Posted by djsunyc:
before we can make moves, we have to figure out 2 things:
1. are we rebuilding (where wins don't matter as much as development) or trying to win and get into the playoffs?
2. are we a 1/2 court team or an open court one?
half of our roster has under 3 years of experience yet we also have an over $100 mil payroll with 6+ year vets getting major playing time. our two main cogs in the roster like the 1/2 court style in marbury and curry while the others are more suited to an open court/open flow system.
so what are we doing? once those decisions are made - and i don't think they have, then we can make moves accordingly.
50+ games into the season, our offense is geared to dump it down to curry. when that's not working, we're left to isiah making crazy sub patterns just to find something that works. that's how our season has gone so far. so i'm not sure what our identity is or where we're headed as a team.
The answers to your questions aren't that hard to assertain.
1. We aren't doing a traditional rebuild which is obvious by the presence of so many vets. If we did do a traditional rebuild that wouldn't guarantee that we'd be any closer to a title. Name the teams that won a title in the last ten years by doing a complete rebuild where you go with youth thru the draft? If we had tried to do that when isiah 1st got here that would've required that we could truly backup the truck and get rid of all the big contracts and then basically lose big for a few years in order to collect high draft picks in search of a stud that could carry us to a title. Then we'd have to hope we could sign a Shaq, Nash or Rasheed type FA to make it all work.
2. This is most definitely a halfcourt team and you should be glad that it is. For one thing that is what has traditionally been most successful in the playoffs.
3. The offense is still in development because for the most part so are some of our players. We're still waiting for someone else to emerge as a consistent offensive threat. It seems we're not patient enough to let our young players develop. 5 of which have less than 2 full years of experience. Guys like Jamal, Q and Jared are role players and Curry is just starting to make the kind of impact that many thought he should have.
The fact that Jamal, Curry, Q and Jared have some good years under their belt doesn't mean that they should have their roles on this team all figured out. That too may take a bit more time. Isiah has to figure out how best to use these players. You can see that starting to happen in many ways. The main thing that keeps them from being the kind of team that we want them to be is on the defensive end. It's not anything offensive heck we're one of the higher scoring teams in the league.
To me the issue is will Isiah be able to get this team to play solid D consistently enough to win games?
Do we have the players necessary to play good D? If not what do we need in order to achieve that? Is it a big deal for Ron Artest that get's this team over the top?
Part of the problem with the current roster from my view is Isiah himself. He has to get back to a tighter rotation. He has to start using guys like Balkman and even Collins a bit more in order to get more defensive effort. Play Lee more in the 2nd half. Play Frye more and try to get both of them to commit to more defensive effort and to play a bit smarter as well. If Isiah doesn't focus even more on D, then there's no way this team will improve this year, as presently constructed.
