FeedReed wrote:yea true, i am a little negative, i just really liked what leon brought to the table because it was the garbage work noone else wanted to do. fighting for rebounds, playing good d, a true power forward, perfect is an exaggeration. i'll also admit i never liked baby although i warmed up to him a little after the shot against the magic. i mean what does baby do really well, worthy of even a contract? if u can enlighten me i'll listen but i've watched him for 2 years and haven't seen much.
I was much higher on Leon than Baby going into last season, but imo Baby made a lot of positive strides throughout the year. He's still limited in some aspects and is nowhere near being considered a prototypical big man, but I take it is a a good sign that he's steadily improved since he's entered the league. I expect him to continue improving, just as I've come to expect Perk to polish a different aspect of his game every year. I don't take it as a given, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt until I feel like he's not making anymore strides in his game.
I loved Leon and baby playing together because they both played with the tenaciousness and extra effort that not every guy in the league plays with often enough. I recall both of them, not just Leon, throwing their body around, diving after loose balls and trying to draw charges on a regular basis. Contrast with Mikki Moore or Patrick O'Bryant, but that's not really the point. I had never considered Leon wearing anything other than green any time soon, but I also didn't anticipate him tearing his ACL right before his contract was up. It was a matter of crappy timing more than anything else. I can't fault Glen Davis for Leon's injury.
LenBiasBaller wrote:Leon + Sheed would have been a better combination IMO than Sheed and BBD. Leon is a back to the basket player that was abusing opposing teams big men. Sheed and BBD prefer to take outside shots most of the time.
You guys must have really forgotten how good Powe was before the injury. You must have forgot how he was running the length of the court in the finals vs. the lakers and dunkin on people. He was abusing the lakers in the finals. Don't get me wrong I am happy with BBD and he has the higher BBIQ and a better jumper (even though its suspect) but Powe at the end of the day was better before the injuries.
They are different in a lot of ways and neither one is WAY better than the other. I liked having both of them bc they bring different stuff to the table. It does not matter anymore bc we have BBD and Powe is recovering from ACL surgery and may never be the same player.
I agree, a healthy Leon and Sheed would've fit together better. I still think Sheed and Baby will fit together fine. I recall our lack of a true BU C coming back to bite us in the butt a few times between 08 and 09. The only time we were sufficiently sized with a skilled BU C was PJ Brown, which of course was worked out well but it wasn't for long. Rasheed more than solves that problem now. The problem was that either Leon or baby was often facing a mismatch when they were both court. They made up for it by both being active and playing relatively smart, but one of them had to go. If Leon were healthy, I can't say he would've been the one to go instead of Glen Davis, but it didn't go down that way.
I'm going to wait and see what shape Glen Davis is in and what difference it makes on his game and/or how he plays the game before I draw any more conclusions on him. I thought it was preposterous to consider that he could ever play the 3, but if he's in as good of shape as people are saying, than who knows what he'll be capable of? Maybe something nobody ever seen out of him, maybe things he's never been able to do before. Just keep in mind Sheed and Baby haven't played a game together yet so it's a bit premature to say how their chemistry will be.
Also, I haven't forgetting how much of a beast Leon was for us. He wasn't automatic though, he went through a pretty substantial slump of his own last season.
What it all boils down to is that I've had enough of the offseason. The moves, the speculation, the anticipation....I can't take it anymore!!! I need to see some basketball already.
