Post by DERRENMATTS on Jan 5, 2007 1:26:53 GMT -5
I don't know why this idea didn't come to me sooner (it was right in front of me!!).
Boston gets Pau Gasol
Golden State gets Paul Pierce
Memphis gets all the young players they want (Richardson, Ellis, Dunleavy, plus maybe Delonte and Gomes)
This makes sense for every team. Pierce finally goes back home and gets to play with his childhood pal Baron Davis. Memphis gets a lot of high quality young players, which is the direction they want. And we get Gasol, who will help to change the way our team plays basketball. Let me explain.
With both Gasol and Jefferson playing down low, teams will not be able to double up on either of them. Say Jefferson is set up on the left low block, with Gasol on the opposite block, a step or two outside the paint. As Jefferson starts to make his move, the defense drops down on him. Jefferson sees the help defense and quickly kicks it out to Telfair. Sebastian immediately flips it to his right to Gerald, at the top of the key. Green quickly fires it to Tony, on the right wing. All this happens so quickly that the defense is still shifting, trying to catch up with the ball. Before the defense gets in place, Tony feeds the ball to Gasol on the right now blocks. Gasol only has one guy on him and he quickly attacks with a jump hook as he spins towards the baseline.
Now imagine we run this play again. This time, the defense tries to learn from what just happened and they move quicker to gang up on Gasol. Jefferson flashes into the middle of the paint, in the soft part of the defense, and Gasol quicly dumps off a pass to him for an easy lay in.
Now imagine we run this play once again. This time, the defense is weary of both Gasol and Jefferson getting single coverage, so they are cheating and sagging more inside. The ball is fed to Jefferson on the left low blocks, and immediately, the defense begins to collapse on him--but this time, the weakside defense stays home to help out on Gasol. The ball is kicked out to Telfair, who doesn't hesitate to fire the pass straight to Gerald at the top of the key. Gerald makes a hard fake pass to Tony and the defense, assuming the play will continue to go around the court, bites on the fake and are caught off balance going to the left. Gerald quickly puts the ball down on the floor and starts penetraing down the left side of the paint. The defense (who had been sagging down low to cover Jefferson and Gasol), tries to meet Gerald before he gets close enough to take off for a monster jam, but they are caught in the middle between stepping up to guard Gerald or staying put to guard Jefferson. They decide to step up and cover Gerald, leaving Jefferson open for just an instant, and that's all that's needed for Gerald to jump in the air, get the defense to bite, and then fire a pass inside to Jefferson.
This team, with Gasol, Jefferson, Gerald, Tony and Telfair, is going to rock. We have strong firepower down low (Gasol and Jefferson), the aerial assalt from Gerald on the wing, an athletic slasher (Tony) to take some pressure away from the three big scorers, and a PG who can hit medium range elbow jumpers to keep defenses from cheating on the big men on pick and rolls.
And off the bench, we have an impact rebounder and defensive presence in Perkins, a solid rebounding and scoring PF in Leon Powe, a deadly outside shooter in Wally, a sweet shooting combo guard in Allan Ray, and a sparkplug defensive and uptempo ingnitor in Rajon Rondo.
It'll take another 2 - 3 years before Jefferson and Green are firmly planted as everyday players who can consistently put up big numbers and another year or 2 after that before they are considered premier players in the conference. By this time, Al will be 26 and Gerald will be 25, and they will be carrying the team to Banner #17. The core young players around them will also be well developed by this time and we will have a strong roster from 1 - 10.
The transformation won't happen over night. But with Gasol here, and with Gerald and Jefferson reaching their potential, each and every year will take us a step closer to being title contenders.
Boston gets Pau Gasol
Golden State gets Paul Pierce
Memphis gets all the young players they want (Richardson, Ellis, Dunleavy, plus maybe Delonte and Gomes)
This makes sense for every team. Pierce finally goes back home and gets to play with his childhood pal Baron Davis. Memphis gets a lot of high quality young players, which is the direction they want. And we get Gasol, who will help to change the way our team plays basketball. Let me explain.
With both Gasol and Jefferson playing down low, teams will not be able to double up on either of them. Say Jefferson is set up on the left low block, with Gasol on the opposite block, a step or two outside the paint. As Jefferson starts to make his move, the defense drops down on him. Jefferson sees the help defense and quickly kicks it out to Telfair. Sebastian immediately flips it to his right to Gerald, at the top of the key. Green quickly fires it to Tony, on the right wing. All this happens so quickly that the defense is still shifting, trying to catch up with the ball. Before the defense gets in place, Tony feeds the ball to Gasol on the right now blocks. Gasol only has one guy on him and he quickly attacks with a jump hook as he spins towards the baseline.
Now imagine we run this play again. This time, the defense tries to learn from what just happened and they move quicker to gang up on Gasol. Jefferson flashes into the middle of the paint, in the soft part of the defense, and Gasol quicly dumps off a pass to him for an easy lay in.
Now imagine we run this play once again. This time, the defense is weary of both Gasol and Jefferson getting single coverage, so they are cheating and sagging more inside. The ball is fed to Jefferson on the left low blocks, and immediately, the defense begins to collapse on him--but this time, the weakside defense stays home to help out on Gasol. The ball is kicked out to Telfair, who doesn't hesitate to fire the pass straight to Gerald at the top of the key. Gerald makes a hard fake pass to Tony and the defense, assuming the play will continue to go around the court, bites on the fake and are caught off balance going to the left. Gerald quickly puts the ball down on the floor and starts penetraing down the left side of the paint. The defense (who had been sagging down low to cover Jefferson and Gasol), tries to meet Gerald before he gets close enough to take off for a monster jam, but they are caught in the middle between stepping up to guard Gerald or staying put to guard Jefferson. They decide to step up and cover Gerald, leaving Jefferson open for just an instant, and that's all that's needed for Gerald to jump in the air, get the defense to bite, and then fire a pass inside to Jefferson.
This team, with Gasol, Jefferson, Gerald, Tony and Telfair, is going to rock. We have strong firepower down low (Gasol and Jefferson), the aerial assalt from Gerald on the wing, an athletic slasher (Tony) to take some pressure away from the three big scorers, and a PG who can hit medium range elbow jumpers to keep defenses from cheating on the big men on pick and rolls.
And off the bench, we have an impact rebounder and defensive presence in Perkins, a solid rebounding and scoring PF in Leon Powe, a deadly outside shooter in Wally, a sweet shooting combo guard in Allan Ray, and a sparkplug defensive and uptempo ingnitor in Rajon Rondo.
It'll take another 2 - 3 years before Jefferson and Green are firmly planted as everyday players who can consistently put up big numbers and another year or 2 after that before they are considered premier players in the conference. By this time, Al will be 26 and Gerald will be 25, and they will be carrying the team to Banner #17. The core young players around them will also be well developed by this time and we will have a strong roster from 1 - 10.
The transformation won't happen over night. But with Gasol here, and with Gerald and Jefferson reaching their potential, each and every year will take us a step closer to being title contenders.