Versatility vs Balance

[skywalker33]

With the injury to Jokic, it becomes very apparent that this team is unbalanced and put in a bad position. Knowing how the FO loves players who can play multiple position, seems they left the backdoor open here. The only true healthy C we have right now is Plumlee and he is far from the talent level of our starter. Maybe he can fill in for a couple of games, but this forces Faried into the backup C role which he is ill-equipt to handle for more than a limited time.

We always say we have such good depth, but in this situation it looks like our depth is working against us because most of our PF depth isn;t versatile enough to play a strong C position, such as Brian Williams used to for us.

[NuggetsWY]

With the injury to Jokic, it becomes very apparent that this team is unbalanced and put in a bad position. Knowing how the FO loves players who can play multiple position, seems they left the backdoor open here. The only true healthy C we have right now is Plumlee and he is far from the talent level of our starter. Maybe he can fill in for a couple of games, but this forces Faried into the backup C role which he is ill-equipt to handle for more than a limited time.

We always say we have such good depth, but in this situation it looks like our depth is working against us because most of our PF depth isn;t versatile enough to play a strong C position, such as Brian Williams used to for us.

Thinking someone has said that for over a year now. Last year we started with two, swapped one for another one. Ended the year with two. Started this year with two.

[HoopsMalone]

I don't mind Faried at the center... i like him there better than PF for sure where he's just a massive liability on both ends. He rebounds well enough and he's a pretty good screen setter. I'm not saying he's a "good" center but I think he's closer to neutral value there.

[MidMountain]

I don't mind Faried at the center... i like him there better than PF for sure where he's just a massive liability on both ends. He rebounds well enough and he's a pretty good screen setter. I'm not saying he's a "good" center but I think he's closer to neutral value there.

I disagree. Faried is horrible at Center, getting torched on the defensive end and providing very little to the flow of the offense. He does some good things at forward, getting separation to catch and finish, getting shooters open, and creating havoc on the offensive glass. His defense against other forwards is average as well. 82games.com has him +22 at PF and -43 at C.

[lars_rosenberg]

How many teams have a better option than Faried as THIRD center? I know he's not good, but he's not supposed to be a starter and without injuries he would barely play.
With both Millsap and Jokic out its normal to have to settle for inferior players.

[The Rebel]

Muh of our depth has changed over the years, and especially in the last year, We are used to having capable players 3 deep at just about every position, now we have too many pFs, enough Guards, and not enough SFs and Centers, and that is on Connelly for changing the roster construction and seemingly not having plans to balance the roster,

[NuggetsWY]

I don't mind Faried at the center... i like him there better than PF for sure where he's just a massive liability on both ends. He rebounds well enough and he's a pretty good screen setter. I'm not saying he's a "good" center but I think he's closer to neutral value there.

I disagree. Faried is horrible at Center, getting torched on the defensive end and providing very little to the flow of the offense. He does some good things at forward, getting separation to catch and finish, getting shooters open, and creating havoc on the offensive glass. His defense against other forwards is average as well. 82games.com has him +22 at PF and -43 at C.

Statistics say Faried is great with Jokic and statistics say his defense is better than most believe. Although I will agree with you MidMountain that his defense is average, which is much better than many believe. Of course HoopsMalone has informed us statistics don't matter.

I agree that Faried is horrible at center. I remember one game last year where he "tried" to cover Cousins and it was a disaster. If another team plays small ball, he's a good center. But against most starting centers - nope, don't care for that at all (and many backup centers also).

[U hova]

Is it not worth mentioning that the other back-up center is terrible at covering most starting centers and many backup centers? The defense is irrelevant because you're not getting it from that other guy either.

There are match-ups where he can hold his ground against starting centers too, but Centers that really rely on their mass rather than speed and angles will get theirs. Faried has offensive value to somewhat accommodate though.

[HoopsMalone]

I don't mind Faried at the center... i like him there better than PF for sure where he's just a massive liability on both ends. He rebounds well enough and he's a pretty good screen setter. I'm not saying he's a "good" center but I think he's closer to neutral value there.

