kane0801 wrote:Keith Van Horn wrote:It is what it is right now.
The money Ben is being paid should be going toward an actual star player. Imagine if we had a guy of Mitchell's caliber helping this team. You can't tell me that a Mitchell / CT / Bridges / CJ / Clax lineup doesn't show vast improvement over this one. We just need more consistency and a better offense that can push other teams around. Things just feel too disjointed now.
Until Ben is gone, I'm expecting mediocrity. Maybe we can get a play-in spot this year.
Mitchell + CT is not fit and work imo,both are undersize shoot first SG
You make a very good point. We probably wouldn't play them together though. My only slight disagreement is I think in today's game you can't have too much redundancy when it comes to exceptional scorers, and both are also efficient. Before I begin let's remember that Mitchell is getting 30+ Mil and Cam is on a rookie contract, so we are currently pretty lucky. I don't know, however, what he will get on his next deal, or that he will not leave for dollars or comfort with his situation at the time.
But I agree with KVH that Mitchell would make a substantial difference in our starting lineup, and not just because of the approximate 4 extra points (currently). One reason is that he is averaging 5.5 assists at a 2.12 ATO compared to Cam's 2.3 at a 1.21. By spreading the wealth we will be less predictable offensively. And CT off the bench with the more offensively challenged, but excellent defenders, like Ben or DSJ would keep us flexible and still dangerous.
Some have mentioned our losing record when Cam scores best. I can argue both sides, but do not yet feel comfortable hazarding a guess as to why. "82games" somewhat also shows this statistically. Donovan has a plus 11.3 production vs opponent and CT also a good, but lesser, plus 5.6. That could be explained by somewhat better offense and defense. What is more perplexing to me is the substantial difference in on/off court numbers. Mitchell is a +4.6 on court and the Cavs are -7.2 when he's off court, for a net plus 11.8. Cam is a -4.4 on court and we are a +5.1 when he is off court, for a net -9.5. I lack the expertise to determine if any of these are in any way attributable to team differences in play, structure, style, or whatever, but we have the better offensive rating (116.8 to 112.5) and Cleveland the better defensive (112.5 to our 115.7). There is only a one point net difference between the two teams.
Cam is such a natural and efficient scorer, and I'd like him on my team, but I would have to choose Mitchell, and hope that Thomas would be happy coming off the bench and we could keep him. If we can't get Mitchell, though, I still think another substantial interim move would be to try to get an actual big power forward with scoring chops. As someone mentioned already, though, at this stage cost and, I think, what personnel we would lose, are factors.