How much shooting do we actually need?

[Cowology]

Floor spacing has been a major point of discussion with Monroe/Drummond up front, but my question is... how much do we actually need to address it? I think the big problem right now is that we don't know how much we can actually rely on certain people.

As we currently stand, best case scenario our guards (Knight/KCP) can both spread the floor and Monroe develops that consistent 14-17 footer. IF that's the case, should't we actually be OK with a slasher at SF? There are plenty of threads dedicated to arguing the specific candidates (Iggy/Gay/Smooth/etc), but regardless of how you feel about them I think the theory may be sound.

We do however need a couple of dead eye shooters off the bench. We potentially have 1 or 2 of those guys already, the question, as with most of our roster, is if they will develop an overall talent level justifying their place in the rotation.

Unfortunately, IF Knight continues to struggle, KCP is slow to develop and Monroe can't fix that jumper then we've got major problems. Even if long term that backcourt works out, how much are we expecting KCP to actually play and contribute his rookie year, and how can we balance the teams long term interest with not being a complete disaster this coming season?

I dunno, I think I'm settling on not being particularly concerned over the lack of shooting in our FA targets...yet. Rebuilding is always a process and if we severely struggle then perhaps we'll add another shooter or two near the deadline or next Summer. Right now we mostly need talent and assets, whatever form that may come in.

[dan2314]

yeah, well our strength for the next how ever many years is going to lie in our twin towers, and any team with that, needs the guys around them to make sure defenses cant collapse so that it continues to be our strength.

monroe is really more suited as a post player, both high and low, and with drummond already sitting underneath the rim, he is going to have to venture out towards those elbows a little bit more and if youre no threat to shoot from there then defenses can hurt you. him doing that might be more beneficial than anything else.

i think the grizzlies are a perfect team to compare to. they show how effective a 2 big lineup where a lot of offense runs through the PF can be. the thing that let them down especially once they got to the WCF was teams doubling and severly overplaying weakside help from prince and allen which they could not punish them for. it resulted in them having to play pondexter and bayless a whole heap more even though they are not as solid overall players but they could shoot.
i remember watching the series against the thunder though, and seeing mark gasol be very solid with his jumpshot, which i never thought he could hit. once they got the spurs though, the shot wasnt there for him and it was very costly.

so yes, spacing around two bigs is very important. but as long as KCP or maybe if its mayo at the 2, aswell as brandon or jose at the point, i dont think it would hurt too much to have a slasher at the 3, but they have to be atleast solid enough that teams cant just double the paint and not even have to rotate out to the open guy.
i think most of us have clearly expressed they way josh smith might be a guy just like that, where defenses will just look at him saying, go on shoot it, if you make it thats fine, but were not going to rotate off bk or kcp. igoudalas not great, but hes better than that, he is respectable from 3, and will make you pay if you simply let him shoot.

[wire28]

more

[rmfc]

One shooter--slasher (don't care if it's PG/SG/SF --basically, your do-it-all player) + 2 lights out shooters.

These types of players would fit in very nicely with a Monroe--Drummond front court.

[Dre Drummond]

Kyle Korver is one of the best in the NBA and still a FA. I wonder if any team is going to offer him more than $20 million over 4.

[coordinator0]

Kyle Korver is one of the best in the NBA and still a FA. I wonder if any team is going to offer him more than $20 million over 4.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/ESPNSteinLine/status/352425893509074946[/tweet]

Yup.

[jaredtyshaf]

I agree with you man. A lot of posters on here are acting like EVERY free agent we target has to be an elite 3pt shooter. I just want us to get upgrades at the wings and build the team around their strengths.

If JSmoove played SF for us then we could clog up the paint on offense and defense and over power other teams. Iggy would be a great point forward to run the offense through.

My point is that there are a lot of identities this team could take and we don't need to commit to just one. We should just try to get the best players we can get and let the chips fall where they may.

[Cowology]

Korver is exactly the sort of guy I'd love to have off my bench. A non-expensive (relatively speaking) role guy, who actually knows what that role is and excels at it. If we have 1-2 guys like that off the bench, then we don't need 4x 3pt shooters around Drummond in the starting lineup.

And again, we can keep adding pieces over the next few years. There will continue to be roster turnover. We aren't going to be a finished product this season no matter what we do over the next 2 months.

[Notanoob]

I'm a huge fan of adding Korver. Outside of Lebron's layup to beat the Pacers, pretty much every important moment in the playoffs was some guy hitting a three, like Green or Allen. We can always use more guys who are snipers from beyond the arc. Regardless of how the rest of our team develops, I think that it would be a good idea to add more shooters, even if they're just role players from the bench. Remember that insane bench unit we had going early in the season? When CV and Daye were hitting 3's, that offense was churning out points like a machine. But they sucked, and weren't consistent. Guys like Korver would be a great thing to have.

[DetroitDon15]

I think if we bring back Calderon that we should be set in that department.

[DetroitSho]

I think if we bring back Calderon that we should be set in that department.

You with Calderon and Jodi with Knight. I don't get it.

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[E-Z]

I think Detroit could possibly groom some swingmen into hitting the corner three to say the least. Even Tayshaun was reliable from that spot.

The Spurs transformed a non-shooting Leonard into a corner threat. It's not impossible.

This is partly the reason why I'm okay (at best) with guys like Iggy and Smith. Detroit's defense needs to be shored up much more than their offense. I'd rather see the Pistons lose by 3 than by 5 plus every night.

Calderon wouldn't solve the problem. A team can close out on one shooter (assuming Knight wouldn't be paired with Calderon again).

However a team can't rotate to cover the weak-side if the ball gets swung around fast enough.


That said, I'd prefer another wing shooter. From somewhere, anywhere.

[ImHeisenberg]

Maybe you didn't understand me. When I said, "I want all of your shooters", I mean every one you have.

[RTM]

I didn't think we should target Korver at first, but he might be a great fit.

[Snakebites]

I think we need at least one more reliable shooter in our rotation.

I'm really a lot more concerned about taking on guys like Smoove who not only don't have outside range but are actively awful at shooting in general.

[jars]

We need two guys on the court who are knock down shooters whenever we have Monroe and Drummond on the floor at the same time. The final player in that 5 does not need to be a knock down shooter but needs to be a threat so defenses at least attempt to guard him. If we can get a slasher with a reasonable outside shot that would be best for us IMO.

Role players who can knock down multiple threes in limited minutes on cheap contracts are some of the most valuable players in the league. If you want to make a deep run in playoffs you need these guys.

[bennett13]

More than what we got!!!

[Pharaoh]

How much shooting do we actually need? Enough!

We don't know if Middleton, English, Jerebko, Mitchell can contribute 15-20 minutes every night because our last coach was a moron

We also don't know if Drummond can handle more than 28 minutes every night, or if Slava can play 10-15 minutes!

What we do know is that we don't know enough about the vast majority of our roster. And until we do so we should be looking at upgrading every possible position

We need a quality PG that can run an offense.
We need a quality SG that can create his own shot and hit from downtown
We need a quality SF that can play some good D and hit from long range
We need a quality big man to team with Monroe and take some of the burden off Drummond

I'm happy Joe is active... dude needs to be! Our roster is craptacular!