I disagree. Faried is horrible at Center, getting torched on the defensive end and providing very little to the flow of the offense. He does some good things at forward, getting separation to catch and finish, getting shooters open, and creating havoc on the offensive glass. His defense against other forwards is average as well. 82games.com has him +22 at PF and -43 at C.

Statistics say Faried is great with Jokic and statistics say his defense is better than most believe. Although I will agree with you MidMountain that his defense is average, which is much better than many believe. Of course HoopsMalone has informed us statistics don't matter.

I agree that Faried is horrible at center. I remember one game last year where he "tried" to cover Cousins and it was a disaster. If another team plays small ball, he's a good center. But against most starting centers - nope, don't care for that at all (and many backup centers also).

Where on earth have I said statistics don't matter?

And yeah Cousins is a bad matchup for Faried. Cousins is a bad matchup for 99% of the league.

Faried cramps spacing as a PF and is too slow and earthbound to be roaming the perimeter on defense. He belongs around the rim. He should be closer to neutral value at center.

You can't really use +/- because it doesnt account for who his teammates were... if he's center that means Jokic was off the court so of course his +/- will be lower than when he's a PF. That's not a controlled comparison. You're letting multicollinearity rule

[NuggetsWY]

I disagree. Faried is horrible at Center, getting torched on the defensive end and providing very little to the flow of the offense. He does some good things at forward, getting separation to catch and finish, getting shooters open, and creating havoc on the offensive glass. His defense against other forwards is average as well. 82games.com has him +22 at PF and -43 at C.

Statistics say Faried is great with Jokic and statistics say his defense is better than most believe. Although I will agree with you MidMountain that his defense is average, which is much better than many believe. Of course HoopsMalone has informed us statistics don't matter.

I agree that Faried is horrible at center. I remember one game last year where he "tried" to cover Cousins and it was a disaster. If another team plays small ball, he's a good center. But against most starting centers - nope, don't care for that at all (and many backup centers also).

Where on earth have I said statistics don't matter?

"Those are just numbers" is what you said.
viewtopic.php?f=13&p=60720032

[MidMountain]

I disagree. Faried is horrible at Center, getting torched on the defensive end and providing very little to the flow of the offense. He does some good things at forward, getting separation to catch and finish, getting shooters open, and creating havoc on the offensive glass. His defense against other forwards is average as well. 82games.com has him +22 at PF and -43 at C.

Statistics say Faried is great with Jokic and statistics say his defense is better than most believe. Although I will agree with you MidMountain that his defense is average, which is much better than many believe. Of course HoopsMalone has informed us statistics don't matter.

I agree that Faried is horrible at center. I remember one game last year where he "tried" to cover Cousins and it was a disaster. If another team plays small ball, he's a good center. But against most starting centers - nope, don't care for that at all (and many backup centers also).

Where on earth have I said statistics don't matter?

And yeah Cousins is a bad matchup for Faried. Cousins is a bad matchup for 99% of the league.

Faried cramps spacing as a PF and is too slow and earthbound to be roaming the perimeter on defense. He belongs around the rim. He should be closer to neutral value at center.

You can't really use +/- because it doesnt account for who his teammates were... if he's center that means Jokic was off the court so of course his +/- will be lower than when he's a PF. That's not a controlled comparison. You're letting multicollinearity rule

Faried does not cramp spacing as a PF, especially when paired with Jokic. Here is an excellent article from last season about how his "short corner gravity" provides spacing https://www.denverstiffs.com/2017/1/18/14299840/denver-nuggets-kenneth-faried-is-the-king-of-short-corner-gravity.

I say Faried is terrible at Center and give +/- as an example (although netPER by position tells the same tale). If you disagree that Faried is bad at Center then let's debate it. You need to provide something to back up your position like examples or data. If basketball analytics aren't your thing because of the inherent multicollinearity then give us an anecdotal observation. We can disagree at how well the examples support the position but if you don't provide alternative examples it's "just like your opinion man" and not informative.