RealGM

Hey I am a Magic fan and I occasionally follow your team. I was wondering who do you guys think will start at center and pf?

IMO Thompson and Landry will. and eventually Cousins will take the PF spot. But what will happen to Dalambert?

I believe it's going to Landry/Dalembert starting, with JT/Cousins off the bench. No way Cousins should be playing PF, he is best suited to play C. I feel JT will be better off suited starting, but based on last year, Landry will get nod over him.

If I had to guess, it will be Dalembert at 5 and Landry at 4. And have guys like Thompson, Cousins and to some extend Whiteside as part of the big man rotation.

But I would expect Cousins transition himself as a starter somewhere in the season (But I wouldn't be surprised if he is the starter in day 1 though).

So most likely:

Dalembert
Landry

Best case (IMO):

Cousins
Dalembert

I'd prefer Cousins/Dalembert

I think Cousins would get abused by more mobile and athletic PF's. He can probably do it offensively though, but Cousins is a C to me 100%, and a crazy-skilled one at that.

Ideally, I think it should be Cousins (C)/Thompson (PF) starting, with Dalembert/Landry off the bench of course. Eventually I like to see Whiteside take on some minutes too. If Whiteside develops nicely this season, then I see one of Thompson/Landry/Dalembert leaving. Our roster up front is suddenly very deep this season and the coaches/management have some VERY tough decisions ahead.

Right now i think Dalembert and landry are our best option and would fit very well together. If cousins plays well off the bench I think a dalembert trade at the deadline is very possible whether he is a good fit or not. I predict cousins and landry by the end of the season.

To start the season

PF - Landry/Thompson
C - Dalembert/Cousins/Whiteside

by the trade deadline, that could change drastically if Cousins gets off to as good a start as Evans did, or if Dalembert gets traded for a long term piece.

I think the board is split on Landry/Thompson.

Ultimately I think the rotation core should be Cousins/Landry/Thompson. Whiteside isn't ready so I'd like to see him go to the D-League. I'd also like to see Landry come off the bench. I'm not really too concerned with "who starts" but I just see Landry in the role off the bench a huge benefit. I know some of you feel that a defensive presence makes up for a lack of CL's height and rebounding. I think that's blasphemous. You can't make up for a lack of skill at one position by having at another position. You can get by, but the good teams will figure it out. Besides I like the fact CL gets inside and shoots. He'd get more shot opportunities with the 2nd team. Jason Thompson is a better defender/rebounder. He's taller @ 6'10 or 6'11 as well. He's not going to shoot it as much nor does he really need ball to be effective. He fits better with the 1st team. We've been over this and really JT/Landry aren't the same player. Landry doesn't matchup well against a lot of the elite PF's on the defensive end. For me it's not really who plays, but how we play them that will be interesting. CL and JT should both get serious run. I'd like to see them get their run in situations that will benefit their strengths.

I know Petrie has been after Dalembert for a long time. I'd like to see why? I've heard he has the IQ of my pinky toe. One of the Philly broadcasters was on Grant's show and said he does enough boneheaded things it outweighs what he does at the defensive end. I can't say I'm sure how he will be used? He's 29 years old so he can't be in our long term plans?

Still want to see that twin towers lineup with Cousins and Daly. I'm sure it will be Landry and Dalembert to start. Man, somebody is getting left out. It's going to either be Thompson or Cousins I think, really hope not on the Cousins part. I still want to see the triple towers lineup with JT at SF!!! That was the one interesting thing Theus did in his tenure here and it worked for stretches. Truth is, if all get remotely close to deserving time, Landry or Thompson, or maybe even both, will have to spend a great deal of time at SF.

Why put JT at the 3 for the "triple towers lineup" when you can just run Donte there, who is taller than JT anyway.

I know westphal most likely wont but we could possibly go evans, donte, thompson, cousins and dally. Unrealistic but fun to think that we could have 4 7 footers on the floor at once with a beefed up evans as our smallest guy.

D-Rock wrote:Why put JT at the 3 for the "triple towers lineup" when you can just run Donte there, who is taller than JT anyway.

Height has nothing to do with it. Jason is simply a larger human being and when he played there his rookie year there was a noticeable difference in physicality at that position. He was able to post up at will, whereas at the bigger spots he tends to struggle. Donte is huge no doubt, but he's just not a mismatch kind of guy at the 3. It's just his natural position. He's a better mismatch at PF where he is quicker, more athletic, and a better all around scorer than most he'll face night in, night out.

Just an FYI all three of JT,DMC, Dally are listed as 6'11.

