Tor - ATL Blockbuster that could shake things up....

kloo7 · Post #21 » by **kloo7** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 8:12 pm

The Raptors would never consider trading Ford at this point because his value is lower than ever. Hold onto him, let him continue playing. His value to the Raptors is MUCH higher than it is to any other team at this point.

conleyorbust · Post #22 » by **conleyorbust** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 8:39 pm

Schadenfreude wrote:Honest question for Hawks fans: is Shelden really a good defender? His defensive stats are not good; Bargnani averages more blocks per minute in his career, and his on/off court defensive numbers are negative or neutral. Going by the numbers, at least, Humphries is a vastly superior defender...

Honestly, he isn't.

He was a good shotblocker in college but doesn't have the lift to be one in the NBA. He isn't quick enough to switch out and gets beat by more mobile 4s. He is a decent ball-hawk and he is fairly strong which means he is occasionally a good post defender but he doesn't seem like he wants to be a specialist like that.

The Hawks big men coaches are pretty bad though. Smith only became a solid post player because he sought out Hakeem in the summer. Shelden has some of the instincts to play decent post D and he certainly has the body for it. Last season he even had a decent midrange jumper that he could use on offense. He runs the floor well (but has terrible hands and doesn't finish well) and can be aggressive enough to draw fouls in the half court. I could see him turning into Kurt Thomas if someone were to sit him down and tell him that it would be his best wat to stick in the league.