An interesting scenario

[aaron_gray]

You are the general manager of a NBA team. Your starting center is a 6'11 post player who offers no rim protection and has no range outside of 15 feet. You are tasked with choosing someone to play power forward along side him. Your choices are:

a. Generic shot blocker with no offensive game except to go for offensive rebounds (so spacing will be cramped)
b. Generic stretch four who offers no rim protection
c. A small forward who can shoot and somewhat block shots, but gets eaten alive in the post by anybody and everybody

So in this situation, who would you choose to pair your center with?

Spoiler:

This is actually a less than humorous exercise for the many eastern conference GMs currently facing this conundrum

Spoiler:

All the above then trade them for picks

[rand0m]

It depends on the rest of the lineup too. But I'd go with A.

[Slava]

Serge Ibaka or KG? The problem with that scenario is that a PF with elite rim protection is very very rare.

[aaron_gray]

No offensive game. Think Bismack Biyombo.

[ArC_man]

B or C is fine with me (leaning towards C), depends how bad B is at rebounding, positional defense, and PnR defense. Players of the A-mold are typically offensive liabilities and are usually poor FT shooters as well.

I'm of the belief that rim protection is a bit overrated if you have elite wing defense. The Warriors won the finals without utilizing their elite rim protection (they definitely needed it to get to the finals though so don't get me wrong), so in your example of trying to get out of the East I don't think it's such a necessity.

[Sofa King]

All the above then trade them for picks

[tugs]

Probably go with A. If by going after boards and no offensive game you mean Ben Wallace, then yeah A.

[Showtime3242]

I'd go A...even though I am a big Jim Buss and Mitch supporter, I'm still bummed we didn't go after Bismack Biyombo. Two years for six million is a steal. Good backup shot - blocking center who still has upside.

[Mirjalovic]

Okafor/Kanter + Biyombo duo is logical.

[dockingsched]

These options really drove home the point of how hard it is to build off of a featured post player that can't defend his position. The amount of players around the league that can cover and complement such a player are few and far between.

[Laker_Kid]

I'd go A...even though I am a big Jim Buss and Mitch supporter, I'm still bummed we didn't go after Bismack Biyombo. Two years for six million is a steal. Good backup shot - blocking center who still has upside.

we have enough undersized bigs...

if this center is okafor id choose pf A to cover up for him ala ed davis.

[rzzzzz]

6'11", not a rim protector, no outside shot. anybody we know? i'd go A, someone like Nerlens Noel, but i'd draft a project like Richaun Holmes who has hops and can hit the 3.

[ArC_man]

Okafor/Kanter + Biyombo duo is logical.

That's a spacing nightmare. Biyombo's lack of range on the offensive end would make life difficult for Okafor in the post since Okafor will rarely get single coverage. Not to mention both of those guys shoot ~50% FTs so you can't even play that combo at the end of games.

[Mirjalovic]

Okafor/Kanter + Biyombo duo is logical.

That's a spacing nightmare. Biyombo's lack of range on the offensive end would make life difficult for Okafor in the post since Okafor will rarely get single coverage. Not to mention both of those guys shoot ~50% FTs so you can't even play that combo at the end of games.

he can always learn to shoot.

a good organization like Thunder successfully transform Ibaka (basically a Biyombo) to 3pt threat big.

[ArC_man]

Okafor/Kanter + Biyombo duo is logical.

That's a spacing nightmare. Biyombo's lack of range on the offensive end would make life difficult for Okafor in the post since Okafor will rarely get single coverage. Not to mention both of those guys shoot ~50% FTs so you can't even play that combo at the end of games.

he can always learn to shoot.

a good organization like Thunder successfully transform Ibaka (basically a Biyombo) to 3pt threat big.

If it were so easy to become a good shooter while being a good shotblocker/defender you'd think there would be more players like Ibaka. Right now the only players with Ibaka's skillset (mobile rim protector with a good stroke) are Anthony Davis and maybe Karl Towns.

[aaron_gray]

If it were so easy to become a good shooter while being a good shotblocker/defender you'd think there would be more players like Ibaka. Right now the only players with Ibaka's skillset (mobile rim protector with a good stroke) are Anthony Davis and maybe Karl Towns.

Derrick Favors actually has a passable mid-range jumper, while his offensive game is undeniable more complete than Ibaka's. Al Horford has a better jumper but is not as much of a rim protector. Gorgui is a mobile shot blocker with a ridiculous bank shot. You can probably make a case for Taj Gibson and Terrence Jones from last year. And then you have the centers who can shoot, block and pass but aren't what you would normally consider as mobile.

I agree with your point though. If the player truly has no offense and stone hands, trying to teach him a jump shot won't work. There is however, a scenario where if the post player is a decent passer, player A could then just go chill along the baseline in no man's land, out of the way. If the post player gets doubled, player A shifts under the basket, catches the easy pass from the post player and completes the lay in. Or the post player could throw up a hook with player A going for the uncontested rebound. Just a couple of ways to try and make it work. The spacing would be tight, but not impossible to figure out.

[ArC_man]

If it were so easy to become a good shooter while being a good shotblocker/defender you'd think there would be more players like Ibaka. Right now the only players with Ibaka's skillset (mobile rim protector with a good stroke) are Anthony Davis and maybe Karl Towns.

Derrick Favors actually has a passable mid-range jumper, while his offensive game is undeniable more complete than Ibaka's. Al Horford has a better jumper but is not as much of a rim protector. Gorgui is a mobile shot blocker with a ridiculous bank shot. You can probably make a case for Taj Gibson and Terrence Jones from last year. And then you have the centers who can shoot, block and pass but aren't what you would normally consider as mobile.

I agree with your point though. If the player truly has no offense and stone hands, trying to teach him a jump shot won't work. There is however, a scenario where if the post player is a decent passer, player A could then just go chill along the baseline in no man's land, out of the way. If the post player gets doubled, player A shifts under the basket, catches the easy pass from the post player and completes the lay in. Or the post player could throw up a hook with player A going for the uncontested rebound. Just a couple of ways to try and make it work. The spacing would be tight, but not impossible to figure out.

Yea I don't think it's a death sentence to pair up player A with someone like Okafor, but I do think that it's not maximizing Okafor's potential (assuming we're building around Okafor). With the player A setup you could also utilize Okafor's mobility/passing+decision making advantage in the PnR while player A stays on the baseline. It'll be interesting to see Philly's offense this year (I'm not watching their games though )

[Spens1]

I'd go for the Small forward, you need spacing, that is very important, but not at the expense of defense, this is the best of both worlds. I'm imagining something akin to a Marion sort of player with LMA