Camden wrote:Tell me Cool, who played better tonight: Young or Bennett? And not based on expectations at all. What did you see.
I really can't differentiate between the 2. They were both horrendous. But here is one thing I will say on behalf of Bennett: He's working out there. He's just so confused and has no confidence that he can't do anything right. But what's bad about Thad is he doesn't have the skills to compete, but what's worse is he doesn't have the heart to try. I can't deal with that.
I swear it's like we watched two different games. Bennett showed piss poor effort all over the place. Only time he tried was when Hickson backed him down. Atrocious in every scenario that didn't involve post defense.
I don't know what you think you read, but didn't I say he couldn't do anything right? You tried to bait me into saying Bennett was better. And then when I didn't, you went on with your argument anyway.
Yeah, tough to defend Young, but the guy has enough experience and skill to sort of fake it out there and make some credible plays on occasion. He even drew a charge tonight. That takes some level of caring.
Bennett on the other hand looks completely out of place on a basketball court. Him and LaVine (the PG version of LaVine that is) need to have their NBA union cards revoked and sent to the University of Kansas for a year or two to learn how to play basketball. Those guys flat out don't deserve minutes on an NBA court unless it's garbage time.
Man, we need our own D-League affiliate with folks that teach fundamentals, while at the same time allowing guys to "fail fast" and experiment with their games.
Thad is playing poorly and he is a vet. Bennett is playing poorly, but is a 2nd year guy. If both are playing about the same, who should we put more time into? Answer: the guy with more room to grow. I understand the idea is guys earn their time, but right now the only PF who is playing well is Adrien. Problem is he's stuck being the backup C.
I'm disappointed with how Young's played this year as a whole. I expected better. His finishing around the rim seems to have fallen off a cliff, and ever since his mom died his jumper died with her. Add that to him playing with Williams/LaVine at point guard and him tacking on another losing season and it starts to pile up... BUT, I do think he's a better player than he's shown. He was much better in Philly and you can't blame all of that on switching conferences. He's playing uninspired basketball, and he's the only healthy vet on a team that is broken. I'm hoping that the pieces (Rubio, Martin, Pekovic) come back together and we see a better Young because it's like watching two different players from 2013 to 2014. My point is: I think he can be salvaged/turned around.
Bennett's a lost cause, much like Derrick Williams was when we had him. Cut him lose and move on.
What do you guys think it would take to pluck Faried away from Denver? I haven't been a big fan of his, but his energy and rebounding could really benefit this team in the short and long-term next to Dieng. He'd be able to be effective in the PnR with Ricky. He's not a great defender, but the increase in defensive rebounding will really help Dieng feel confident in challenging the first shot because we'd be more likely to come away with the rebound behind him instead of all the second chance points we give up. Second chance points and transition defense are two critical areas we need to improve in and Faried can help with both by getting defensive boards and being a good athlete who can get back in transition and get some chase down blocks. Getting an extra offensive rebounder should also help limit some of the transition opportunities we give up by getting some additional offensive rebounds. His basketball skills aren't ideal as a starter, but his attitude and play style could be a significant boost to our overall effort level and he could help stop the bleeding with some of our bigger weaknesses.
I'm disappointed with how Young's played this year as a whole. I expected better. His finishing around the rim seems to have fallen off a cliff, and ever since his mom died his jumper died with her. Add that to him playing with Williams/LaVine at point guard and him tacking on another losing season and it starts to pile up... BUT, I do think he's a better player than he's shown. He was much better in Philly and you can't blame all of that on switching conferences. He's playing uninspired basketball, and he's the only healthy vet on a team that is broken. I'm hoping that the pieces (Rubio, Martin, Pekovic) come back together and we see a better Young because it's like watching two different players from 2013 to 2014. My point is: I think he can be salvaged/turned around.
Bennett's a lost cause, much like Derrick Williams was when we had him. Cut him lose and move on.
My plus 1 is Muhammad's 4 assists (3 more than Zach, BTW). I always knew that Bazz had 20 PPG potential, but I never thought he would develop his passing game. He has proven me wrong.
My plus 2 is how cheap seats are. There was a center court lower level seat available tonight for $19 on StubHub, Prices will start going up again when Rubio comes back, but it will still be cheap most of the year to watch an NBA game in Minnesota.
I wouldn't be willing to trade much for Faried much less Denver being open to trading him. Add to that the new contract he has plus the fact his game is 100% athleticism and energy and I think he'd be on the downside of his best years by the time our young guys are leading the team, which is when we expect to be good.
Faried is 25. The athleticism and energy are going to be there for around another 7 years. You can't plan on keeping everyone for a decade for a perfect run on titles. With the new cap in a couple years, his salary is going to be a much lower percentage of the cap. He is ready to start now and has the skill set to be an effective bench player if a draft pick earns the minutes over him. We can't bank on a top 3 pick to get Towns or Okafor and there is a drop off after those 2 from the big position where I would not trust anyone else to be a stud without everything going right which doesn't happen in MN. Faried is a better use of cap space than we are likely to be able to bring in from FA anyway. Faried would also be a much better influence on this team effort wise than Thad or Bennett ever could be. We need guys who go 100% all the time and Faried is one of those guys. Those types of players are the types you can afford to over pay a little bit because you don't have to question their effort which is something we just can't say about Thad anymore. It's one of the reasons Corey was largely considered fairly paid on this team even though he had significant holes in his game.
Okay, well even if that was the case and Faried's energy/athleticism didn't fall off, I still wouldn't give up Wiggins, Rubio, Dieng, Muhammad, LaVine for him nor would I trade any picks for him. That essentially kills trade talks right there. Not to mention, 12/9 without good defense or floor spacing is what you'll get from Faried and that's while paying him large money ($11-14M) to do so. Good luck with that. At worst I'll keep all my assets and draft Montrezl Harrell who could just as easily be a better version of Kenneth Faried.
