Really don't like Dixon taking Afflalo's minutes.

HeroicKennedy · Post #1 » by **HeroicKennedy** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 3:22 am

Yeah, Afflalo doesn't have much of an offensive game, but how is Dixon completely absorbing him minutes? I know Dixon wanted more minutes, but c'mon!

7r5ur · Post #2 » by **7r5ur** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 3:24 am

I think Flip and Juan are the only guys who do like it.

We need perimeter defense WAY more than we need another jumpshot chucker.

HeroicKennedy · Post #3 » by **HeroicKennedy** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 3:29 am

The only way I could justify this is that the bench needs more scoring. Probably why Stuckey, Dixon, and Hayes stay ahead of Afflalo. Plus, we expect Hunter to play during the playoffs, and it'd be a bit redundant to have both him and Afflalo on the court. Neither contribute on the offensive end, and would cause the offense to get stagnant.

Of course, it also makes sense to play Dixon now to see if he's playoff worthy. I'm hoping that Flip plays different players every night.

ilikepistonslol · Post #4 » by **ilikepistonslol** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 3:31 am

Dixon can help us now. And I don't think that his defense is bad as advertised. And it doesn't help that we're guard-heavy.

But maybe i'm in the minority. I happen to really like Dixon.

And he atleast his made his jumpshots, unlike Arvis, who is the guy that REALLY needs to sit.

HeroicKennedy · Post #5 » by **HeroicKennedy** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 3:47 am

I don't have anything against Dixon, either. I just feel that his taking ALL of Afflalo's minutes is kind of dumb. I'd prefer something like this:

Billups (31) / Stuckey (12) / Hunter (5)
Hamilton (32) / Afflalo (7) / Dixon (7)

For the guard positions.

Hunter · Post #6 » by **Hunter** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 3:59 am

I think it's completely reasonable to give Dixon a good 5 game stretch in which he gets regular rotation minutes. If you are going to make that trade you need to evaluate him, and if nothing else that process will help to acclimate him so that IF we do need to rely on him due to injuries, suspensions etc then he's not coming in completely cold with regards to his surroundings.

That said both he and Hayes are streaky as hell and fairly one dimensional so I'd rather not see both in the rotation at the same time. That makes this the perfect time to also evaluate Hermann.

IF Flip really wants to keep a scorer in the rotation at the 2/3 spot what he should be doing is evaluating whether or not Dixon can beat out Hayes for those minutes. Then match up whichever is the more consistent threat with Afflalo or Hermann accordingly. Of course that will never happen though.

I don't have any major problem with Flip playing Dixon right now, but check back with me in a week. IF he's still in the rotation at the expense of Afflalo and no other changes have been made to the rotation then I'll be a bit perturbed. But we aren't there yet.

mercury · Post #7 » by **mercury** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 4:08 am

I can see Afflalo's value as a defensive role player... but his true contribution will be in the future...
We shouldn't overlook league experience... knowing opponents tendencies... not being affraid to hit a big shot etc.
How many practices has Dixon had?

nasty daddy · Post #8 » by **nasty daddy** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 5:02 am

It comes down to who gives more production out of the two.

Sub-Zero · Post #9 » by **Sub-Zero** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 5:17 am

Dixon is the biggest tweener in the NBA, no value to us

Rasheeed!!! · Post #10 » by **Rasheeed!!!** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 8:33 am

mercury hit the nail on the head

at the end of the day, i want the BEST players on the court...not the future best players.

GJense4181 · Post #11 » by **GJense4181** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 1:44 pm

Every player should be evaluated down the stretch to see a) what position(s) they could/should play b) if they should play at all, and c) who they play the best with.
We have two new players. We need to know if Dixon is good enough to make the roster, first and foremost. We need to determine if he's a PG, SG, or both. We need to decide if he should play SG or PG when next to Stuckey, Hunter, and Billups.
The same reassment could even be made with "established" players. Is Maxiell's run at C over now that Ratliff is aboard? Is he still the 3rd big man, with Ratliff at C and Amir mainly planted on the bench? 4th, behind Ratliff in the pecking order but still in the rotation? Could Amir somehow surpass him and make Jason the 3rd big off the bench? and so on.

We more or less know what Afflalo can bring to the table. Dixon has greater evaluative priority for the time being.

Honestly, I want the best and most versatile players active in the playoffs. I believe that Hayes and Hunter are entirely one-dimensional and made obsolete by other players, Hermann and Afflalo, respectively.

Billups/Stuckey/Dixon
Hamilton/Afflalo/Dixon
Prince/Hermann/Afflalo
McDyess/Maxiell/Johnson
Wallace/Ratliff/Johnson
is the playoff rotation I would like to see.

ADM · Post #12 » by **ADM** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 2:27 pm

It's the NBA version of the 30-day free trial. Dixon's getting his chance to earn playoff minutes right now. I'm not sure he's doing so convincingly, but he's proving that he's not a total liability. Flip's just giving him a shot to see if he can clearly outplay Afflalo so we know who to go to in the playoffs.

7r5ur · Post #13 » by **7r5ur** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 8:54 pm

Rasheeed!!! wrote:mercury hit the nail on the head

at the end of the day, i want the BEST players on the court...not the future best players.

Good thing those are both the same guy.

Juan may take more shots than Afflalo, but that doesn't make him a better player. In the end, it comes down to defense winning ball games, and the choice there is obvious.

Hunter · Post #14 » by **Hunter** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 10:13 pm

BDM22 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

Good thing those are both the same guy.

Juan may take more shots than Afflalo, but that doesn't make him a better player. In the end, it comes down to defense winning ball games, and the choice there is obvious.

I'm inclined to agree, although at that point it comes down to Flip finding the right player combinations. The problem we sometimes get into is having 4-5 bench players on the court at the same time and if we aren't coming up with the easy baskets in transition or off offensive rebounds you'll sometimes see us struggle to score. Particularly if Jarvis isn't hitting.

I think you really need to keep one of Chauncey or Rip on the floor in competitive games. Pairing up Afflalo with Chauncey and one of Tay or Sheed really take pressure off him offensively and allows him the freedom to flourish as a role player.

These are the combinations I'd like to see more of.

Chauncey/Afflalo/Tay/Maxiell/Dice

Stuckey/Rip/Hayes/Amir/Sheed

Aside from pairing a rookie with a vet I also like to see Amir & Sheed working together. You could obviously swap out Hayes for Hermann, but for the sake of this argument I tried to just stick with players we can realistically expect to see in the rotation. This also kinda ignores the addition of Theo, because we have yet to really see how he'll fit into the rotation once Sheed is back.

Again, nothing Flip would do but I'd be inclined to squeeze Hayes out of the rotation and play Amir some at the 3 in some big lineups. That gives us a bit of a different look defensively and can create some matchup problems at the offensive end as well. I think eventually we're gonna have to move Maxiell in order to get Amir the minutes he needs at the 4 spot.

Warspite · Post #15 » by **Warspite** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 8:36 am

Its not like Afflalo was ever going to dress during the playoffs anyway. Afflalo is our 14th man and theres plenty of time for him to work on his game. Summer League, pre season, 09 regular season.

Afflalo is yrs away from being a Microwave or a Binary man. No need to rush him. Stuckey on the other hand is a SG with potential and should be further along and needs to step up.