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People bring this up a lot and I don't have a full understanding as to why. Is it simply because we have two other undersized PF's or is it because he actually does not fit with the team somehow? What is it about him that doesn't fit, where would be a place where he does fit? If he could change anything about his game, what would have to be changed to make him fit? What is it about him that rules out the possibility that he could be a fit in the near future if he isn't now?

He's fat and can't fit though the door to the locker room.

He isnt the ideal height for a PF but smaller guys have worked in the past. He is a bully in the paint. The reason i dont think he fits though, is because we have other PF's playing Center and none of them are really defenders. Craig is great off the bench, but next to Jefferson/Love our front court gets killed. And our backcourt defense isnt good enough to keep opposing guards from getting to the rim at will.

I love me some Cookie, but our other guys arent good enough defenders to make up for him being a bad and undersized defender himself. And since we have 2 other potential All Star PF's that arent good defenders, we dont need a 3rd. If we keep him here i have no issues with that, but i would trade him for really any sort of 7'0 defensive presence that is less talented offensively but can bring in some paint protection.

The best line-up scenario is a 3 man set with Love/Al/something 7ft tall and defensive. If you take the 96 minutes of the 4/5 and take out Love/al you are left with 28 for the center. The 7ft defensive big compliments Al/love and changes our pace. That is the type of 3rd big you need. Cookie is incredibly productive offensively, but is below average on defense and rebounding. He is also very foul-prone.

if you want craig smith to fit long-term then turn him into a SF. I do not see it happening, until then he will be undersized as a 4 and at-best the 4th big only playing spare minutes. I think part of the issue also is that Gomes has done such a good job becoming a SF.

So it is not Craig as much as the role he is currently playing for us. If he was the 4th big it would not be a problem.

He has no range?

He can't defend 4/5's due to his lack of size, he can't defend 3's or perimeter 4's even though he looks like he should be quick enough to do it. I mean he has decent lateral quickness for his size, and he's slimmed down from when he was first drafted.

He really isn't a fit for any team that lacks an athletic 5 to cover up his poor defense or was put in a system that used his quickness and ability on offense(NYK\GSW)

Who cares about fit for a 4th big? He obviously doesn't fit a bigger role than that, but as a 4th big he's adequate, at least for the time being. As I said in the other thread this came up in, bigger fish to fry. We should hope that 4th big is our biggest problem in 2 years. Then this discussion would have some practicality.

That is what I am saying. if he was the 4th big it is fine, but because he is the 3rd big we are having problems. Once we add the 7ft 3rd big and bump Craig to the 4th big we will not have issues.

So long as we have some semblance of a back court.

Is that were the 6'3 and under people play?

Calinks3 wrote:People bring this up a lot and I don't have a full understanding as to why. Is it simply because we have two other undersized PF's ?

Duhh, you've got room for about 3-4 bigs in your rotation. If the first two bigs are 6'9 power forwards, the third can't be a 6'7 power forward.

Ok I understand many of the points of view here. Craig Smith is yet another undersized bigman and we need size. Still, the way I see it Craig Smith is a role player. He isn't featured, he isn't starting. Let's say we get a defensive 7 footer. We still will have front court space that needs filling. If Love and Al start, we will bring the C off the bench and Craig Smith is probably a player that would play well along him. We will still need to essentially play 4 bigs off the bench and I don't see why Craig Smith can't be that fourth guy. If we somehow manage to get two good 7 foot players, I'll understand but right now I think Craig Smith is a great role playing piece.

Look at what he does do. He scores, he keeps other teams defenders busy, and he gets to the line. I see value in the fact that we can pull a guy that deep off of the bench and get a contribution out of him. I think Craig Smith deserves a roster spot over players like Mark Madsen and Jason Collins.

If you are looking to be a playoff team, you need to have depth. Craig Smith is a guy who brings that. If a deal comes along where trading Craig Smith will yield something positive that's fine but I don't understand the desire people have to dump him, as if he is holding this team back somehow.

We all agree he fits as a sparing used 4th big. The problem is the 3rd big role he is in now.

Craig is an awesome finisher, maybe he's not the perfect fit for MN, but there should be lots of other teams interested in his services. Put him in Orlando w/ D12 and all their shooters and you leave him for a second to go double team or rotate and he can make a killing

Devilzsidewalk wrote:Craig is an awesome finisher, maybe he's not the perfect fit for MN, but there should be lots of other teams interested in his services. Put him in Orlando w/ D12 and all their shooters and you leave him for a second to go double team or rotate and he can make a killing

Funny you say that cause in 2K9 that's where he went and he beasted. He averaged like 16 PPG. Once I played them and he seemed to develop a decent J. He kept popping shots from 9 feet.

that's what she said.