Which Center Fits?

[shrink]

Are there specific skill-sets we should value more under Adelman?

Rank the centers you'd want to acquire if Adelman is the coach.

[PG24]

I think, if we're talking solely being a fit under Adelman, Marc Gasol would be about as good as it could get. Huge body, efficient, reliable post game, crafty passer, able to hit from midrange, interior defensive threat, high intangibles... all traits Gasol possesses that would fit perfectly in Adelman's corner system.

Here is SI's writeup:

This might seem high for a guy who ranked 74th in Player Efficiency Rating last season and averaged a mediocre 11.7 points and 7.0 rebounds. But the ranking makes sense when you consider Gasol’s stout defense and the fact that he was the rare frontcourt player putting up decent numbers alongside Zach Randolph, who gobbles up points and rebounds like few others. Consider also that Gasol raised his game in the playoffs (15.0 points, 11.2 rebounds, a PER of 18.9), and that he’s a 7-foot-1 mountain in a league with very few guys that size who can shoot from 18 feet, run an offense from the high post and move around pretty well on defense.

Gasol isn’t Kevin Garnett on the defensive end, but he showed in the playoffs — when he got permission to ignore Oklahoma City’s Kendrick Perkins — that he can make the sort of subtle slides around the perimeter that disrupt an enemy’s primary option. He’s a good shot-blocker who held one-on-one opponents to just 36 percent shooting from the post, according to Synergy. Having Randolph around to draw the defense’s attention helps, but Gasol is a top-level player in his own right, and it’s the combination of him and Randolph that drives this Memphis team. Gasol’s only 26, so I expect him to improve and even outplay this ranking in years to come.

I think any C as long as they are somewhat smart and able make decisive reads would work fine in Adelman's offense. There are other options that come to mind, but none that would fit quite as well as Gasol imo.

[canucklife21]

How does Randolph fit if adelman is the coach?

[Tirion]

How does Randolph fit if adelman is the coach?

He doesn't, look for him to sit on the bench.

[Ledeni]

How does Randolph fit if adelman is the coach?

He doesn't, look for him to sit on the bench.

Why ? Randolph should be 24-33 minutes in all scenario's.

[Tirion]

How does Randolph fit if adelman is the coach?

He doesn't, look for him to sit on the bench.

Why ? Randolph should be 24-33 minutes in all scenario's.

Cause Adelman has a history of sitting athletic low bball IQ players who will not move the ball? I love AR and his potential, but Adelman is bad news for him. And he isn't getting that much PT even if he somehow gets into Adelman's good graces, the frontcourt is too crowded.

[canucklife21]

If Adelman does become the coach I really hope he does give tons playing time to Randolph cuz young talent is all we have and it needs to be developed.there is no other choice for the future of the wolves

[PG24]

For all we know Randolph could come into next season and have a much better feel for the game. It's really up to him to decide how much time and energy he wants to devote during the layoff to basketball. If he utilizes this offseason to his advantage and comes back with focus and better understanding then there's no reason why he shouldn't be a 25 MPG backup big.

[horaceworthy]

For all we know Randolph could come into next season and have a much better feel for the game. It's really up to him to decide how much time and energy he wants to devote during the layoff to basketball. If he utilizes this offseason to his advantage and comes back with focus and better understanding then there's no reason why he shouldn't be a 25 MPG backup big.

http://www.rotoworld.com/content/player ... 261&spln=1

Wolves forward Anthony Randolph is attending classes at LSU with the extra time he has during the lockout, and is considering joining a fraternity according to Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports.
"The students know I’m from the NBA, but it’s more fun because I can focus on my schoolwork," said Randolph. "I don’t have the basketball distraction. I’m a more focused student now after being in the real world for a couple of years." While this could be an entirely positive development in his maturity, Wolves fans probably won't be thrilled to hear him call basketball a "distraction."

