I think Doc screwed up by releasing Raduljica

[og15]

Yea, if we just had an all offense big who wouldn't be getting any minutes, we wouldn't have let GS shoot about 60% from the field and 3PT line...oh wait...

Rebounds rebounds rebounds.. offensive rebounds, 2nd chance buckets, defensive rebounds, boxing out... You ever heard of aspects of the game?


-I just love the contributions Udoh and Big Baby are giving us... oh wait..

Miroslav averaged 8.4 rebs/36 last season with Atlanta, he is not even close to being a great NBA rebounder. Very good on the offensive glass, but a weak defensive rebounder.

Secondly, even if he was a good rebounder, he would have to see the floor for the impact to be felt. DJ is a superior rebounder, DJ has rebounded better this season. Hawes rebounded better last season and for his career than Miroslav. To get Raduljica minutes you take away minutes from those two. How does that help your rebounding by taking out better rebounders for a worse one?

Third, the Clippers have much bigger problems than how many rebounds a guy who would get like 8 minutes even if he played could solve, and the guy isn't even a great rebounder.

Yes, you need to statistically grab rebounds, it isn't about some mythical presence or just being big and pushing people around. That gets you the 6.5 fouls/36 minutes that he averaged and makes you hurt your team defense with too much fouling. That doesn't prevent guys from eating up the offensive glass. The Hawks rebounded 3% better on defense when Rad was on the bench and 0.7% better overall. Whatever that means in the little sample, there's nothing out there supporting that he's either an elite rebounder or an elite rebounding presence.

Defensive Rebound Percentage / Total Rebound Percentage - 2013-2014:

Raduljica:
13.7% / 13.3%

Griffin:
21.2% / 14.7%

Jordan:
29.3% / 21.6%

Davis:
16.4% / 11.9%

Hawes:
24.2% / 14.6%

So last season, Raduljica was half the defensive rebounder, DJ, Blake and Hawes were, and overall an inferior rebounder to all Clippers bigs but Davis, and Davis still grabbed about 3% more defensive rebounds. Sooo what was that about rebounding again?

[Cracka2Hi]

I don't know anything about this guy but I think Doc is to blame for the teams struggles. Doc the GM. It all started with Bledsoe. That trade has essentially become Bledsoe, Caron Butler(valuable expiring contract) and a 1st Round pick for Reddick, Turkuglu, Udoh and CDR. That's a horrible trade. I mean as bad as it gets. Long term the MLE was wasted last season when it went to Collison and Barnes. That looked great last season but this team can't afford not to hit long term on every move. If they want to win a championship. Spencer seems like a great pickup and the contract is great. Hopefully he starts to fit in better. Doc also jumped the gun and gave Farmar the BAE. There were just as good of PG's available for the Min. The BAE could have gone to Evan Turner or Shawn Marion and I'm sure others. I think we all agree starting SF is looking a helluva lot more important that backup PG. Especially with Farmar not exactly lighting it up.

If Reddick and Hawes can get going the team has a chance to be great. If they don't the roster isn't as good as it was before Doc got here IMO. Didn't want to start a thread for this but I think the teams problems all stem from Doc Rivers the GM.

[Wammy Giveaway]

So last season, Raduljica was half the defensive rebounder, DJ, Blake and Hawes were, and overall an inferior rebounder to all Clippers bigs but Davis, and Davis still grabbed about 3% more defensive rebounds. So, what was that about rebounding again?

What we did not expect, and I didn't even notice it until the Warriors game, was Griffin's regression of collecting rebounds. He only had one. Having to prove to the media that you're not a one-trick pony by showing off your improved jump shot has taken away what Griffin used to be. Now Griffin is a guy who'll live and die by the jump shot, the Charles Barkley school of thought.

So the premise of certain posters wishing that Doc never waived Raduljica is mainly because of Griffin's reluctance to rebounding and his desire to show off his new jumper, which is great, but has created an unintended side effect. If Griffin doesn't want to clean up the glass anymore, who else will? DeAndre Jordan can't be the only one.

[og15]

...but Raduljica won't play in place of Griffin, and he isn't a better rebounder than Hawes or DJ who will be playing next to Griffin, so he still wouldn't do anything.

[Clemenza]

...but Raduljica won't play in place of Griffin, and he isn't a better rebounder than Hawes or DJ who will be playing next to Griffin, so he still wouldn't do anything.

Really the only reason I made this thread was because dude was basically a throw in for the Dudley trade.. almost like a free gift bag when you leave an upscale party or event like on some "Thanks for coming guys and don't forget to pick up your free 7 foot big on the way out" type of thing. I wasn't familiar with the guy either then I saw him play in FIBA and I thought to myself 'did Doc just release this guy without giving him a look????' Now if they brought him in and worked him out or whatever and then said, "nah he doesn't fit what we're trying to do here". Ok I get that. But they didn't even give it one thought.

That's the basis of this thread. Is he above the pecking order of Blake, DJ, and Hawes? Of course not but with the rebounding woes we're experiencing it wouldn't hurt to see that option on the bench if it came down to it. And with a long 82 game season, god forbid, you never know what can happen injury wise. One of my main gripes on Doc is not diversifying the lineup. Like taking another shooting guard instead of SF in the draft. And maybe if he took Kyle Anderson, KJ McDaniels or Cleanthony Early maybe they're on the bench as well but at least he'll have more options and looks when subbing. And personally(and this is my own opinion here) I've always wanted a big brute on our team for years.. Not every game is gonna be Lob City. I just love when a team can go fast break- high flying highlights to half court grind it out ball at the flip of a switch.

-That was the whole gist of the this thread. You say Raduljica wouldn't fit on this team and that's fine I respect that but IMO I think he would. But its water under the bridge cause we'll never know. My thing is that a 7 foot big fell into our laps for cheap, Doc released him without giving him a look while he went on to have a nice FIBA tourney and now we're still having major rebounding problems. I'm done

[og15]

Based on his minutes in Milwaukee he wouldn't help rebounding, he's a similar rebounder to Glen Davis and would be the 4th best defensive rebounder after DJ, Blake, Hawes and Davis. From last season also he wouldn't help defense.

Maybe they should have given him a chance, but if they thought they wouldn't play him, wouldn't use his offensive skills (won't start running offense to post him up, etc) and he wouldn't fill any needs they wanted, then it might be worse just having him on the bench and he never sees the court.

What I believe they should have done is tried to trade him for something, but looking at how no team ended up picking him up, I guess the market wasn't there for him anyways.

[Cracka2Hi]

The thing they really needed to avoid was the whole Dudley and 1st Round pick debacle all together.