What are we missing?

[DERRENMATTS]

roadrunner said:

How about Powe, if he ever makes it off the bench?

Yes, Powe has the goods to be our garbage player. I think he's one of the best garbage players we have on the team; even better than Baby.

When Baby collects missed shots, he struggles to convert them because he's short and doesn't have vertical explosiveness to get above the defenders hovering over him.

Powe has shown that he has the ability to get shots off in traffic, against guys taller than him, because he has extremely long arms and has better leaping ability. And we can see that he's good at collecting rebounds in traffic too.

But for now, he's stuck on the bench (still would like to know what's going on) and that's not helping us.

[cfoo]

We have 3 of the top players in the game. .Comparing us to the pistons is not accurate at all. We are a much better team than the pistons ever were. I also disagree that we dont have an interior game. Our entire team is an inside team and I guarentee we are one of the top teams in the paint. I've pretty much been saying all along that people need to stop worrying and just enjoy the run. This team is built to win and I honestly would be shocked if Ainge makes any major moves.

[cfoo]

I also disagree that Garnett isn't a great lowpost player. He is one of the best if not the best lowpost player in the game. Just watch the amount of attention that is paid to him down on the box. Yes he has other facets to his game but he is also a superior post player. Mchale, Duncan, Jermaine O'neal are all superior post players and they aren't down on the box all the time. People forget Mchale was renowned for his fadeaways along the baseline and his outside shooting as well. Duncan does the same things, and so does O'neal. I watch Garnett attack the basket every game and he is doing more and more of that. Perk does as well. So does Pierce, Allen, Rondo, etc..

I honestly think if we wanted to feed Garnett over and over we could and he would go get em. We can do the same with Pierce. or whoever. But we are playing within a team concept and it's more about getting the best shots we can. We got 3 stars to get away from that philosophy.

[runrondo]

Garnett is a great lowpost player, he just seems to favor his jumper..Garnett just needs to attack more cause when he does so does the rest of the team...

[cfoo]

I love the way Garnett plays down on thebox. For a few games he was taking it easy. But watch him earlier in the year and this game. He is attacking. I love what he does because he is a post presence but he also plays within the team concept. HIs passing down on the box is awesome, and people forget about that. He could score if he wants to but he is a team player and there are more facets to his post game then just shooting.

I would take someone like Garnett over someone like Wilt Chamberlain any day. Its the whole bill russell vs chamberlain thing. Chamberlain was awesome but he was a single minded player. He only won one championship because of it. The best post players are guys who can do a lot of different things like Duncan and GArnett who are unselfish and versatile.

The whole reason the chemistry on this team is what it is is because we have 3 guys in Garnett, Pierce and Allen who can do so many different things and they compliment each other well.

[DERRENMATTS]

Yes, Garnett can score down in the post. But its the same with Jermain O'Neal--both guys have a low post game, but I'm sure if you monitor how many shots Garnett will take inside of 10 feet vs. how many shots he'll take from further out than that, you should see (I'm guessing) take more shots from outside of 10 feet.

Look fellas, this thread is about what we are missing, what piece we could "add" to "improve" our team. We could very well not make any moves and still win it all. But if you were in charge of making this team even stronger, what piece(s) would you add? For me, its a low post player (after we solidify our backup PG spot and improve our Center spot).

[cfoo]

Well right now I don't think we are missing anything except maybe another perimeter defender. As far as teh pg and the lowpost things, I'd much rather go with what we have and let guys get better ala Big Baby and TA. TA already silenced a lot of the pg talk tonight. I think Davis will do the same as far as the extra inside guy. I'm not sayign we won't add something, but as of right now I'm happy with what we have and think it's better to let things play themselves out first. Bringing in guys and not allowing TA and Baby to play isn't going to do any good right now. I hate making moves based on needs because you make that move and you hurt yourself more times than not. For all we know we have someone better already on our roster. I am happy with TA and Baby and want them to show what they can do.

The same goes for Perk and Rondo. Perk and Rondo have shown signs the past few games. Perk has played a lot better of late and people overlook this. Is he where we want him to be? No but he can be and gets better each game imo.

[DERRENMATTS]

And that's fine too. I mean we are now 26 - 3, and its hard to mess with something that's not broken.

But my thinking is you can always find things to improve. Even championship team aren't perfect.

[runrondo]

^Exactly, hence the quote "Don't be afraid to give up the good for the great"

[cfoo]

Well my whole thing is you can hurt yourself doing that.

