BigSlam wrote:So, where are all these ready to play FA bugs we can sign??
I will say it would have been far easier to sign a big in the offseason than it is right now with most teams sporting full rosters. With guys like Whiteside, McGee, Portis, Len and Noel all signed for peanuts on short term deals or in McGee case given away.
Another thing is Biz has shown in the past he can be a serviceable spot start guy, back up center or even a third center who can be called upon last minute. To me that has value, not a ton of guys who have the talent to do this or are humble enough to take on a role like this without complaining.
That said losing Zeller hurts, most teams would be hurting for center depth if they lost their starting center... some for a starter and nearly all for a solid backup (would be third string if healthy). The fact that after Zeller got hurt we do not have depth is not something we would be alone in struggling with.
BigSlam wrote:
You totally neglected the fact that by virtue of the position and it’s needs the talent pool for bigs is significantly more shallow than it is for wings and that’s it’s actually wings that are a dime a dozen - not bigs.
My thought process here is opposite of your thinking, as I have stated before Quality Impact Bigs are hard to come by because there are only a true handful of these guys. Which means if you have one, you do have a massive advantage most nights, but it is hard to find these guys because as you have stated percentage of a big actually turning into this guy is very very low and depth is poor in the league at center. Meaning most nights you are playing an average or slighly above average or slightly below average center which makes playing an average center yourself not that much of a difference on most nights.
Whereas, the depth at wings in the NBA is very large and more easily available to find above average talent to great talent, which means if you have a slightly below average starter on the wing lets say Dwayne Bacon or Josh Okogie for example then you are going to be at a massive disadvantage nearly every night vs the KDs, Brons Lukas, Mitchells, Butlers, Tatums, etc etc etc
Point being if I could guarantee myself Embiid or Jokic I would love it, but the fact is those guys are so rare that you are really really shooting a low percentage on trying to find those guys so you are going to more than likely spend your free agent money or high draft assets to draft or sign guys like Wendell Carter Jr or Jacob Poetl or Mo Bamba or Nerlens Noels, who are decent players, but most likely will underachieve their respective draft slots. And I could go on and on about guys who sucked as bigs as could other posters do the same about wings... however it does not change the fact that there is a severe lack of talent/way to acquire talent at the center position.
