In article ,
wrote:
> No doubt. Kupchak did as bad a job as any GM in the league over the
> past two years, but he really scored with this draft. They'll both
> contribute as much as Kirk Hinrich, if not more, and neither was even
> close to the lottery.
Add to it that he'll still be run out of town if he doesn't
land one big free agent, so it's a certainty that the Lakers
will acquire another starter.
The Bulls really need to find two good players in the free
agent crop, since they addressed neither the small forward
position nor a back-up big man through the draft. Unfortunately,
as you pointed out, this isn't a great year for small forwards
on the market. If Maggette or Posey try to push us into a near-max
contract, it's not worth it.
As hard as it'll be to watch, I see a platoon between Robinson
and Marshall (who played SF in Utah) unless Paxson really
works the phones. The problem with playing Marshall there
though is that in Utah, Malone had that sweet mid-range
jumper, so it didn't hurt as much with Marshall playing near
the rim all the time. Fizer can play small forward but, as
we've seen, not that well.
And so the old legacy (drafting the best power forward available)
and the new legacy (drafting the best point guard available)
are coming back to haunt, as we'll be trying to fill other
positions on the team with converted PFs and PGs.
Ideally, I'd prefer to use Jalen's versatility to
have him back up the point now and then rather than to have
him overmatched at small forward. He's big enough to take
some East Coast guards like Baron Davis and Eric Snow out
of their game when he plays there. His rebounding and ballhandling
combined with his size are real advantages when he plays the
point. There's very little advantage when he moves to the 3.
Without any free agents, I see the depth chart shaping up
something like this (the difference here between this and
reality is that I really want to see Jalen in a ballhandling
role, which the current personnel won't allow him to do):
Name Minutes
PG Crawford 28
Hinrich 15
Rose 5
OG Rose 30
Hassell 12
Crawford 6
C Curry 28*
Baxter 10
Chandler 10*
PF Chandler 18*
Marshall 17
Fizer 13
SF Robinson (gulp) 20
Marshall (gulp) 10
Fizer (gulp) 8
(* Chandler and Curry should get more than 28 minutes,
but unless they get a grip on their foul troubles in the
off-season--Chandler more than Curry--it's reasonable
that they'll play a cumulative 50-60 minutes.)
The problems with this are inherent:
1. Brunson doesn't even make the team, or winds up as the
designated injured guy (which will be really bad karma--he
proved that he can play, and moreover the team really
did well when he was in there).
2. We have no back-up at the 2. Hassell is barely adequate,
and probably not even that, because of his limited offense.
Fred Hoiberg just shouldn't be here anymore. The second-line
players at the 2 are absolutely punchless scoring-wise.
3. No reliable big man off the bench to play center, short
of splitting minutes with even more mediocre guys like Dalibor
and Blount.
4. Small forward is just a mess--possibly the worst in the
league.
5. Hinrich, as stated, has no role on the team, because
his minutes would have painlessly been taken up by Brunson and
Rose, and a minimum contract to a shooting guard who can score
like Kendall Gill would have given Jalen a break. As it is,
we will have two different point guards (one a rookie) setting
up the offense for extended minutes. Please let me know how this
brings stability to a team, because I can't think of many winning
teams that have had that kind of rotation (unless they had
Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen beside them).
6. Meanwhile, the lack of an adequate back-up at
shooting guard means that either Crawford spends less than
two quarters at the point (really nice for a guy who basically
claimed the position outright late last year), or Jalen plays
iron man minutes once again.
7. With Crawford moving to the 2, Chandler backing up center,
Fizer and Marshall playing the 3 (and, if in reality Rose
moves to the 3 as well), at any given moment most of the team
will be playing out of position. Rose, Chandler, Fizer and
Marshall are all liabilities in that scenario.
Beyond that, we're going to have a problem here if we keep
jerking Crawford around. Is he the starting point guard or
the starting shooting guard? If we want him to focus on
handling the offense, why are we going to be playing half
the game without him there? He's up for free agency soon,
and if he looks beyond everything that happened last year
and the fights Tim Floyd picked with him before that, I
doubt he's going to be really eager to hang out here if
he keeps getting shuffled around.
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