Yeah if Donte/JT are the forward, Donte is obviously the SF. You're defined by who guards you, and teams won't be dumb and put their SF on Jason.

And the problem with Donte at PF is the same as it always has been--he's not a good rebounder at all.

That's why you give them no choice and put Donte at SG, JT at SF, Cousins at PF, and Dalembert at C like sacking101 mentioned. hehehehe. Odd thing is, it really has the potential to be a dangerous mismatch lineup. It's not such a stretch to think that lineup could not only get some time together, but actually cause some problems for the other team.

SacKingZZZ wrote:That's why you give them no choice and put Donte at SG, JT at SF, Cousins at PF, and Dalembert at C like sacking101 mentioned. hehehehe. Odd thing is, it really has the potential to be a dangerous mismatch lineup. It's not such a stretch to think that lineup could not only get some time together, but actually cause some problems for the other team.

That lineup will also have bad ballhandling, be unable to spread the floor, and both JT and Demarcus won't be able to guard their positions. It's a gimmick lineup.

mitchweber wrote:
That lineup will also have bad ballhandling, be unable to spread the floor, and both JT and Demarcus won't be able to guard their positions. It's a gimmick lineup.

Exactly, and it has the potential to dominate for stretches. You have to look at the end result and I see teams having a much harder time guarding them than they have guarding others. JT did solid at SF defensively. I don't remember him getting destroyed and I also don't know of any matchups where he was really matched up against a dominating SF offensively for large chunks of time. There really aren't too many of those types of SF's anyway. Demarcus is going to have to guard PF at times regardless, and I think he'll be decent. If they think Whiteside and Dalembert can play with him already and they figure they can just guard PF, what's the difference? Just let them handle the quicker player.

What I would do is just strictly play a zone style defense. I'd have everybody lock arms and form a chain that stretches all the way across the court. Hahahaha.

SacKingZZZ wrote:

mitchweber wrote:
That lineup will also have bad ballhandling, be unable to spread the floor, and both JT and Demarcus won't be able to guard their positions. It's a gimmick lineup.

Exactly, and it has the potential to dominate for stretches. You have to look at the end result and I see teams having a much harder time guarding them than they have guarding others. JT did solid at SF defensively. I don't remember him getting destroyed and I also don't know of any matchups where he was really matched up against a dominating SF offensively for large chunks of time. There really aren't too many of those types of SF's anyway. Demarcus is going to have to guard PF at times regardless, and I think he'll be decent. If they think Whiteside and Dalembert can play with him already and they figure they can just guard PF, what's the difference? Just let them handle the quicker player.

What I would do is just strictly play a zone style defense. I'd have everybody lock arms and form a chain that stretches all the way across the court. Hahahaha.

You wouldn't have to be dominant at SF to get past JT offensively. You'd just have to have basic ballhandling skills and not horrible quickness, and you'd always get by him. When we played him at SF (which we did for a tiny bit at the beginning of his rookie season and not at all last year), it was largely out of necessity. Using common sense, you'd know that Jason will get destroyed trying to guard SFs.

As for thinking Demarcus will be decent guarding PFs, what exactly makes you say that? It would depend on matchups, but at that point, you're relying on a team having an offensively inept SF and PF.

mitchweber wrote:You wouldn't have to be dominant at SF to get past JT offensively. You'd just have to have basic ballhandling skills and not horrible quickness, and you'd always get by him. When we played him at SF (which we did for a tiny bit at the beginning of his rookie season and not at all last year), it was largely out of necessity. Using common sense, you'd know that Jason will get destroyed trying to guard SFs.

As for thinking Demarcus will be decent guarding PFs, what exactly makes you say that? It would depend on matchups, but at that point, you're relying on a team having an offensively inept SF and PF.

Depends on the PF of course, but I think his quickness is a tad bit underrated. I think he can survive there, he won't be a stopper by any means but I don't think he will be at C either. Besides, there are some ways to minimize the damage in a situation like that, zone, switch all the pick and rolls, etc. Depends on what kind of shooting your facing as well but obviously this is the type of lineup where your main goal is to just pound the heck out of the other team and watch them foul out.

Yeah, not too much of JT at SF last year, that's why I mentioned it in relation to Theus. We didn't really need to or could for that matter because with Noc, Casspi, and Greene we're just as stacked there as any other position. Problem is now JT is one of 4 legit players wanting legit PT. Right now it sounds like Westphal is going to use Landry at SF but I still like JT there more. Landry could be decent as well though, maybe even more productive, who knows.