Love at center... why didn't I see this before...

[horatio81 [enjin:7751176]]

Assuming the ship has sailed on any significant rim protection from the 4 and 5 spots, doesn't it make all the sense in the world to play small ball with Love at the 5?

How many 5s can actually punish a team inside? How many of those guys would we not be double teaming anyways? And given how terrible I perimeter defense is, might we be better off attracting more post play from opposing teams instead of giving up constant guard penetration -> free throws -> draw and kicks?

Generally, when you downsize, you lose rebounding. Fortunately, Love is an amazing rebounder regardless who checks him. You could say we'd lose shot-blocking except we never had any to lose. It's not like we can get much worse on defense, but at least we'll be mobile on pick and rolls without two "slugs" on the court, right?

Meanwhile, how lethal is an offense with a center draining threes? Completely opens up the paint for guard penetration, drive and kick, etc. Suddenly Ricky's inability to shoot isn't much of an issue because there's no one camping the paint.

Honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing Love at center more often. There's an outside chance, absent a legit defensive anchor, it might be his best position.

[slimcalhoun27 [enjin:6640095]]

Dieng seems to be playing well in the limited minutes he is getting, and with Turiaf and Pek out, I hope he continues to get more court time. 3 blocks and smart play is a nice addition...Im intrigued. But we seem to be playing awfully well with Bud, Brewer, Dante and Love right now

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I don't have a big problem with Love at center occasionally, and agree that it creates matchup problems when we're on offense. But let's not lose sight of the fact that Enes Kanter, not Kareem Abdul Jabbar by any means, went off last night for 25 and 7 on 11-14 shooting. I don't think he does that against Pek.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I don't have a big problem with Love at center occasionally, and agree that it creates matchup problems when we're on offense. But let's not lose sight of the fact that Enes Kanter, not Kareem Abdul Jabbar by any means, went off last night for 25 and 7 on 11-14 shooting. I don't think he does that against Pek.

Yeah, Love was literally giving him some of those buckets in order to avoid fouling. So not only was he overmatched size-wise, but he wasn't even giving full effort all the time so that he could preserve his energy on offense. I'm not criticizing Love; this is why teams have rugged defensive bigs on their roster.