 15-20 games a year. That's the relative norm. Duncan is an outlier (like some of the other greats likesay Kareem) but I don't consider Duncan a true C anyway but regardless (no need to get into that debate) he is obviously an outlier the way he has been able to do what he is doing. Your pointing out past centers that have a long career do give hope that you can get a big guy like that and he won't be broken down to a certain extent during his 2nd contract.
