The NBA's final 4 and draft strategy

[revprodeji]

Al looks much more stronger than Lopez. I do not see Lopez being the massive strong defensive 5 we need next to Al. Lopez is taller, but I really doubt his strength.

I do think Mayo improves our defense. He is an upgrade from McCant's lack of defense. In that way he improves the defense. Anytime you can improve an athlete at a wing spot in the modern NBA then your defense improves. I am not saying he is Bowen or even Brewer, but we know Mayo wants to improve and I could see him being a very good wing defender.

Thanks for adding to the argument Wormguts.

[TrentTuckerForever]

^Mod fight!

Rev makes a good point though - Mayo will be a superior defensive player to McCants. That does improve the Wolves' perimeter defense... we're not adding Bruce Bowen, but Mayo would be an improvement.

And in the interest of full disclosure - I am the who's drunk here. I'm at work, where I do the bulk of my drinking.

[Worm Guts]

Thanks for adding to the argument Wormguts.

When you say a 7ft, 260 pound dude won't play center you don't deserve a well thought out response.

Why would we need a massive, strong center next to Al? We need a tall, mobile guy who can play help defense and ideally shoot a little bit. Interior defense is always more important than perimeter defense.

[invno1]

Mayo & Mcants gives you the outside game that would loosen up Aj inside.

[revprodeji]

I do not see Lopez being physical enough to fill our need. Last year it was clear that we

--needed a weakside shot blocker

--A big strong body to put on the Haywoods and Dally of the world.

7ft 260 (*btw--NO WAY HE IS 260) should mean center if he was strong. So lets look at similar figures.

Yi Jian --7ft 242
Hawes--7ft--244
Jason Smith---7ft 233
Even a 7'1 280 Aaron Gray was not strong enough
Andrea Bargnani is a 7ft 240

There are more examples but the fact is that even if Lopez does score a 250 I do not see him as a physical 5. Rather a long-term 4. I simply see him beat up a lot.

[revprodeji]

Once again...I want Mayo and a center in the later 1st. But I will be ok with Lopez. I just see Mayo as a much better prospect.

[Worm Guts]

I do not see Lopez being physical enough to fill our need. Last year it was clear that we

--needed a weakside shot blocker

--A big strong body to put on the Haywoods and Dally of the world.

7ft 260 (*btw--NO WAY HE IS 260) should mean center if he was strong. So lets look at similar figures.

Yi Jian --7ft 242
Hawes--7ft--244
Jason Smith---7ft 233
Even a 7'1 280 Aaron Gray was not strong enough
Andrea Bargnani is a 7ft 240

There are more examples but the fact is that even if Lopez does score a 250 I do not see him as a physical 5. Rather a long-term 4. I simply see him beat up a lot.

You don't think Lopez is 16 pounds heavier than Hawes? or 18 pounds heavier than Yi? I think 260 is about right. He's as equipped as anyone in this draft to defend bigger centers like Haywood. He's definitely a 5. No doubt about it.

[invno1]

How about Mayo and the best talent available?

[Devilzsidewalk]

Rashos a 5 and he's a pretty decent defensive 5, but he has the physique of an old woman.

Vlade Divac was even worse looking, plus he was a smoker. Jahidi White was built like the incredible hulk and he could barely stay on a roster.

[revprodeji]

I have heard other people suggest that Lopez is barely 250.

Hawes is kind of pudgy. Lopez is more "built" but I would not be surprised if they weigh in similiar. I just have serious concerns about his physical play.

[horaceworthy]

Al looks much more stronger than Lopez. I do not see Lopez being the massive strong defensive 5 we need next to Al. Lopez is taller, but I really doubt his strength.

I do think Mayo improves our defense. He is an upgrade from McCant's lack of defense. In that way he improves the defense. Anytime you can improve an athlete at a wing spot in the modern NBA then your defense improves. I am not saying he is Bowen or even Brewer, but we know Mayo wants to improve and I could see him being a very good wing defender.

I don't think Al looks much stronger than Lopez. Al looks like the typical pudgy kid that lost weight recently. Lopez looks pretty solidly built, and those that have seen him in person, such as JonG, have commented on how much thicker he appeared in person. I've always disagreed on needing a massive 5 next to Al in the first place, I think we need a good defensive player that can check the opponent's primary frontcourt threat, regardless of the PF/C label, in order to protect Al from foul trouble and save him for the offensive end.

I won't dispute that Mayo's a better defensive player than McCants, but that's not exactly a glowing endorsement.

A defensive upgrade in the paint improves a team's defense more than a wing player, and Lopez is, by most accounts a very good defensive prospect. Good mobility, cerebral, solid build, etc. He was billed as a defensive presence coming out of high school, and he didn't seem to do anything to lose that rep while at Stanford. He anchored one of the best defenses in the nation, and picked up the slack on the offensive end as well.

There are definitely reasons to take Mayo over Lopez, but the potential impact on our team's defense isn't one of them.

[andyhop]

Al played mostly center and mostly poor defense at center. I stand my my original assertion that he's a liability.

He's way better at PF, we've all been preaching that, but thus far he's been a center. And as of today he's still a center, and if they draft OJ Mayo he'll continue to be a center and a defensive liability barring significant improvement.

I agree that he is a liability as a center defensively to an extent, but everybody seems to extend that to his defensive potential at PF where he is actually pretty good as a man defender.

Even at center whilst his opponent shoots an eFG of 56% they only get 17.8 points per 48 minutes off of 12.6 shots, so he or the team are preventing it being a massive factor in the game by denying shot opportunities that could be converted at a high rate.

Yes we need another big to help him out but the main problem defensively isn't Al it is the sieve like backcourt.Either Lopez to try and stop it after it happens or Mayo to try and prevent it occuring in the first place should help out and improve the teams main defensive weakness.