League Circles wrote:Leslie Forman wrote:Mark K wrote:The worst part of the narrative that Carter can't stay on the floor is who we're comparing him against. People are talking as if Draymond Green is now the norm, not the outlier he is. He is what he is because he's unique. The league isn't filled with many mobile centers who can stay on the floor who team's downsize. So unless every team benches their big, it's not an issue.
What modern bigs need to have, at a minimum, is a jump shot and a multi-faceted ability on offense. Carter does all of this. And yes, his defense in space is a question, but that is so for virtually every big in the league.
Basically, I see this as people complaining about a problem without offering a solution. And when they do provide a solution, that one is equally as flawed, perhaps even more so.
I don't know how I've all of a sudden become a Bulls apologist, but I'm very happy with this pick and think people are following the 'small ball' narrative a little too far.
The solution is that every year you just get some cheap ass Zaza Pachulia/Joel Anthony/Luc Longley/whatever for when the need arises, and you spend your high draft picks and max slots on versatile two-way players and high level on-ball scorers. If you don't have any, you save those assets until you do. Just keep trying until you succeed.
Let's say Markkanen and Carter don't suck balls in three years. That means you're paying them the max after their rookie contracts, because that's just what happens in this dumb league. Then you've got a team that's putting at least half of the salary cap into them. Unless the rest of the team is completely empty except for rookie deals, that means you're probably functionally capped out then. So then what? You're really gonna go for titles with a capped out team built around two big men who aren't that good on defense?
"Small ball" isnt' just Golden State. It was Miami. It was Chicago. Hell it's Houston and Boston right now. Building what amounts to basically a worse version of New Orleans is probably not going to be the future of this league.
Wendell Carter is probably the most two-way player drafted in the top 10 this year.
It would be bad to only have Carter and markkanen and nothing else. That's why the real key is to sign outside free agents before those guys need contract extensions. You sign one or two or three high quality free agents not necessarily stars or Superstars but just good players and then you have Lauri and Carter and maybe one of Dunn and Lavine becomes a player or something like that or maybe one of your later pics you know turns into something of a player and next thing you know you have four to seven actual good players and you can contend. Probably won't win a championship but it's insane for any team to think that they will win a championship until it's clear that they will. That's how odds work.
And then we keep being swept in the first round for years to come... Typical Garpax...
