New Team: Rodman/Mutombo or Bosh/Gasol

[Hornet Mania]

Rodman/Mutumbo is the easy choice for me. That's assuming Rodman keeps his head on straight, which for the sake of this comparison I will.

To me it comes down to this: with Rodman/Mutumbo I feel very confident my team can field arguably the greatest defensive AND rebounding front court of all time. Bosh/Gasol will be superior on offense, and noticeably worse on defense, but their strengths would not coalesce into an all time great pairing on either end of the floor.

I'm surprised to see so many people on RealGM underestimate the real value of elite defense and rebounding. I cannot think of a single team in the history of basketball that had a GOAT-type defense, dominated the boards every night, and did not find incredible success. It would simply be impossible for that team not to be elite. Obviously you would have to put shooters and shot creators all around Rodman/Mutumbo, but how hard are they to find in today's game? Not very. Even an offense with players of the caliber that Portland had last season (Lillard/Aldridge/Matthews) paired with those two would be heavy favorites. And I'm not trying to diminish how difficult it is to construct such a team, but the you would have the very same difficulty finding the pieces you need to put around Bosh/Gasol, just without being able to lean on the instant elite status of your defense and rebounding.

Bosh and Gasol were both leading teams that got crushed in the playoffs for years before either of them found their way to a contender. It's not all their fault, but let's not forget it wasn't too long ago that both these guys were being questioned as to whether they could lead squads with serious title aspirations. It wasn't until they paired with superior player (Lebron and Kobe respectively) that they were able to slide into an elite-tier complimentary role and be key pieces on great teams. They're both (Bosh to a much larger extent, though) second-fiddle offensive players ideally. Neither is an embarrassment on defense but they also can't make any serious claims to being anchors on that end. Those two guys together, without another player on their level or above, would likely be a second round exit every year much like Rodman/Mutumbo without similarly skilled offensive players.

But Bosh/Gasol would not instantly be the league's best offense. They would likely be very good, but it would depend entirely on their backcourt as to how good they could be. Rodman/Mutumbo is essentially guaranteed to give you the best defensive and rebounding squad in the league so long as your coaching staff is competent. I like the ceiling of a GOAT defensive and rebounding front court, and I feel confident I can find enough offense to put them over the hump. I am not similarly confident I can do that as easily for Bosh/Gasol because for those two I need more offense AND players who can serve as defensive focal points. They way I see it the choice is between two elite complementary offensive players (ideally suited for 1b or 2nd fiddle role) or a Hall of Fame defensive anchor plus a GOAT rebounder. The choice is clear.

[nate33]

Rodman would not thrive in today's game, at least not when alongside another no-offense big man. No team in the league can get away with two offensively inept, non-shooting big men. It just doesn't work. Spacing is too critical nowadays so that guards can take advantage of the no hand-check rules and get into the lane.

You could probably build an Indiana Pacers type of grind it out defensive team, but it would fall apart in the playoffs once teams scouted you, packed the paint on defense, and forced you to win by hitting long 2's.

I'd definitely take Bosh/Gasol. Just give them a borderline All Star caliber PG (Conley or equivalent) and a couple of half-decent 3&D perimeter players (Danny Green types) and you'd be contenders every year. You could always go find a goon like Asik or Robin Lopez to provide 20 minutes a game at center if you wanted to "get tougher".