I love the chemistry on this team and I think talentwise we have everything we need. Guys just need to keep getting better. I think you bring in someone else and you can hurt that chemistry. There's a point. I think our starting 5 with Rondo, Allen, Pierce, Garnett, Perk compliment each otehr perfectly if they keep improving. The same goes for our bench in TA, House, Posey, BAby, Pollard, Scal and Powe. We could use another perimeter defender and a big man and maybe an experienced pg but we have 12 guys and there isn't room for those guys to play anyways. Powe and scal dont play as it is. We already went through that where we had too many guys and not enough guys getting time. We traded young players because they weren't going to get time here and it was hurting the chemistry.

If anything we would make a trade to improve things but I dont think we do that right now. We bring ina pg and what does that mean for TA and House? We are the top team. IF there is a team better tahn us and we need to improve then we make a move, but I believe we are clearly the best team right now.

[DERRENMATTS]

Well, think back a couple of weeks ago, before TAllen got more playing time. We were all happy with the production both House and Posey were giving us in the backcourt. They were getting a lot of playing time and really looked like solid pieces to the puzzle. We could have settled with them two and not add anything more. But now Tony is coming on and giving us an added weapon, and he's making our bench, and our team, look even better.

We were pretty good with just House and Posey--but we can be even better now with TAllen.

Addition to something already good is not always a bad thing.

[cfoo]

well that's the thing is I've said from the beginning of the year we have the makings of a solid 9 man rotation with TA, House, Posey, Baby if everyone plays to their potential which as the season goes I Think they will. Mix in Pollard for matchup purposes to give us another big. Maybe a little bit of scal and powe. And another perimeter defender for matchup purposes and we are set imo. We also have pruitt as another pg if need be. If Pruitt isnt ready we may add another pg. We also may add another big man if we feel like pollard might not be able to go at times.

We had Wallace and we cut him because we didn't think he coudl come in and play this year. I think if we replace anyone right now it will be him. I thik we were hoping he would be an extra wing defender and he wasn't ready. This is why we are scouting KEdrick. The jury is still out on Pruitt. Until we make a decision on him i dont think we make a move for a pg. If Davis isn't getting it done. Or TA isn't the same goes for them. Same goes for Perk or whoever, but I think all of these guy swill be where they should be at the end of the year.

[moreese]

I would say it has a lot more to do with nothing have a top 50 all time guy....than it does with not having a low post player...think about the teams that have been chalking up titles while the Pistons were watching...Lakers had 2 of them (shaq and kobe) while the Spurs have Duncan...now shaq and duncan happen to be post players, but that doesn't mean you need someone who has kevin mchale moves on the block to win. The Lakers had that, but to say that Kevin Garnett isnt that guy is a little much. There isn't that much of a difference between what Duncan is doing out there and what Garnett is doing. Both are very fundamentall sound, yes Garnett is more of a jump shooter but he can fill it up in the paint also.

[DERRENMATTS]

Tell me this; what is your reaction to when Perk misses, and makes shots he takes in the post?

My reaction is the same for both instances. When he misses a scoring opportunity in the post, I say, "Man, we could really use a guy who can make those shots". And when Perkins does score in the paint, I say, "Man, we could really use a guy who can consistently do what Perk just did". It just gives us an added dimension that we we don't quite fully have.

Yes, Garnett can play the inside, but think about this. One of Garnett's strong suit is his jumper from the high post. He never fails to amaze me how accurate he is with that shot. Now imagine a low post big man who can pull Garnett's man away from him, leaving him open for more open looks. Or just the opposite, KG will keep his man from sagging down on the low post guy, allowing the low post guy to go one on one.

Right now, we haven't seen this because Perk doesn't command double teams in the post. Wouldn't it make life even easier if we did have a low post guy?

[cfoo]

I still want perk to play and I'm still of the belief that he and Baby are going to get better. This is the 1st year that Perk has seen regular minutes. I think his inconsistency is to be expected for the most part. He and rondo are about the same age. They both have ups and downs. I like that we've made a commitment to both these guys. If I was here saying we should get a pg who can shoot the ball consistently and bench Rondo, you would shoot that down derren and you know you would, and you'd say you want Rondo to play. I would do the same thing. Perk has become more and more consistant making those shots of late. Now if Perk doesn't get better that's another story but he's been showing improvement.