fishercob wrote:I am not that concerned that OkaRiza will harm the development of Seraphin, Vesely, Booker and Singleton. Those guys will need to earn their minutes; that may be as good or better for their development than being thrown into the fire or handed PT by default. That said, you may be right and the deal may have unintended consequences. We'll find out.
To be clear, I'm not defending the trade. I think I'd have preferred us trading Shard for Gordon, Villanueva and the protected 1st Detroit sent to Charlotte. I can certainly see the case for just cutting Lewis, amnestying Blatche and either sitting it out or trying to play in free agency.
My point remains that everything hinges on Wall, and hopefully Beal thereafter. IF Wall and Beal become the dynamic duo that we all hope, players will want to come here to play with them. We may be two years or less from Lamarcus Aldridge walking into Paul Allen's office and saying "trade me to Washington."
My problem is that history suggests that contracts get minutes, that players don't consistently earn their minutes, quite often they are given them. It's all well and good to say that Seraphin and Booker and Ves need to earn their minutes, but what we've seen historically is that players get minutes for all manner of reasons if they aren't super stars, and that the biggest of those reasons is usually the contract, rather than anything else because a team wants to move the contract, or improve the fat contracts play with the carrot of increased minutes.
I happen to think Okafor should be third in the rotation behind Seraphin and Nene. Will he be third? I very much doubt it, I am betting that Okafor gets plenty of minutes, and Seraphin has to fight for scraps, which will leave me essentially pining for Okafor to get dinged allow Seraphin to reclaim the job. Additionally where are Booker and Ves gonna get their minutes? I have no idea. I understand that they probably should be fifth and sixth in that dog pile of bigs, but that, in and of itself is part of the problem. They need minutes and they aren't going to get the them, and we need them to get minutes because we have to move on from one of them going forward sooner rather than later. How can we get a good decision on that sorta thing with management this incompetent, and not enough minutes for the players?
I have less concern with Ariza, because for now he's better than Singleton period, but my problem again, still exists because what Singleton needs to improve is game experience, not practice. His bread and butter will always be defense, he'll never be more than adequate on the offensive end, and he struggled last year on defense largely due to inexperience, and unfamiliarity with the style of play and officiating at the NBA level. The only way to improve in those areas is to get more minutes and more time on the court. Practicing isn't going to improve him. We passed on Faried and other board favorites like Tobias Harris for this guy, and I want him to reach his potential as a defensive stopper. The last thing I want is for him to lose minutes to a guy still coasting on a rep he earned in a playoff series or two three freaking years ago.
Your last points I agree with. I definitely agree with. I just happen to think the spine of teams reside in those 4-8 or so players on the roster. The second tier guys, starters, and first guys off the bench, and now, the guys that would likely form that spine, Seraphin, Vesely, Booker, and Singelton, are going to be shunted to the side for vets who have neither a future, nor much of a present in Okafor and Ariza and that is totally unacceptable to me, even if it is reality. Its painful to watch this team being driven into the ground. I saw the same thing with the Caps for years, and when Cerrato joined the redskins (born, raised, and still a California guy (though in the Sierra Nevada's now, I was more than familir with Cerrato's demolition job with Dwight Clark on the Niners in the nineties), and of course with the Boulez we've seen it for 35 years going. It's enough already, and yet it still won't freaking stop. Its infuriating. Thankfully the Caps, Redskins, and especially the Nats are all run by guys with a clue, particularly the Caps and Nats, so there is solace and that, but I have to admit to being sick and tired of this team being consistently one of the worst in the NBA, and at this point, even more poorly run than the Clippers who finally, accidentally, figured it out.
