Bensational wrote:PennytoShaq wrote:But we don't do we?
To me it's asinine to suggest we trade Fournier for a guy who is more "ready now". That makes no sense. I don't think Fournier is the problem on this offense. If we traded him plus Vuc and got a star guard, that would be fine though. I would not complain about it. It just doesn't seem likely that we can get a better player than Evan and not have to trade Ibaka as well.
Why are you always so defensive about AG not playing the 3? He can crossmatch and guard the wings and then get the better matchup on the other end if we have a wing who can create his shot. A PF simply would not be able to cover a player like that, and Gordon would be able to do serious damage on offense. I like Gallinari because at 6'10 he can guard PFs. If that sounds far fetched, keep in mind that Vogel had to put Vuc on Dekker last night because we stuck with the big lineup. Vuc got torched.
And that's what other teams are doing to us right now. They are abusing our big lineups with small ones. Hell, move Ibaka to 5 and keep him. I don't care. Let Biz back him up. Ibaka would get even more open 3s playing the 5 spot.
Yeah, we've got Ibaka who's one of the top 3pt shooting 4's in the league, and we've got Vuc who can hit the 3, and we still don't run an excess of 4 out 1 in plays. So why do you think moving AG to the 4 will make any kind of difference?
Why are you (and a lot of others) so insistent on AG playing the 4? AG works the mismatches now, as a 3, far better than he could as a 4. He's able to overpower a lot of 2's and 3's depending on who he gets on switches, and he can post them up and get himself closer to the rim. He can't post up 4's because he's not strong enough. He's likely not ready to be taking 4's off the dribble because he's still developing and only just getting that aspect of his game under control. Plus, if we play more teams that play more small-ball 4's, then they're likely to be faster 4's that
will be able to keep up with him.
If you want a wing who can create his own shot, then do it at the expense of the wing who's currently supposed to be doing that but isn't achieving it. That's why I say trade Fournier if that's what you want to do. You don't put AG out of position (and by now I'd have thought it was becoming clearer that the 3 is the position that AG can truly thrive in) when he has so much more room for growth and development, in favour of... I don't even know what it's in favour of? Is it just following trends and keeping up with the Jones'? Why are you so attached to small ball? Because GSW and CLE do it, with teams with far superior players than ours? You think someone like Gallinari puts us anywhere near their level?
Again, Vogel seems like a guy who likes traditional lineups, so if we made moves how likely is he to even adopt more small ball?
Wait ,what? Vučević CAN make a three?
Dude made 16 threes in 6 years. This year he is 9 of 29 from 3 point line. That's bearly reaching 30% mark. He can't even shoot free trows properly this year ( 59% ).
Just because he is swimming around 30% at 3 point line it doesn't mean he SHOULD shoot more because league average from 3 point line is freaking 35% so he isn't even close to that. Sure , not big sample size, but his cumulative sample size for whole career is 16-55 (29% )
Aaron at PF could rebound more than Ibaka ( based on rebounding ratio ), he also would save Magic from playing BIyombo and Vučević together who are awful pair together on the floor. Also Gordon at PF would finally push Green out of that position ,where he can't rebound, block, pass or do anything well enough.
Gordon at PF is MODERN basketball, 6'9 versatile big who can shoot ( hopeful ) , slash and pass. At PF ,with expended range he could attack rim even more because slower PFs now would have to contest his shots and leave paint, them leaving paint would open game not just for Gordon who could beat them off dribble for dunks and layups but it would also help other teammates to get at rim.
Biggest problem with this horrific offense is that nobody can't get to free trow line and attack rim in general because all 3 Magic offensive options ( Evan, Vuc, Ibaka ) just settle for long 2s most of the time (especially Ibaka who showed zero slashing skills and who is so awkward running with a ball ).
In perfect world Ibaka would take some of his playing time at C, Gordon would start at PF ,team would have somebody who can slash and shoot 3s at SF , Evan at PF and Payton ( or whoever ) at PG. Vučević from bench. However, because of Biyombo
and Green
who play only because of their salary team is forced to play 2 bigs together and push Gordon att SF.
In hottest games from Gordon what he did that he couldn't do at PF? Step back jumpers? Shooting 3s? Attacking the rim? All that things you can do at PF even better because your opponents are heavier, bigger and slower than at SF where wing players tend to be lean , more athletic and contest much more shots ( wing position is stuffed with great defenders, at PF most PFs are actually average defenders)
Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans. -John Lennon
