Kerrsed wrote:bwgood77 wrote:Kerrsed wrote:As for what i see in the Conference Finals:
Houston with 2 top 10 players CP3 & Harden (With one always in the running for MVP). Besides running a 2 PG system, traditional line up. (CP3@PG, Harden@SG, Ariza@SF, Tucker@PF, Capella@C) Sure Tucker is very short for a PF, but he has long arms that make up for it. Also helps that Ariza is 6"9 (Which is about average for a PF), making it easy to switch on D. The real strange thing is that Dantoni has gone from a more spread the ball team orientated system, to one that is very very ISO relient, but that comes with having 2 great ISO scorers on your team. Its all about maximizing the talent you have and creating a system to fit that talent and make them successful. Thats supposedly something that Kokosov is very very good at.
Warriors with 2 top 10 players in Curry & Durant. The quintessential Small Ball team. Wasnt always like this when they had Bogut at C and still won a title, and even today it still isnt that small. (Curry@PG, Klay@SG, Durant@SF, Green@PF, Pachulia@C) once again, sure Green is a SF playing PF, but he has the body for it. Helps that Durant is tall for a SF with a HUGE wingspan. Now against the Rockets they have gone smaller (Pachulia has nothing on Capella) and inserted Iggy in to the starting 5, but for most the season it was either Zaza or McGee starting at the 5 spot. I think when it comes to GS, you have to find another way to beat them, as if you dont have as good of players as them, then dont expect to beat them at their own game. Remember when the Suns were the 7 seconds or less small ball team? We had GREAT players to do it. Our opponents would TRY to go small to match us, but it never worked, as their players wernt as good and they were not beating us at our own game. Who did all the time? The Spurs with their very very traditional line-up. They were the 1st to really show that you can beat small ball teams without having to resort to trying to go small yourself.
Cav's with 1 of the greatest players of all time.......and Love i guess. Small Ball-ish line up yet still pretty traditional (Besides Lebron pretty much controlling the ball and every aspect of the game. During the season it was TT @ C, Love @ PF and Lebron @ SF, but switched up to surround Lebron with shooters. Works fine but helps that Love has the size of a C, standing 6"10 and a husky 250lbs. (Hill@PG, Smith@SG, Korver@SF, Lebron@PF, Love@C). Cavs whole premise is Lebron always has the ball and if he cant do anything, gives it up to one of the 4 shooters that surround him.
Celtics with no top players (Playing that is; Irving is close). Closest right now is Horford. Otherwise they have been able to make due while utilizing a traditional line up (Rozier@PG, Brown@SG, Tatum@SF, Horford@PF, Baynes@C). No superstars like all the other teams, just great team basketball. A real "Organic" kinda team. No small ball, no hybrid system, just good old traditional basketball that works great despite not having any real star players involved. I think that this is going to be the way that we try to go. We are not a star destination and wont be until we can grow our own players into them.
Celtics only play Baynes an avg of about half the game. They don't have another traditional C in when he is out so they play small ball a lot. Same with the Cavs with TT only playing less than 30 minutes usually and the rest of the time it's Love at C.
That doesn't mean a team playing a traditional big a lot of minutes can't be successful. It all comes down to talent. But the thing is, Ayton, while looking like a traditional big, can possibly play in small ball type units since he has shooting range and is more of a face to the basket big. It could be huge if he could switch well and recover and rim protect and have great help defense. I won't expect everything, but if he can develop defensively in several areas he can be a super elite prospect. But even if he just continues to be elite offensively and be an elite rebounder, that's still a very good player.
I dont consider Horford playing C and Morris playing PF small ball. Horford came into this league as a C and spent almost his whole career playing C (With Josh Smith as PF). He said he wanted to play PF and that was ok for a season or two, until they brought Misap into the fold and Horford went back to C. And Morris is Morris. The only reason he ever got any minutes as a SF was do to playing on two teams with his brother (Here and in Kansas). Even then we also ran Kieff at C and Marcus at PF plenty of times.
Rozier/Brown/Tatum/Morris/Horford isnt really small ball at all.
One thing about the Celtics that going to be interesting is what they are going to do NEXT season. I mean we all know that one of Rozier/Smart will be gone with Irving coming back to take over the starting PG duties, but what will they do at SF? With Tatum being an absolute stud all season, either he is going to somewhat rot on the bench in favor of Hayward, or do they just go with the "Best Players on the Court" route? That would be keeping Horford at C and figuring out what guy out of Brown/Tatum/Hayward is going to start at what position out of SG/SF/PF. Im guessing keeping it the same but with Hayward at PF since he has the weight over Tatum (Who is the same 6"8 height).
Small ball is more of a term for being able to have five guys that can spread the floor. Horford used to be more of a traditional big, and even when he played at Florida with Noah he was more the PF...with two traditional bigs. Horford didn't start shooting 3s much until 2 years ago, well after his Josh Smith guys. So you are right, he WAS a more traditional C, though now he has transformed his game over the past few years. Three years ago he shot only 36 3s in the season, and 11 before that.
But even with 1 big and four people spreading out the floor it was considered small ball up until maybe the last few years. The Suns were basically a small ball team with Amare at the 5. Houston is basically the same with Capela at the 5. Playing 5 out is taking it to the extreme which makes it impossible for big traditional centers to stay out there...guys like Drummond, Whiteside, etc.
However, if you have extreme elite defense and rim protection you can still get away with it mostly with a good system like Utah does.
Having said all that, once again, while Ayton
looks like a traditional big, he can certainly likely play something like the Amare role finishing inside with better rebounding and likely as good or better defense, and it a little more versatility in his offensive game with more range and offensive moves at the beginning of his career than Amare did, if not as much burst. But he could even be more valuable and stretch the floor and almost play like the 5 man out type of game, despite his size...like Towns and Horford are able to do. Those are slight question marks but based on his shooting in college and FT%, the odds are good.
That makes him a pretty special prospect. Now if he can end up providing an intimidating last line of defense and deter people from driving to the rim...then he could be truly elite and special. Those are really the only big question marks.
There may be more question marks with Doncic in some respects because of the differences in the international game. I'm not terribly concerned about his shooting, considering the volume of shots he puts up, and mostly ones off the dribble combined with the high FT%, and I'm not real concerned with the defense considering his knowledge of the game and motor. Very few people stop the elite point guards and wings in the league. I do think he would open up things for everyone else, and make his teammates a lot better with his generational court vision and passing ability.
There are question marks with both. I'm fairly sure the Suns will draft Ayton, and I think that is a very solid pick. I have no idea what would be the best pick, and I've always said I'd be hard pressed to pass on either guy, so from where we are sitting, things look pretty good to me.
