Posted by McK1:
guys like Gordon Hinrich Gasol Shane Miller already play like they've been in the league 8 or 9 years.
they are all 24 or under. how do you think they'll look once they actually have been in the league that long.
or does being only 23 or being only in your 4th or 5th year apply to jamal and Curry...or is prime age at 28, 29 only reserved for Steph?
Gordon and Hinrich are very young. Gordon is extremely flawed in that he can't hope to guard an opposing SG. Tyson Chandler, who is making more than Eddy Curry, is a decent defender with no offensive game. He's Camby without the hops and has back problems.
Battier is 28. Mike Miller is 26. Gasol will be 26 in July and has had foot injuries slowing him each of the last two years. Memphis has been out of the first round three straight years and could be headed to Minnesota territory of eight straight years without advancing without major moves. and really, what chips do they have? they lost their chips like Stromile for nothing. if they trade Miller that's a huge chunk of their team. no one will overpay for Battier, as solid as he is.
Chicago is clearly in great shape if they make the right moves, but they could just as well wind up first or second round fodder for the next five or six years. Memphis, they're in okay shape, but if they're doign so well, why are they one of the few teams that would consider adding Marbury? Because their once young core is slowly getting older and they haven't made the next step yet.
I'm just saying, when I look at the NBA playoffs, there are a lot of teams that don't have any more hope of winning a championship in the next ten years than us. The bottom line is, in the NBA if you don't have a premier big man or a huge premier swingman, you have no chance at realistically advancing. Detroit is supposedly a "team without superstars," but Sheed and Ben Wallace are pretty damn close to superstar status.
It's this time of year when Isiah's recklessness at least makes some sort of sense. Were the moves horrible? Yes. But when you don't have a superstar, you kind of have to swing for the fences to try to get one. Curry COULD be a superstar. Sure, it's a flawed philosophy, but staying the course really won't get you much unless you win the lotto in a year where an Oden or Bron or Wade is available. Am I rationalizing? Maybe. But I think it's more depressing to be a Memphis fan right now than to be a Knicks fan.