Will MKG be the centerpiece? Or is it Kemba?

[fatlever]

Add Gus Williams from the '79 Sonics to that list. His surname does sound weird on that list along Magic and Isiah though.

my math was off... haha. 32 years not 42. i meant to end the discussion at 1980. the 70s were a mess.

[fatlever]

we you guys know i am generally very pessimistic by nature. i hope you are right in that either kemba or MKG can eventually be that alpha/franchise cornerstone, but i will remain doubtful.

the way i see it is more like MKG as the glue guy, the quiet leader and the #2 best player. kemba as the vocal leader and the #3/4 guy (or premier 6th man supersub) and the #1 superstar yet to be acquired (either a premier do-it-all scoring shooting guard, or a dominate two way big man). i dont think we have found our MJ, kobe, lebron, durant, shaq, duncan, bird, magic, hakeem, garnett level player quite yet.

but there is more than one way to go about getting to the finals. jason kidd let two mediocre nets teams to the finals. iverson lead a team of scrubs to the finals. the pistons made it with overall team play. the late 90s pacers went to the finals with pretty much a balanced team play - reggie was no superstar. payton led the sonics to the finals.

[kd35sneighbor]

ideally we dont build the team around either. both are complimentary players on a championship team.

I may have to disagree with you there. I probably have higher hopes for Kidd-Gilchrist than most, but I think he can be "the man" on a great team in 3 years or so.

I actually think that he has the exact strengths a second best player on a team has. I'm not seeing him ever being "the man", just because I don't think he'll be the guy who can get you a bucket when you need one in the last minute of the game. I see him becoming more of a Scottie Pippen, Shawn Marion type of player.

This and the person who said MKG's too quiet, that sounds like Duncan to me. And there's no question he's the Spurs leader.

To the mod who keeps saying "we don't have to build around either" that simply is not the case for any contending team. Even the OKC team is built around Durant no matter how much you say it was built around "both". Presti chose a PG like WB so Durant would never be tired carrying the load. That's called building around him...

[Diop]

jason kidd let two mediocre nets teams to the finals.

[fatlever]

@kd - i assume you were talking about me. i am saying that ideally neither MKG or kemba is the guy we should build around. neither are franchise cornerstones. MKG is a sidekick by nature and skillset and kemba isnt good enough to be the best player on a championship team even though he has the alpha dog mentality. MKG is the guy you put next to your superstar. we dont have that superstar on the roster yet.

in the short term you build this team around kemba since is is the team's alpha dog. MKG is the sidekick and the glue guy.

[Kilo Graham]

ideally we dont build the team around either. both are complimentary players on a championship team.

I may have to disagree with you there. I probably have higher hopes for Kidd-Gilchrist than most, but I think he can be "the man" on a great team in 3 years or so.

I actually think that he has the exact strengths a second best player on a team has. I'm not seeing him ever being "the man", just because I don't think he'll be the guy who can get you a bucket when you need one in the last minute of the game. I see him becoming more of a Scottie Pippen, Shawn Marion type of player.

Scottie Pippen was better than Durant is right now.

[Kilo Graham]

Kemba will be the franchise player, MKG is a great glue guy that does all the right things, we need a SG that can spread the floor and is a great defender. we also need a inside post scorer.

stun, do you really think a team can will a championship with kemba as the best player on the team?

there have only been two point guards in the past 42 years (maybe longer) who won rings as the alpha player on the team - magic johnson and isiah thomas. magic had 3-4 hall of famers next to him to help him and isiah had dumars, rodman, laimbeer, vinny, aguirre (5 all-star level players).

rajon rondo made the celtics a contender well past the big three's actual skill

[Eoghan]

we you guys know i am generally very pessimistic by nature. i hope you are right in that either kemba or MKG can eventually be that alpha/franchise cornerstone, but i will remain doubtful.

the way i see it is more like MKG as the glue guy, the quiet leader and the #2 best player. kemba as the vocal leader and the #3/4 guy (or premier 6th man supersub) and the #1 superstar yet to be acquired (either a premier do-it-all scoring shooting guard, or a dominate two way big man). i dont think we have found our MJ, kobe, lebron, durant, shaq, duncan, bird, magic, hakeem, garnett level player quite yet.

but there is more than one way to go about getting to the finals. jason kidd let two mediocre nets teams to the finals. iverson lead a team of scrubs to the finals. the pistons made it with overall team play. the late 90s pacers went to the finals with pretty much a balanced team play - reggie was no superstar. payton led the sonics to the finals.

I'm pretty much on the same wavelength with fats. I'll inject my big man bias into the convo: Kobe needed Shaq and later to win, Wade needed Shaq and later LeBron (and the understated Bosh), Pistons needed the two Wallaces, etc. You need some sort of competent inside threat to make the road to a championship more probable than plausible. I even attribute the Mavs winning b/c Dirk learned to rebound competently and they had a solid rotation of bigs. I think OKC is stuck as pretenders unless they turn Perkins into somebody better or Ibaka takes his game to the next level.

For our guys, like fats said, our super scorer or dominant big is yet to be drafted IMO. But also, I don't think it's right to pencil in a 19 year old as a guy who will only play the sidekick role. Just b/c that's the role he played at UK doesn't mean that Davis' game can't stall and MKG's can surpass him a legit stud. We drafted the guy b/c his floor was glue guy but also b/c his ceiling was very tall with the potential of him being a then 18 yo project wing.

[Liver_Pooty]

Gilchrist is the future of this franchise.

[Kilo Graham]

Gilchrist has more potential than any player who has ever played for the bobcats, and Biyombo has tied him because of his immense physical gifts.

[freakon0mics]

The term centerpiece doesn't have to mean the go to scorer on the team. It could also mean the person that just changes the culture of the whole team. MKG is so far fitting that bill as the centerpiece. He's obviously young at 19 and has aspects of his game to improve on but his mindset and tenacity on the court is rubbing off on everyone else.

[Elden Payton]

I think on our current course of team building will see us at worst be a perrennial playoff team.

Offensively Kemba is our centrepiece and Gilchrist is our elite glue guy imo, both are leaders of this team.