Lack of true stretch four.

[xSABOx]

I know the latest trend in the nba is having a "Draymond Green", but that's not true. It's always been the trend, just not as advertised. Look at all of the past few dynasties and Champs of the last 15 years, every team had a 4 that could shoot it.

Bulls - Toni Kukoc
Lakers/SPURS - Robert Horry
Pistons - Rasheed/Okur
Heat - Antoine Walker in 06/Chris Bosh
Lakers - Lamar Odom
Mavs - Dirk
Spurs - Diaw/bonner

The lack of a solid stretch 4 is my biggest concern with the way the team is currently being constructed. A lot of these guys have potential to become one, but the question is which?

Ryan Kelly hasn't shown it in games. I feel like he would be solid with the Spurs where he could just play that role with a bunch of stars around him. But on this team with the lack of stars, too much is asked of him and he gets exposed. Bad.

Julia Randle, potentially, if you read past articles about his shooting ability but I haven't seen it in college or the nba where he can go out to the 3pt line. Then again neither did Paul Milsap and look at him now. It he develops that, the guy will be a borderline all-star. But so far I'm not seeing it.

Larry Nance Jr.is an athletic monster who is going to be asked to cause chaos defensively and run the break offensively. But nothing in his passed suggests he can hit the 3 at a high clip.

Brandon Bass is a midrange monster. But that's all he's ever been and that won't be changing this season.

Jonathan Holmes showed the potential for the shot in summer league. I'm hopeful it wasn't an arbitration and will actually become part of his game. I didn't watch any action of him but his stats didn't show he can shoot it in college. But again, he did it in SL. Top rated prospect that slipped for some reason, hopefully he's the steal that can develop into that spot.

I'm seriously hoping one of these guys develop it this season or were gonna have another year of watching two bigs contest the middle, sitting at the elbows and our guards just forcing up dribble handoffs from mid range all game.

[Slava]

I think its rather clear the kind of PF Scott is looking for after investing into Randle and Bass. I feel Kelly if utilized properly can be that guy for about 10-15 mins a game but he needs to not be played out of position and given a clearly defined role. I'm hoping to see small ball bench line ups with Bass at C and Kelly at PF.

[salmahayek]

The "stretch four" may be en vogue, however, give me a rebounder, defender, someone who can get offensive rebounds and score inside, and run the floor first - before I worry about my four taking long jumpers and/or his three - point shooting prowess.

[FrozenIceCubes]

I think the potential need for a elite stretch 4 might give the Lakers a long pause to aggressively try to acquire Markieff.

[Kilroy]

Look at that list again... With the possible exception of Kukoc, those guys were a lot more than just 'stretch 4s.' Dirk doesn't belong on the list because his position is irrelevant. He's a superstar and the guy you build around not a position player.
But for the other guys, I'd say the unifying factor for them is their versatility and ability to adapt to the situation the roster provides them.

I think that term is over-used and I think the perceived 'requirement' is way over-stated. If you have a dominant Center, you need less interior presence from the 4. So he can float out a little more and focus more on scoring. But conversely, if you have outside shooters from 1-3, you don't need a 4 that does that too, you need more interior presence and rebounding. It would be silly to swap Green for more of a pure stretch 4 on that team. Just like it would be silly to put a pure PF next to Howard.

[Slava]

You also cannot run a stretch 4 with Hibbert, he is not the greatest rebounder despite his size.

[mcscotty]

Certainly not the only thing this team lacks. Unless that stretch 4 is a healthy KD, this team is going nowhere. The 2015-16 season is gonna be all about developing our prospects, celebrating Kobe's career, and possibly sucking bad enough to keep the 3rd pick.

[john248]

Well the stretch 4 has really just been replaced by small ball which is really ... have good all-around players. Zach Lowe wrote a great article about Draymond Green during the playoffs that I'm too lazy to look up now. I'll try and summarize it.

Basically, Draymond Green is a jack of all trades. Even if we were to take away his defensive impact, which is obviously huge, his offensive impact is still there too. As a 3PT shooter, he's really just minimally good at it but still can stretch the floor to create space for others. He was also a good passer in college which obviously translated to the pros. With his ability to handle the ball, he becomes an additional threat to bring the all up and make plays. He can also make passes in the half-court. Then you have the fact that he's involved in almost every single play due to the shear amount of screens that he sets. Essentially, he's not a 1 dimensional "stretch 4".

As such, guys like Ryan Kelly, Ryan Anderson, and Channing Frye have gotten less valuable over the years. You don't need a PF to guard those guys. You can stick anyone on them because they are just stationary, spot-up players. Sure these guys are tall, but there's no reason to give them tons of minutes when you can play a SF who may have the same range and have more ball skills such as ball handling and passing.

Also it seems that defensive rebounding has become emphasized over the years. It's not that it's unimportant, but there isn't as much of a need for a rebounding specialist either. This is where coaching comes in play where team rebounding, everyone boxing out becomes important. Just referencing RC Buford of the Spurs, the Spurs didn't stress defensive rebounding as much as they did guarding the perimeter after watching the 08-10 Celtics defense designed by Thibs. Buford didn't say this, but most of us should remember when Duncan would struggle defending the high pick-n-roll because he'd sag to the basket. But the Spurs soon after altered their defensive philosophies. Basically you want mobile guys who can guard the perimeter. As it pertains to the PF position, sometimes a player who was considered a SF in the past can now play PF due to this.

[Sofa King]

[Dr Aki]

did we just sign a johnny holmes for this reason?

[TylersLakers]

Julia Randle?

Ryan Kelly is a stretch four just not a very good one.

[pdub15]

When you look at the Western Conference most teams don't play big time small ball. The Warriors were able to do it because of Green's versatility on D. Other than that the other top teams have traditional 4's that have developed jump shots or expanded their jump shots (Ibaka, Aldridge, Blake). Memphis has a stretch center in Marc G and Randolph is accurate from 15 to 18 feet. Our floor spacing will be okay with Russell, Clarkson (working with Nash you know he improved his jumper), Kobe, Lou Will, and Iggy Young. Randall hopefully has worked on his 15 to 18 ft jumper. So Kelly is only true stretch 4. But he should only get 10 minutes a game.

[Beethoven]

We ain't even stretch doe! Doooooe.




Sorry had to put that in.

[crazyeights]

We ain't even stretch doe! Doooooe.




Sorry had to put that in.

Nicely done.