Don't we have enough young bigs on this team?
Considering how long it takes to develop a big man, I don't see the draft as being the answer to that. Paxson needs to do ANYTHING to get a Stoudemire/Bosh or basically any top tier free agent/disgruntled player to team up with Rose.
Enough with the young 'ens, it's time to add some top-talent vets to this team.
Umm, no, we don't....
First of all, we have one legit CENTER on this team. As I've told all of you over and over again, CENTER is a separate position from power forward, there is no such thing as a "big." Why is the term "big" so stupid? Because anything that includes Dwight Howard or Yao Ming and Tyrus Thomas in the same grouping is too general of a term.
Second, the legit CENTER that we do have, Brad Miller, is old and getting older rapidly. If we plan on contending for the finals, he's good for about 24 minutes a game by the playoffs next year, and less in 2011.
So we need a center. Do we need a superstar center like Howard or Yao? No. Everyone knows you only ever get one of those if you luck into the #1 pick in the right draft OR if you're the Lakers.
Isn't it funny that the Lakers have 10 titles, all with dominant CENTERS? Isn't it funny that despite how you may be reading this and thinking "hey, but Magic, hey but Kobe" you have to stop and realize that in 6 seasons without Abdul-Jabbar and O'neal, Magic and Kobe have combined for ZERO championships? Do you see how stupid you are if you ever for one second doubt the center position?
Isn't it funny that despite relative worth, the top 2 seeds in each conference have the following players starting at center:
Andrew Bynum 7'0" 275
Zydrunas Ilgauskas 7'3" 260
Nene Hilario 6'10" 250
Kedrick Perkins 6'10" 280
Perkins isn't worth a damn to me in terms of ability separate of size, but Boston's thinking is clearly "hey, if we can't have a guy who is 280 lbs. AND skilled down there, we might as well just take the guy who is at least 280."
The NBA positions run across the following spectrum:
Quickness - Power
PGs are the quickest, centers have the most power...
It's THAT easy. There's no way around it, denying it will get you beat like a rag doll late in the playoffs. There's no such thing as a guard who is better than a quicker guard because he's stronger. There's no such thing as a 6'11" 225 lb. center who is better than a 280 lb. center because he's faster. Not when all other things are remotely equal.
Now, that doesn't mean you can't be SO bad at something that it takes you out of the mix. The quickest guard in the world is worthless if he handles the rock like Von Wafer (I don't know if you figured it out as quick as I did, but it took me about 5 minutes to realize that all Adelman has to do to shoot himself in the face in that series is to keep Wafer on the floor). The biggest center in the world is worthless if he's as slow as Aaron Gray. You can keep going down the line. A guard with Stephon Marbury's quickness when he was young... is worthless if he has no vision and no desire to distribute the basketball.
Do you actually for a second doubt that my spectrum rules NBA play? Okay... why is it that Michael Jordan won without a center, even when he faced backboard erasers like Ewing, Motumbo and Mourning, but Kobe has been relegated to glorified jumpshooting status by Yao Ming? Answer is so easy... Jordan's quickness would blow by Battier all day and that play where Kobe got the foul and the layup against Ming would be happening 15 times a game. Kobe on the other hand allows Battier to keep him on the perimeter with a little zone shade help.
USUALLY, Kobe can rely on the power of the extraordinary center help he's always been given in O'neal, Bynum and Gasol (Laker alleged "game defining" superstar guards always seem to NEED a center, ever notice that). But against the Rockets, the power of Ming completely nullifies Bynum and Gasol. Whereas Kobe is usually bailed out by his lack of ability to attack the basket like Wade or Jordan, because he can always go to his bread and butter (a pass to O'neal/Bynum/Gasol and then watching them do what 7'0" 260+, back-to-the-basket centers do), in this series, he has to take it to the basket. When Kobe is in a series where his center is nullified to the point where HE has to attack the basket, he ALWAYS loses.
Want to continue? Why is it that the Rockets are better without McGrady? Let's face it. If McGrady and Dennis Scott are in a jumpshooting contest, who wins? Scott. That's why superstar guards must either attack the basket or go away. The most athletic guards never shoot the basketball like Reggie Miller. Therefore if you can't drive, and you're forced to shoot jumpers, you leave the educated basketball mind asking the question I want you to never forget... "hey, if you're just gonna shoot jumpers, why don't we trade you for Glen Rice... I mean if THAT is ALL you're doing, I'd rather have HIM than YOU."
That's what makes Derrick Rose so valuable. He has the quickness where Barkley will end up saying this like he said about Aaron Brooks, "did you notice they couldn't keep Rose in front of them?" He also has the leaping ability to attack the basket close, and the size to follow through on layups and dunks. He's not slow and unlike Brooks, he's not anemic or short.
Teams that lack quickness at guard and teams that lack power at center will always be exploited late in the playoffs.
So if you look at our loss to Boston and you think to yourself "we need a scoring PF" or "we have enough big men"... you're a moron. It's about that easy.
