younggunsmn wrote:It's about developing players. Indiana did a great job developing hibbert. We suck at developing players. Hibbert was overweight, out of shape, uncoordinated, and just plain awful most of his first couple seasons. Dude has totally transformed his body, his agility, and his game. Kevin Love is still out of shape and slower than he was when he got here. He'd better hope Kevin Spacey doesn't mistake him for the deadly sin "sloth" and come looking for him.
That seems to be more Love's fault then anything. I mean, he played summer ball this offseason and has still come in looking slow and out of shape.
We can keep talking about trading for players other teams have developed, or we can start seeing some of our own guys improve. We need to concentrate on guys with the physical skillsets to be dominant at their positions (Darko, Wes, Beasley, Webster, Love, Jonny) and give them every opportunity to succeed (IE not yank them for scrubs all the time). If I were Rambis I'd run Love out there until he nearly fell over for 5 or 6 games in a row until he gets the hint he needs to get in better shape.
Beasley and Wes don't get yanked and Flynn and Webster are out, so that leaves Darko and Love. Neither of them have been playing well and neither have the physical skill sets to be dominant at their positions.
I talked about this in another thread, but why does everyone think you can just keep Love out there and he'll run? If he won't hustle in the sub 30 minutes he's getting now why in the hell would he bother doing it if you gave him 40. He'd do the same thing he always does with big minutes; coast defensively and be too tired to do anything offensively. No, I think Rambis is right to yank him. It's the only way to get through to a guy like Love.
I don't think Bynum or Oden are good ideas. I don't think either will ever be completely healthy for an extended period, mostly because their own physiology makes them so prone to injury. If we can get oden for cheap next offseason, I'm all for it, but not at big money and not for more than 2 or 3 years. Bynum is going nowhere as long as the lakers have to worry about the prospect of playing dwight howard in the finals.
Agreed. Although that Portland medical staff looks like it's made up of Dr Frankenstein and Jack the Ripper. Maybe with a fresh start Oden can get healthy.
I'd probably risk it, assuming the team got Jones or Barnes in the draft. After that the team is pretty much set for the future for good or bad.
