Paradise wrote:kerry kittles wrote:Paradise wrote:
Bojan was brought in to be the filler to Pierce. Pierce only played PF once Brook went down and had Pierce re-signed we would've reverted back to the Pierce/KG/Lopez frontcourt.
Bojan is practically mirrioring what Pierce provides on a rookie salary. Pierce actually thought he was worth another 12 million.
What we would've paid him wouldn't have effected any of our options, only Prok's luxury tax bill as he wasn't signing anything longer than a 2 year deal and we are capped out those 2 years as is.
I don't think we would've reverted to Pierce/KG/Lopez. Hollins said before the season Joe is SF. I could've seen something similar to what we ran at the end of the year Deron/AA/Joe/Paul/KG.
Simply because KG needs to keep his consecutive streak alive. Then after the start KG get minutes at PF - not much in general.
Pierce or KG still wouldn't have agreed to a bench role. Paying Pierce that much and being forced to give him a significant role regardless of being capped out isn't a great idea. Wizards fans are already turning on him.
Pierce agreed to come off the bench last year. He did for a few games in December when Kidd was trying to see what lineups would work. He said "If you approach the game looking at the big picture and it's all about the team and it's about winning, if that's what's best for the team, then so be it. I'm willing to do whatever"
I can't see how you can say he wouldn't agree to come off the bench when he did it for a short stint last year and never had a problem. The guy is the ultimate team player.
The Wizards are playing him at SF - which we forewarned their fans that he was less effective there. Primarily, their fans are blaming Wittman and hate him. They also have issues with Nene and Gortat starting together, Beal hasn't taken the next step like the envisioned, they had some injuries throughout the year, etc. They're not thrilled with Paul's play, but there a lot of compounding factors resulting in frustration.
Paul's play last year goes beyond the numbers. He was far more impactful that Bogdanovic. Look at the thread realbigthree started in around March about who was our MVP - and Paul was the leading vote getter. He was a big part of our defensive resurgence where we started switching everything - forcing a number of turnovers. Could Bogdanovic have filled that role? I highly doubt it.
Paul also was big for us in some huge moment, and a great leader and locker room presence. He hit all the big shots down the stretch of game 1 against the Raptors, and had the play of the series blocking Lowry's shot at the end.
Like I said and MGrand did Paul was a PF for us last year. I believe if he came back that's where he would've played. We struggled with depth there throughout the season. If Hollins played Joe there I see no reason why we wouldn't play Paul there. If he said before the season started Joe is a SF - a position he switched to 1/1 along with Paul switching to PF I think he would've said Paul is a PF.
So i don't like the comparison as they played different position, filled different roles for us.