[PG24]

For all we know Randolph could come into next season and have a much better feel for the game. It's really up to him to decide how much time and energy he wants to devote during the layoff to basketball. If he utilizes this offseason to his advantage and comes back with focus and better understanding then there's no reason why he shouldn't be a 25 MPG backup big.

http://www.rotoworld.com/content/player ... 261&spln=1

Wolves forward Anthony Randolph is attending classes at LSU with the extra time he has during the lockout, and is considering joining a fraternity according to Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports.
"The students know I’m from the NBA, but it’s more fun because I can focus on my schoolwork," said Randolph. "I don’t have the basketball distraction. I’m a more focused student now after being in the real world for a couple of years." While this could be an entirely positive development in his maturity, Wolves fans probably won't be thrilled to hear him call basketball a "distraction."

At least he'll be mature while he's riding the pine.

Whatever route he wants to take to try and finally 'get it' is cool. As long as he's doing something. He's way too talented and versatile not to put on the court as an X factor type. I can see where he was coming from with basketball being a distraction. He seems like the type that's been way too concerned about living up to the huge hype label and expectations everyone pegged on him, so hopefully now that all that's died down a bit he'll work his way into becoming an effective role player.

[Klomp]

"I don’t have the basketball distraction. I’m a more focused student now after being in the real world for a couple of years." While this could be an entirely positive development in his maturity, Wolves fans probably won't be thrilled to hear him call basketball a "distraction."

He's calling basketball a distraction in relation to his studies. His first year at LSU he juggled both studies and basketball, so he couldn't give his studies his full attention. Thats all he's saying.

Interesting that Randolph going to school is viewed as a negative, but Kevin Love is applauded for his decision...

[Klomp]

Maybe he could get Yao out of retirement...

[shangrila]

Honestly, I'd be fine with Darko. He seems to be the kind of centre Adelman likes and, really, as long as they don't run the offence through him he should be fine.

Although I don't think we would be able to acquire anyone above average, so yeah.

[Guy986]

One name that is going to come up and i expect you guys to hear alot of is going to be Chuck Hayes. What you get from Hayes is an elite man to man defender, a very good rebounder, a supremely underrated passer, and an incredibly tough competitor.

A 6'6 Center may not sound enticing but Rick Adelman absolutely love the guy. There is a reason why he is able to hang onto the starting role on the Rockets for 2 straight years. He knows Adelman's system inside out and can run it to perfection. Him and Brad Miller are the only bigs i've seen on the Rockets that is cerebral enough to read the court and make plays for his teammates.

In addition, Adelman has on several occasions vouched for Hayes to be on the All defensive team. IMO Chuck Hayes ,not Battier(especially after having lost a step or 2), is the Rockets best overall defender. So one can make a case for Chuck Hayes being arguably the Rockets most important player on both ends of the court.

"He is as good as any defender in this league in the low post. I'm going to start talking to the coaches at the end of the year when they have the (All-NBA) defensive team. If he's not on one of the defensive teams, there's something wrong. ... He deserves the credit for it." -- Rockets coach Rick Adelman on Chuck Hayes

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs ... _hayes.php

Chuck hayes does bring certain burden to the team like the lack of size which equals lack of weakside help. Playing a 6'6 center for 32 minutes a night takes a heavy toll on a squad but Chuck hayes playing 15-20 minutes a night off the bench would be perfect for a Rick Adelman led team. And he should be relatively cheap to sign. Although Hayes is the Rockets captain and its best defender, I have hard time seeing Daryl Morey matching a contract costing more than 4 mill a year because he so desperately wants his young bigs to see playing time.


You may like the potential of a Magic Randolph but there is no doubt in my mind that Chuck Hayes will contribute way more to the success of a team than any sportcenter highlight that Randolph flashes once in a blue moon.

[NYForever]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/5249 ... in-the-nba

Darko had a pretty good year to me. Some of you guys suffer from the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. Besides maybe 5 dominant centers in the league, many good teams get by without a great one nowadays. Darko was one of the better ones last year, and for a long stretch he WAS one of the top centers production wise. He lead the league in blocks for most of the year and finished 5th. In just 24 mins/game, 9 pts, 5 rebs, and 2 blocks.... Most teams would kill to get that from their center. He fits Adelman's system as well as any center in the league does and I'm sure he knows that. Then you get sheer athleticism with Anthony Randolph, which provides a change of pace in the game. Both of those two players have all the ability in the world to be very good..... the only problem is if they will bring it every night. If so, the T wolves center spot wont be an issue!

