My closing response to BW Goods' above response about Ryan Dunn:bwgood77 wrote:In response to what I've read. You start with we are not and won't be a contender in the next 2 years and will have to address some things. In 2 years our window with these stars is probably gone.
I don't agree with the "one guy on the court doesn't need to shoot because we have multiple offensive weapons". Whoever is on the court besides the big 3 who will get doubled NEEDS to make them pay like Allen did. Now if we have lights out 3 pt shooting C, it would help a little, but ideally you want all guys who can shoot. Guys that can't very rarely play in the NBA for long.
OKC didn't take a major step until Lu Dort could finally hit 3s at a 40% rate. Of course they have other young guys getting better but Dort hitting shots is another big part of it.
Probably not worth discussing though, as I see extremely little chance we draft Dunn anyway.
Yes! I don't believe that we'll be a legit championship contenders within the next two years without addressing the obvious glaring weaknesses we've carried for multiple seasons now ( those discussed here ad nauseam). And yes, I can also agree that within two years our competitive window with these 3 stars will likely be closed too. HOWEVER, that doesn't mean we can't start building our roster out correctly for the future. With the correct complimentary pieces to support a core of Booker and Beal beyond the KD years.
And post KD, we'll need elite utility players that won't take the ball out of Booker and Beal's hands on offense anyways, But can still contribute supportively and offer impact even if that's mostly only defensive to start. Complimentary players with utility skillsets and elite outlier talents are still important to help support star casts.
Also it's perfectly fine to have whatever opinions or perspectives you want in regards to how best to correctly build out our team competitively. The idea that whoever is on the court will get doubled is trivial to me because again, even if they leave Dunn open to double KD, that'd still leave Dunn is still a great cutter, an underrated passer, and an elite explosive athlete who can finish above and through opponents. So IF they leave Dunn to double any of our stars, Dunn can cut to the rim successfully, and find another open option, as defenses collapse to stop his drives/ cutting or lobs. Or he can use his elite vertical athleticism to be a lob threat from whoever's leaving him to double.
There'll be a lot of creative options from any decent coaching staff to still create opportunities for him in these anticipated situations. After all, when you can expect or anticipate specific situations based on scouting reports or past history of play, you can counter-strategize easily enough to create other opportunities. And who's to say we can't get a " lights out" type floor spacing center option from the draft or free agency? There are these types of 4/5s scattered throughout both the drafts' ranges as well as unsigned free agents and potential trades. Our front office only needs to be assertive for a change honestly.
And sure, having shooters on the floor is important. But at the same time, defense is equally as important if you want to win and be competitive in the postseason or in the regular season. Just look at the Timberwolves and how they manhandled us fairly easily and closed out the champion Nuggets too, primarily due to their elite defense that shut down our offensive capabilities and limited and frustrated Denver too. And yet we had no ability to slow down/shut down their players offensively because we had no legitimate high-end lockdown defensive options to even throw at them. Also, if players like Herb Jones (who shot similarly as badly), Matisse Thybulle, Lou Dortz, or even older past players like Ben Wallace, Dennis Rodman, and Tony Allen were never given a chance because of their offensive limitations entering the league, then we might never have known how great those players would end up with some playing key roles in helping their teams to a championship too. Basketball is not a one-dimensional game as much as some portray it to be. Sure the object of the game is to put the ball in the basket as Jones suggested in simplest premise, BUT................just as important is being able to slow down or even stop and frustrate your opposition from effectively doing that too. It's great and entertaining to have an inoffensive flame thrower, but equally important to also have an extinguisher that can slow or put out that fire too!
Boston who was so dominant and just won the championship, shot great and made a ton of threes! But they are predominantly a dominant defensive team across the board, and that's the foundation of their strength even over their three-point barrages. Denver is elite offensively but won their championship with key play from players on their team contributing in key defensive roles too (brown, KCP, Gordon). Even with the offense being viewed at a premium, the defense has significant underlying value! There's a reason the long-time saying still holds true! "offense wins games but defense wins championships"! Luka was/is a great offensive star, but Boston shut down the Mavs offensively and significantly limited Doncics' effectiveness and offensive dominance with defense. Otherwise, we might be having different discussions around the Mavs right now with Doncic parading and peacocking around with a championship! But strong defense humbled him and the Mavs to the point of a gentleman's sweep! Lastly, I agree with you that the Suns will very likely overlook him and not draft him anyway because he's not a shooting wing.
And true to our modus operandi, our front office will ignore our critical needs, and fall short yet again having those ignored issues exploited as they are annually throughout the season and postseason. and many will delude and rationalize how we'll be better next year from in spite of it all because we still resigned Allen and O'neale, rinse........repeat! This is why we're going on 57 years as the 5th winningest franchise to never win a championship.
