ecuhus1981 wrote:<BUMP>
Shout out to NetsNews, I had to circle back to our pretty boy / low-block beast Nic.
According to HCSN, Claxton is progressing from knee tendinopathy, and projects to return sometime between now and the All-Star break in early March. I hope he's ready, because as of now, we have a gaping hole in the frontcourt that his skill set would go a loooooooong ways toward filling.
After the Harden trade (still geeked up about that!), with 3 open roster spots and a variety of unused exceptions, we have other options to find that cornerstone to our depth chart. In a dream scenario, we should target a bigman who is:
-- an elite vertical threat in the P&R, P&P and alley-oops, to space the floor for our playmakers
-- a capable passer and ball-handler to run Hi-Lo sets
-- a decent shooter from mid-range and beyond, to keep defenses honest
-- a bouncy athlete who rebounds in space and can protect the rim
-- a tireless energy guy who excels in hustle stats (screen assists, charges taken etc)
I've done some searching through free agent lists and looked at trade possibilities; I'll share some of that insight in another thread. Bottom line, no matter what PF/C you think of, it's hard to imagine them being a better overall fit for our needs than a healthy Nic. Get well soon.
I dont think there are many worse options to our big man issue then nic claxton. for one, he isnt even really a big. he is more of a combo forward then a F/C... like kurucs. Which maybe that works since nash seems to want to go with 5 smalls. (KD being a "small" as a shooter).
Our main issue with our bigs is:
-Rim protection
-Rebounding
-Matching up with big offensive bigs
Claxton is an awful rim protecter, avg or worse rebounder, and weights like 30 pounds and cant match up with the drummonds or embiids of the world.
The obsession with Nic Claxton is to me still the biggest head scratcher on this board. He is a homeless mans Tayshaun prince, not some Allen replacment