Kliq said:
Ya this is all just silly. The team went through 3 head coaches this year with the last one having a history of butting heads with players and seemingly coming in with an agenda against Cousins (Ray Allen/Andre Igoudala/etc). They were performing very well until Cousins went out with meningitis early on in the season. Despite this, Cousins overall improved a lot as a player this year, specifically on defense. Meanwhile, besides Rudy Gay who also had a very good year (and who they are ALSO trying to shop to make room for Rondo apparently) their next best player was Darren Collison (for whom they gave up IT in order to get). Though it doesn't matter that much, the Kings were 6-17 without Cousins and 23-33 with himKliq said:
Of course the only reason he's slipping is people looking at his medical records and crossing him off their boards.bowiac said:
Yeah - I'm sympathetic to that, but a top 5 talent is worth taking even a pretty big risk for.Cellar-Door said:
He had a fracture in his foot and had a pin put in. There were questions about the pin's angle (45 degrees versus 90, don't ask me anything more since I am only citing an article.) But a doctor whom the NBA trusts recently said everything is fine, no pain, completely healed, asymptomatic injury, WCS is good to go now.BigSoxFan said:
I don't think this makes sense. Philly has a plan. The plan doesn't involve being a fringe playoff team this year, and Cousins with a coach he doesn't hate (I am 100% certain he'd get along with Brett Brown, the guy is very smart and the right kind of personality for Cousins) would make that roster a fringe playoff team.Devizier said:
oumbi said:
Blacken said:
Oh Hooray, another big who can't protect the rim. With the added bonus of not stretching the floor.Corsi said:
You wouldn't want Jahlil Okafor on the Celtics? Sure. The only person I wouldn't take him over in this draft is Towns. They need scoring in the low post and Okafor can step in and score 15-20 a night right now.Cellar-Door said:
At a high cost? No I really wouldn't. He has one exceptional skill, low post scoring. He's a really really terrible defender, he's not that great a rebounder for his size, and he isn't a particularly good passer. I think Okafor more than anyone in the draft you know what you are getting, and that is 20 points in the paint and really bad team defense. That has value, but I don't think I'd want to give up a ton of assets for it. He can't switch off screens, probably the most important part of modern defense, and while interior scoring is nice, it doesn't matter when you get shredded on the other end. What the Celtics need far more than interior scoring is interior defense and a wing who can create shots for himself and others.RedOctober3829 said:
Corsi said:
I'd have to imagine it would be Smart, 16/28, multiple future 1sts (at least 1 Nets), and maybe another player from the Olynyk/Sullinger/Young group. That's why I wouldn't want to do it for anyone, particularly Okafor. I just think that the only way you give up that kind of package is if you are getting a current or highly likely two way star. (Cousins, a top pick in one of the rare drafts with what looks like a sure thing.)LondonSox said:
You've got to have pieces in place to go after the big impact FAs. Okafor is a piece that will help attract others to come to Boston.Cellar-Door said:
I definitely think he'll be a good maybe even very good NBA player. I just don't think he's the type of player you strip a ton of assets to build around. To me the two hardest types of stars to build around are Centers who can't protect the rim and point guards who can't shoot. If they were in love with Porzingas or Russel for example even though each is probably a much bigger risk it would make more sense to me as I can see how you make an offensively talented C/PF who is a pretty decent rim protector, or a guard who can create his own shot but struggles defensively into a centerpiece of your team. I just can't see a comp for Okafor among stars that teams are built around. what is the last really good team that had a bad defensive center? His upside is probably Healthy Brook Lopez, maybe with slightly better rebounding but also maybe worse defensively? I don't see that as someone you can build a championship contender around. A playoff team? Probably, but not a championship.Drocca said:
I respectfully disagree. With the way teams sag off anyone with no offensive skill teams would be strapped to keep WCS on the floor during crunch time for the opposite reason of Okafor.bowiac said:
He's 19 years old though. Don't you think that Okafor will have ample time to improve on defense? FWIW, he wasn't asked to do much on defense last year because Duke depended on his offense so much that he needed to stay out of foul trouble.jon abbey said:
No, he really can't. It isn't just rim protection, he is a terrible defender at all points of the floor. He can't defend the pick and roll, he can't defend in the midrange, he can't close out shooters, he struggles boxing out for rebounds on the post. Also he's a center not a SF like Bird, you don't expect your SF to defend the paint particularly well. In addition he doesn't stretch the floor on offense and is only a decent offensive rebounder.ifmanis5 said:
Even if you're right that defense is mostly effort, it should be troubling that Okafor didn't show much effort in that regard. Why do we think he's going to change in the NBA? Effort is a skill. KG was an all-around talent, but one of his best assets was effort.southshoresoxfan said:
southshoresoxfan said:
bowiac said:
Cellar-Door said:
He's not actually all that athletic, it's one reason he skipped the combine. A number of people seem to think (among them the draftexpress guys, dean demakis, and to lesser extent Ford) that he lacks the kind of explosiveness and lateral agility to ever be a good or likely even average defender. Sure he could learn to box out (though history suggests he won't, since that's what we say about every poor rebounder and few significantly improve) but his footspeed, agility, jumping and second jump aren't likely to improve much.Drocca said:
Defense is as important as offense. It really is as simple as that. WCS is, apparently, one of the better defensive C prospects to come along, and has the flexibility to switch as necessary (which is increasingly common).amfox1 said:
