basketballRob wrote:How do we know what a lob threat center would do for the offense? It takes an act of Congress to get Wendell off the floor.
I'm only looking at playoff team big men archetypes.
Sacramento/Denver/Miami/Sixers have offensive hub type of centers. I'd put Adebayo in there as well even though he's a second option. He used to average 5 assists a game and they use him quite a bit even though he's levels below them.
Pacers have a floor spacing big in Myles, Brook Lopez in Milwaukee has paid dividends for Giannis's career, Celtics look formidable with Porzingis as a floor spacer threat.
Defensive first centers or lob threats with Mitch Robinson and Timberwolves with Gobert can work because like for the Knicks, they have guys like Brunson and now OG, Donte, etc. Wolves have Edwards, KAT and Reid, best shooting bigs on one team. I'd put Cleveland in here with Mobley/Allen but they have the luxury of 4 guards that can dribble and penetrate. Dallas is in here too but they're more finishing type bigs than great defenders (yet), and they have those threats in Kyrie/Doncic to feed them.
Wendell is none of these currently, while encompassing all of these skills at VERY reduced levels. He can D up some player very nicely, space the floor some games, and finish lobs some games, or he just will be a complete no show.
As for Goga, it leaves Pelicans and Clippers with what I'd say is the closest archetype for him - Valanciunas or Zubac. And they're fine, but they also get played off the floor a lot because of their size and lack of positional versatility. Solid rebounders that can play defense decently and be exploited on certain matchups. Goga's defense is a bit better than both but his offense is worse than both.
What I'm trying to say is that Zubac and Val are fine for their team's respective offenses, but it doesn't unlock much. And if we want a lob threat like Claxton, then we better have a dynamic guard that can get into the lane enough to help. Brunson/Edwards/Kyrie/Mitchell/Doncic level guys who spoonfeed them. I know if I'm guarding our team, I'll let Paolo or Franz shoot a three over penetrating and getting Claxton easy buckets. They aren't leaving those guys wide open for other teams.
And this also circles back to AB and his future. He currently cannot dribble penetrate or shoot threes that aren't set shot threes created by drive and kicks from others.
This is taking WCJ out of the equation completely as well. If we're theorizing a competitive future of AB at the 1 and Goga/Claxton at the 5, you simply cannot have a sub 30% three point shooter (Franz), a streaky 35% shooter, a non-shooting big (Clax or Goga) and a guard that cannot shoot threes at volume or create off the dribble (Black) and compete.
Suggs would be the literal only person with any semblance of fear being left open, and even he has to prove he's for real for more than a year.
To me, our future needs a more dynamic guard at the 1 or 2 (and swap Suggs for whichever we don't get), and then filling in the center position. Ideally Isaac but we can't count on him exactly.
) right now-there's nothing to learn from those minutes. The kindest thing we could have done for Fultz is trade him for srps at the TD or just buy him out, so he could explore the market.
