State Your Preference- New Center or Point Guard- And Why?

[August Us Seazr]

Just came in from reading page 57 of the long ongoing team improvement thread. War and Peace is starting to look like a shorter read, folks. But a basic question remains...

If we are putting together one of those teams that can compete with the mega-talented three-superstar lineups, I'd like to know whether we start with the (chicken) center position, or the (egg) a point guard. Each position brings something different to the table, but at the end of the day, whoever we get must be productive and contagious in terms of making his teammates better players. I know that most of you have VERY DEFINITE positions on what you would like the Bobcats to look like in the future.

If you were Mr. Jordan, where do you start?

[ball teacher]

Center, because we don't have a post presence as of yet. You can get a decent point guard from anywhere I think )plus we picked up Livingston already), but a good post scorer is harder to come by. I don't care if we had DJ run the show as long as we have a really good player to score inside. This will make the opposing teams have all kinds of problems between Jack's range, Crash attacking the rim, and Tyrus just being active, we need to get a man to score inside more than anything. We lost our two best big men, who could at least defend, Nazr, Diop and Dampier are pretty much washed up average players!

[fatlever]

knowing that LB doesnt really post his centers up anyway, i would vote for a great pg. its a pgs league right now.

[August Us Seazr]

In the real world, I would prefer a center. That said, these days a center who makes your team better through the total of scoring, rebounding, leading, and providing intangibles goes back to an earlier era. None of the prospects coming up today have all of those qualities. It is legitimately easier for a point guard to become elite today than for a center to become above average.

So, by default, (and the coaching makeup of our team) I am left with the obvious choice of a point guard. If we can get CP3, great! But if we have to groom one, we had better be ready for MORE
GROWING PAINS. And we have to get lucky, too. The 5 year Raymond Felton experiment was botched from the moment he was first plugged in as a shooting guard. Others may have different notions, but at the point, we MUST have as a starter a pure point guard. Could you imagine any of the following as shooting guards... CP3, Chauncey Billups, Rajon Rondo, or Steve Nash? Maybe these guys could play the position, but can you agree with me that they are far better at the point?

I think that the NBA position scheme has gotten to the point where anybody can get the 2, 3, and 4 spots filled in in relatively short order. But to get a really good point, or a really good center takes a lot of luck and a lot of thanking the basketball powers that be when you finally land one of either position.

[dropshot001]

with the way today's game is played, a point guard. the center position has been sort of "phased out"

[BigSlam]

I went with C.

We go through long stretches of a game without scoring and just end up seeing someone like Jax jacking up ill advised J's. We need a way to get easy baskets and there is no easier bucket than the one you get from a big man with a back to the basket post up game.

Oh, that and the fact that the three C's we currently on the roster pretty much suck.

[August Us Seazr]

Another question--- Has the game evolved to the place where we may have to consider going to the European leagues to find that "decent" center that we need? Or do we consider a radical idea, like deploying 2 power forwards instead of a center and a power forward? (Just tossing that one out there for your consideration.)

[Walt Cronkite]

I guess we could play Boris at the 5 if we got a big upgrade at pg, but I think we need a center worst.

[freakon0mics]

I would prefer a legitimate post scorer. Whenever you want an easy bucket, you would just find a way to get that person position in the paint to score. But these type of guys are really hard to come by.

[W_HAMILTON]

We paid about ~25m in salaries for our center position to average around 11/5 in the playoffs.

We had (and still have) serviceable PGs. We need a center. In trying to "fix" our center "problem," we've doubled our salary on centers while simultaneously receiving the least production from that position in franchise history.

[Battery]

We paid about ~25m in salaries for our center position to average around 11/5 in the playoffs.

We had (and still have) serviceable PGs. We need a center. In trying to "fix" our center "problem," we've doubled our salary on centers while simultaneously receiving the least production from that position in franchise history.

Funny how you mention playoffs but, I don't recall us making the playoffs when we had a 70 million dollar center.

[SWedd523]

I can't think of the last team that won without a high level post presence. I CAN, however, think of the last team to win without a high level PG (Derek Fisher). It's much harder to find a great Center these days, but I think they have the most to offer (see Slam's post). It'd be much easier to build around a big man than a little guy.

[Paydro70]

I think the answer has to be center here. Frankencenter is old and mediocre, and at least Livingston/DJ have some potential (and demonstrated ability in DJ's case). So if I were to plop in a solid starter at either spot, I'd take the C. He had better be able to score.

[ohara]

I went with PG. You need a straw to stir the drink, and I dont think DJ or Livingston is that straw. I would be happy to be wrong. As for the Center, TC just never lived up to the hype, and we still made the Playoffs. We still have Diop and Nazr, which is not that much of a drop off. LB will find a journeyman somewhere to fill in the hole and that person will likely become the starter. But the PG position is the one we need filled with quality in the most desperate way.

[Fred Williamson]

I think the answer is pretty obvious. A center or a power forward who can score.

[August Us Seazr]

Truth be told, I believe that we would all like to see us get the MAX bang for the bucks spent. If you look at all the money flushed down the toilet in anticipation of trading for a good center that the other team doesn't want ( I wonder why!!! ) maybe we need to max out the producing positions and go on record that we will pay in line with ability. If fair to poor is all we can get, the pay will be in line with that. But we had better get bang for the buck from the other positions. And we need to hire a couple of scouts that know where their paycheck comes from to make sure that we eventually have a couple of draftable options that are much more than a 7' 2" klutz o'the month.

Veering off topic- You know, as good a reputation as LB has had overall, I don't seem to remember ANY good centers he has coached in the last 15-20 years.

[RichBoy923]

I think our current PG situation is better than our Center situation but I'd still pursue the PG option. Here are my reasons:
1. PGs can help out you team in more ways than a Center by getting others involved and scoring if need be. PGs, in my opinion, are the most important position on the court.
2. How many centers out there that can be had will actually be that much of an improvement over our centers? I don't hear many centers being shopped and even if there are I doubt they will be that much of an improvement. There aren't many quality centers out there let alone ones that are available. We have atleast been linked to Paul as a PG.

[ball teacher]

Jordan's Bulls teams were probably the only team to win without a good scoring big, ever since then no team has won without a scorer inside. Tyrus with develpment could be ther in another season, but in the mean time, give him a good center to play beside who can compliment him.

[Walt Cronkite]

Veering off topic- You know, as good a reputation as LB has had overall, I don't seem to remember ANY good centers he has coached in the last 15-20 years.

uhhh... David Robinson/Smits/Davis/Davis/Ben Wallace/Mutombo to rattle off a few...

[Bassman]

The very nature of this excellent question highlights the danger this tteam is in. Both positions are very important, and we've become significantly weaker in both. Felton and Chandler were not strengths per se, but losing both and not replacing with equal or better players is sure to diminish our success rate. If forced to chose I'd also go big, but the choice is really relative to what you've got to choose from.