ZBo is the man now...

[mid-post]

Will we be better off?

I just came across a post on the other grizzlies forum that perfectly summed up my concerns about this team's offense:

Right now I see a 6-9 player who is limited physically but is smart and crafty. He is missing way way way too many shots. He gets rebounds no doubt, but when he is defended by a long, tall player who makes him work and work and work to even get around to accept the entry pass, his production seems to go way down.

Defenses beat on him, bang on him, deny deny deny the entry pass. Sometimes by the time Zach can even get around his defender, over half the shot clock is gone and we must look elsewhere. The off guard on defense sags down and watches for Zbo to put the ball on the floor and many times just steals it or rakes at it. We just dont see the 20 pts/10+ reb games like we used to.

Our ace in the hole SHOULD be Marc Gasol, but one never knows which Marc will show up.

I am just concerned that the FO is depending on Zach to deliver the goods like he did 2 years ago. They have taken away the impediments to that--OJ and Rudy and now we have a bunch of role players. We dont have a superstar per se, but it appears that the FO is trying to make the combination of Marc and Zach our makeshift superstar and the rest of the team is made up of complimentary pieces. I am willing to give this a little time to gel. But I think the FO is taking a chance that could backfire.

There was something off with this offense for a while now, and I couldn't put my finger on it, but what he's said is almost exactly how I feel. I remember a few years back (2010 or so) when tsherkin described our offense as "throw the ball at the rim and hope for an offensive rebound." At the time I disagreed with him because we were getting buckets and there was a lot of flow there, plus we were getting out in transition. But it kind of looks like that's where we're headed. If we don't get some 3 point shooting going (or Marc breaks out) we are in some serious shid here.

[darkangle901]

Allen has to go to the bench.

3 years and still no jumpshot? Even Bruce Bowen - a 40% FT shooter - eventually became a good 3 pt shooter, since that's all that was asked of him offensively.

Even Hakeem would have had problems operating in the post if his starting SG was a complete non-threat beyond 12 feet.

[darkangle901]

And actually Allen has been in the league a lot longer than three years in basically the same role he's in here.

[vanjulio]

The only guy on our roster that can potentially replace Tony Allen for a spell is Q.

[darkangle901]

The only guy on our roster that can potentially replace Tony Allen for a spell is Q.

I feel like Q is a better overall player than Allen. He won't generate the turnovers TA does, but he is arguably more difficult to get a good shot against, especially given his length and body strength.

I doubt Kevin Durant would be very happy to see Q and Prince for a seven-game series. They're longer and quicker than the Allen-Battier tandem that frustrated him so much 2 years ago.

The 42% shooting from beyond the arc doesn't hurt Q's case either.