brigadierjerry wrote:Ruhiel,
Sorry been away for awhile. Was looking for another gig and found one so been busy with that and family.. My comment is if Horford had the type of offense Amare had he would get criticized less so. Both are not good defensive players but Amara is much better offensively. Living up here in the North I see a lot of Amare Horford actually has a bit of a better move as far as hook shot in the post than Amare but as you stated Amare is quicker to get his shot off and jumps higher.
It's more about reach than vertical, espicially with all Amare's injuries. Wingspan can help your leaping or hurt it. It often gives the illusion of jumping high.
IE A guy like Kahwi Leonard is a great dunker and as a pg you always llook out for him in leakout situations. How ever he only has a 28" running vertical. This is because he has the wings of a 7'3 guy on a 6'7 body. It messes his running motion up as far as vert but he really doesnt need it.
In Amare, Horford's or similar guys like Marreese Speights and Jordan Hill they all have similar running motions and vertical.
Horford has to dunk with two hands and has developed in the opposite direction. As opposed to a scorer Horford has become a passer. Also he is seemingly more stockier and while he might not make a game changing block or alter a shot on Derrick Rose with his athleticism or Boozer with his 7'2 length and high shooting motion he is a bit more solid on defense due to awareness, defensive boards and a seemingly stockier build. He just cant contest shots.
[quote]My question is what type of player do you want Smith to become or pattern his game after?[quote]
I think Smith has gotten it, he patterned his game on posting up, crashing boards and shooting the short jumper (17 feet). He developed the either or proposition in the post. You shoot a hook shot over him or fakes to go around.
These fundamentals without realizing it makes him similar to a Gerald Wallace.
Problem is his body is hampering his skills. His 1st step is too slow. His stamina deteriorated, thus he is prone to settling for his jumper.
I'd like him to pattern his body after Kobe Bryant or Carmelo Anthony, who has more skill than him yet never allows his weight to slack off for it. Part of his new size was for rebounding, but his overall game does not translate to postseason w.o athleticism.
His pace needs to be higher than 'everyone else' because he's just not as skilled to be playing slow down halfcourt ball, w/o a first step. I mean he played the SF in playoffs and how many leakouts did he get where he just had 1 half step advantage and outran Luol Deng.
His game will improve with him slimming up. Optimally he's a younger, bigger Gerald Wallace.
But as is he's a tad slow on both sides of the ball and it piles up into losses.
[quote]Also where do you see Teague?Do you see him as a Jameer Nelson type of player or someone different?[quote]
Optimally see him as part of a 2-headed monster with the aging Hinrich. He helps us preserve Hinrich for playoffs and maybe we can extend Hinrich if it works.
Teague
+free throw ability
+operate a drive and dish system with Joe Johnson and a shooting PF who gets OFF.boards as well.
+ floater
+ drive off of a big man screen layups
+transition layups
+ feed the post
+ slash off the ball
- needs to learn how to rebound better to start break himself
- lacks pull up jumper and hesitation dribble off pick and roll
His numbers were good for playoffs but he (and the coaching staff) need to realize that him scoring is not as good as him passing.
If we had D-Mo we could just hand him the reigns and let him be a Chauncey Billups. As long as we play Teague through mistakes and develop him on ball he'll be even more impact player come playoffs.
But in the current scenario how does he coexist with Josh, Horford, Joe, and center?
With no spacing we'll go back to Marvin Williams and then when Teague starts deferring to Marvin we'll go with Hinrich.
A defensive slashing guard like Teague you can see his flaws. But Hinrich is more experienced and gives the impression of controlling game simply because hes aware.
However Hinrich has his flaws as well.
Unless we put Teague in position to be more of the sole offensive initiator (vs 3 guard lineups) his development will probably not go well.