[Foye]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/524975-kevin-durant-darko-milicic-is-one-of-the-best-centers-in-the-nba

Darko had a pretty good year to me. Some of you guys suffer from the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. Besides maybe 5 dominant centers in the league, many good teams get by without a great one nowadays. Darko was one of the better ones last year, and for a long stretch he WAS one of the top centers production wise. He lead the league in blocks for most of the year and finished 5th. In just 24 mins/game, 9 pts, 5 rebs, and 2 blocks.... Most teams would kill to get that from their center. He fits Adelman's system as well as any center in the league does and I'm sure he knows that. Then you get sheer athleticism with Anthony Randolph, which provides a change of pace in the game. Both of those two players have all the ability in the world to be very good..... the only problem is if they will bring it every night. If so, the T wolves center spot wont be an issue!

Darko should be fine as long as we're not trying to run our offense through him again. Unsurprisingly, that failed miserably (see his high TO's)
He is what he is at this point. Solid defender that will give you a couple rebounds, blocks, points and assists per game. He's definitely very underrated, IMO.
We just need a PG (Rubio, hopefully) that creates easy buckets for him so he doesn't have to create for himself and he's all of a sudden a very serviceable PG.
Honestly, I truely believe that Marcin Gortat is not much better than Darko is. If you would put Gortat on our team and Milicic on Phx last year Darko's stats would look quite good and Gortat's would look like Milicic's.
Gortat is probably a little better rebounder. Milicic better shot blocker and passer.

[Grits n Gravy]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/524975-kevin-durant-darko-milicic-is-one-of-the-best-centers-in-the-nba

Darko had a pretty good year to me. Some of you guys suffer from the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. Besides maybe 5 dominant centers in the league, many good teams get by without a great one nowadays. Darko was one of the better ones last year, and for a long stretch he WAS one of the top centers production wise. He lead the league in blocks for most of the year and finished 5th. In just 24 mins/game, 9 pts, 5 rebs, and 2 blocks.... Most teams would kill to get that from their center. He fits Adelman's system as well as any center in the league does and I'm sure he knows that. Then you get sheer athleticism with Anthony Randolph, which provides a change of pace in the game. Both of those two players have all the ability in the world to be very good..... the only problem is if they will bring it every night. If so, the T wolves center spot wont be an issue!

Darko should be fine as long as we're not trying to run our offense through him again. Unsurprisingly, that failed miserably (see his high TO's)
He is what he is at this point. Solid defender that will give you a couple rebounds, blocks, points and assists per game. He's definitely very underrated, IMO.
We just need a PG (Rubio, hopefully) that creates easy buckets for him so he doesn't have to create for himself and he's all of a sudden a very serviceable PG.
Honestly, I truely believe that Marcin Gortat is not much better than Darko is. If you would put Gortat on our team and Milicic on Phx last year Darko's stats would look quite good and Gortat's would look like Milicic's.
Gortat is probably a little better rebounder. Milicic better shot blocker and passer.

great post...agree

[phonzadellika]

I remember Darko having some good games, but I also remember him checking-out mentally, being overly-fragile, and generally being the most bi-polar player on the wolves (and that includes SCB).

I'd be very, very happy if the Wolves grabbed Chuck Hayes, if for no other reason than it would give Kevin Love an up-close-and-personal look at the defensive person that he should (and if I remember correctly said he would like) to emulate.

[Breakdown777]

As others have said, Darko fits.

Even if Adelman is the coach and doesn't play Randolph, I'll support it if we look like a competent basketball team that is able to produce wins.

[AQuintus]

<snipped for space>

This post made me start thinking that I would actually be fairly excited to trade for Chuck Hayes as another veteran mentor type.

I wonder if Houston would do a Chuck Hayes + Battier TPE for Anthony Randolph (questionable fit under Adelman) and Pekovic (McHale's low post guy) type of trade?