More questions for Phoenix:
6) Big Al is a terrible defender, and Biedrins has never shown great man-to-man skills (although admittedly, much of this may be due to the system he plays in).
After the amount of time we discussed this in the draft thread, I meant to address this in my press release.
I see this as my team's biggest weakness.
Biedrins is a high energy player that is best at defense when he is roaming the paint and able to make plays. Kind of like Marcus Camby, in that when made to camp in the paint against an effective offensive player he's much less adept on the defensive end.
In defense of Al Jefferson being a 'terrible' offensive player:
Prior to the 07/08 season, Al Jefferson had started 68 games over 3 years.
In the 06/07 season his on off the court net average was +2.1, as in every 100 possessions, when al Jefferson played as opposed to when he didn't, the 06/07 Celtics scored 2.1 more points than they let in. In context, Tim Duncan last year had a net on/off of +1.7
In 2007/2008 Al Jefferson started all 82 games. His net on/off court per 100 poss was
-11.7. That means when Al Jefferson was off the court, as opposed to when he was on it, the T-Wolves scored appoximately 11.7 points more without him. That is absolutely atrocious.
Last season, Al Jefferson had a net on off of +3.6, the best of his career.
What was the difference between the three seasons?
The first season as a starter, despite the Celtics going 24-58, Jefferson still managed a respectable +/-, but then when on a team comparable in wins and losses, he did so much worse. Why?
On top of that, the next year on virtually the same identical team he managed to turn it all around for his best +/- as a starter. Why again?
It all comes down to who he is playing with. In 2006/2007 he played with a developing Kendrick Perkins for the majority of their mins. Despite a final record of 24-58, the lineup of Rondo-West-Pierce-Jefferson-Perkins still had a 60% win percentage. To put that in context, our starting 5 this season had a win % of 72%.
In 2007/2008 the most played lineups paired Jefferson with Ryan Gomes the majority of the time. I love Ryan Gomes, but he's never been and never will be a starting caliber power forward. He's undersized and not really strong enough to compensate for the average size at the position.
In 2008/2009 Jefferson played principally with Craig Smith and Kevin Love, two guys that while not remotely defensive stalwarts, they're physical and can at least give it a fighting try.
That to me is the difference with Jefferson. This is a franchise cornerstone that has to completely carry his team both in terms of scoring and until Kevin Love came around and Craig Smith got a starting role, rebounding, every night. He plays better defense when the guy next to him isn't a sieve.
People accused Paul Pierce of being a bad defensive player for years, and when finally he had a reliable supporting cast, all of a sudden Paul Pierce is considered a sound played on the defensive side.
Maybe putting Jefferson into a lineup with solid rebounders like Biedrins, Howard, and Rondo will allow him to really focus on his own defensive game. I'm not saying he's going to turn into Kevin Garnett, but maybe giving Jefferson other scorers like Howard, Rondo, and even Biedrins and Mason will let Big Al take his mind off of where the next 2 points are going to come from and just concentrate on showing on a few more of those pick and roll sets.
Stranger things have happened. Heck, Shaq was an All-Star last year, one year removed from possibly his worst statistical season ever.
Your backups are inexperienced and/or weak. How do you prevent other teams from abusing your front line, especially in the talented West?
My backups I wouldn't call weak. Kosta Koufos is 7 feet tall, 265 pounds and still coming into his NBA body. Jason Smith is 7ft tall and just supposedly spent a year in the weight room. (I will find the press release raving about his off season work ethic, but I didn't wanna look it up again) Fabricio Oberto, the real bench guy that will guard the big boys of Howard, Shaq and Duncan in the playoffs (as the need arises)
All that said, it is a definite worry. I don't think there is a scoring tandem including Shaq and JO that will put up more points than my frontline will in the West, but barring a defensive revelation from Andris Biedrins, I also don't think that my team will be able to stop Shaq, Dwight or Tim this year. We will only be able to contain them.
7) You still owe me an answer on why you're better than Seattle. Also, nick says you're lower than Golden State, too, so how do you match up with the Fake Warriors?
8 ) Doc Rivers (a pretty smart guy) has publicly mentioned a dislike for playing two "lane clogging" bigs together. Your two starting big men are classic lane cloggers, with Big Al a poor jump shooter, and Biedrins maybe the worst shooting big man in the NBA (he shot .153 eFG% on jumpers!)
a) Can they co-exist?
b) And with them filling the lane, how is Rondo going to be able to penetrate, especially when teams dare him to shoot (with his second-to-worst eFG% on jumpers among starting point guards)?
9) Building on the previous question, do you have concerns -- like Doc does -- about Rondo's shooting and scoring? Also, do you question (like Danny Ainge did) his maturity, stubbornness, and failure to show up on time for playoff games?
The rest are coming. That one answer took a while.
Topic: CB Draft '09 Mock Press Conference: Pacific Divison (Read 57918 times)