aminiaturebuddha wrote:Scottie is still making a huge impact on the game, even in "bad" games, which is a massive change from last year.
His defence, at least for the first 2 1/2 quarters last night, unfortunately was noticeably worse, but I think that's where he was really affected by the loss of OG. He was playing out on the perimeter much more in the first half, and as we've seen in previous years, he struggles there at times. He had a number of reckless closeouts that led to advantages in the half-court for DC.
When Darko went small to finish the game, Scottie was able to get back inside, where he was much better and had some big defensive plays down the stretch.
The moral of the story is that Scottie's defence play, while much improved this year, still seems a bit context-dependent at this stage of his career. He can't really guard all over the court at a high level like OG (and do a lesser extent - Precious) does. But hopefully he'll eventually get there.
One of the issues with my preferred starting lineup configurations is that Otto needs to play the roaming 4. Only place you can really put him at this stage in his career. That means Scottie either plays C (a good roaming role, but taxing as a starter) or the perimeter.
Still, it's the way to loosen up the offense.
