Teague & NYK: interest mutual

[packforfreedom]

hey guys. can some you give us a scouting report of Teague? I always thought of him as a rock solid player (that's might be an understatement). How is his defense? how does he play without the ball? how is he in the open court?

edit: It seems most of you really like Teague. that's a great sign.

[Jake0890]

hey guys. can some you give us a scouting report of Teague? I always thought of him as a rock solid player (that's might be an understatement). How is his defense? how does he play without the ball? how is he in the open court?

edit: It seems most of you really like Teague. that's a great sign.

I'm a big fan of Teague.

Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, we didn't use him optimally here. Teague works well in space, with shooters around him and lanes to drive like he had in Atlanta. Give him the ball in transition with trailing shooters and a stretch big man who can step out and hit jumpers and Teague will be at his best. The best we'll ever see Teague was in Atlanta where their entire offensive strategy was exactly that. It was suited to him PERFECTLY.

He's also excellent in pick and roll situations. Again, ideally with a big man who doesn't need to roll to the basket 100% of the time, but can fade out to the 3 line/mid-range area. Dude has excellent passing vision and always seems to find the passing lane.

The trouble comes with his defense. He's got the speed to stay in front of many of the point guards in the league but most, if not all, players will be able to just shoot over the top of his defense and he doesn't really affect shots very well. The worst part of his game is if the opposition takes advantage of the pick and roll and forces him to switch onto a larger and stronger player (like LeBron in the Pacers' playoff series) he will be utterly useless. Easy buckets.

I think he'll be an excellent player for the Wolves as long as Thibs is willing to push the pace a little and give Teague the freedom to make decisions as a floor general.