Surround Curry with defensive players and his defensive liabilities will be covered. Put Lee, Balkman and Q at the 4,3 and 2 respectively and this will not be an issue.

Posted by Bippity10:

Posted by SugarRayRichardson:

Just curious in the Curry bashing if anyone noticed he was a big reason for our 4th qtr comeback with 9 points-4 rebounds-1 assist in the 4th qtr alone?

I was reading the Washington board and they had a totally different view of Curry than some here.

Sugar Ray: Who bashed Curry? They said he needs to work on some D, but I'm not sure he was getting bashed in this post. Maybe you over-reacted. Or do you not think Eddie needs to work on his D?(Something both Isiah and Eddy have gone on record as saying that he does)

He needs to work on his defense for sure but he gets bashed way too much for him. Some people even blamed him for the last 2 hoops (jamison and Butler) when he wasnt even on the floor. Isiah went too small in my opinion. Lee, JJ and Qrich gave up too much size.

Posted by gunsnewing:

Isiah Thomas is a terrible in-game coach and he's responsible for more losses than we should have and he constantly puts together the worst starting lineups. I cant wait til he's gone unfortunately we're going to have to keep losing for that to happen. But at this pace he will be fired because we're going to miss the playoffs. We can't keep losing winnable games and killing winning streaks. It's always 1 step forward and 2 steps back with Isiah coaching. We start playing well and he completely overhauls the starting lineup. It's so frustrating because this team should be beating up on these awful Eastern teams

I said something along the same lines the other day. I can see why Isiah's Pacers team lost in the 1st Round 3 years in a row, because Isiah is HORRIBLE with making in-game adjustments.

Posted by NYKBocker:

Surround Curry with defensive players and his defensive liabilities will be covered. Put Lee, Balkman and Q at the 4,3 and 2 respectively and this will not be an issue.

and then what happens when Lee's and Balkman's defenders double cause neither can consistently hit the outside shot?

Posted by martin:

Posted by TrueBlue:

Posted by martin:

Posted by djsunyc:

does a player that needs to be babied and coddled going to help a franchise win big games in the playoffs and lead the team deep?

one way to look at it. Was JO babied and coddled for 4 years in POR and then his first year in IND?

You look at their stats and the are eerily similar year-to-year, except for the defensive side of things. JO was of course much better.

Steps, even baby steps, is all I am looking for.

J.O. was really a bad comparison because his involved total lack of playing time. They didn't coddle him. As soon as he received playing time in INDY he exploded across the board in production and wasn't some 1 dimensional sloth like Curry.


[Edited by - TrueBlue on 01-18-2007 11:06 AM]

one could make the argument that JO was brought along even MORE slowly than Curry was in CHI. Curry was thrown to the fire and given undeserved minutes instead of coaching and learning from the bench, something that JO was exposed to more than Curry.

difference between JO (and bynum) and curry's situation...jermaine's portland team was trying to WIN. you don't put out an 18 year old kid and let him learn through his mistakes at 20 mins a night if you're trying to win. he had a much much shorter leash. now, in contrast, eddy was given minutes from the get go, with chandler. so they are allowed to play through their mistakes b/c the bulls were fully rebuilding.

if jermaine was in the same situation in chicago, he would be getting major minutes right away. and that's what makes bynum's contributions a little more eye opening b/c the lakers are winning AND he's getting burn and helping them...even if he has a somewhat short leash.

it's like drafting marcus williams. alot of people said where is he going to play behind steph, francis, nate and jamal? and if he did get a minute, and he messed up, like mardy, and even nate now, isiah gives the quick hook b/c the knicks are trying to win. not rebuild. different philosophy. the nets are thinking down the road so they are already philosophically gearing up for rebuilding, so marcus is getting some minutes. not alot, but some. think about that, instead of getting a veteran to backup kidd, they went with a rookie. that's a rebuilding philosphy. but if marcus was drafted by, let's say, memphis, he would be starting and getting 25 mins a night.

Posted by Elite:

i have been posting about this all day... interior D is the biggest weakness by far with this team.

I'll 2nd that one too. Although the perimeter had been horrible but now with Q back and Step playing great D we're fine. If Q stays healthy we can get by with our perimeter shooting. We have to move Frye if we can for a rugged defender/shot-blocker...man I would've loved to get our hands on Diogu.

I wish Chicago would deal Big Ben to us for Frye, Nate, Balkman & this year's pick. We can easily replace those guys via draft, NBDL signing and smart MLE acquisitions. Just have to fire Isiah first

Posted by djsunyc:

forget shotblocking for a second, just get somebody that will step up in the damn lane.

our big men play defense like mark jackson. and they stand and watch stuff happen. at least frye tries on the help side even if he stinks at it. eddy just watches EVERYTHING. it's painful man...just painful.

LOL.. curry seems to do what guys do in the playgrounds. You know they won't jump to block shots, but will stand around and then crouch as if they are about to jump and then Yell as you shoot, as if that is going to bother your shot.. what eddy forgets is that the guys on the NBA level can make shots with hands in their faces and explosions going off. He has to challenge those shots!!!!!

yes but only to get Martell. Nate's size will onl get him so far. As a combo guard off the bench for offensive spurts. Nice minor trade..good thinking

Eddy plays very conscious of picking up fouls. That effects his defensive effort. But I agree that interior dee is a real big problem. The are too many times where Eddy is guilty of just looking, like he doesn't know he's allowed to contest a shot. He definitely does the "matador dee" on the interior.

Posted by TMS:

Posted by SugarRayRichardson:

Posted by TMS:

i know this isn't exactly the answer for a stud shotblocker, but would anyone do this:

Nate, Malik & Jefferies for Raef Lafrentz & Martell Webster

LaFrentz is actually the 28th best shot blocker in the NBA all time in shot blocks per game at 1.79.

yeah, but in recent years his game has gone seriously downhill... i think Big Turd's #'s might be better than his this year, which is pretty scary... still, i think he can potentially be a decent shotblocking presence & is more likely to be able to run up & down the court w/o getting completely winded like Turd at least.

You would be surprised at how many scrubs are included in the all time best shot blockers. Just goes to show you shot blocking is not everything.

Posted by Bonn1997:

Posted by djsunyc:

does a player that needs to be babied and coddled going to help a franchise win big games in the playoffs and lead the team deep?

That's how I look at it. Curry needs the perfect PG around him (one who moves the ball, penetrates and creates shots, and gaurds the perimeter well so that Curry's awful defense isn't exposed, and one who can hit perimeter shots when Curry's double teamed). He needs a perfect SG (same description as PG with less emphasis on passing and more on shooting). He needs a perfect PF (one who can do *everything* on defense because Curry does nothing and who will get out of his way in the low post on offense). Curry sure is a *needy* player to build around. Maybe he just isn't the kind of player a smart organization chooses to build around.

strangely, Curry is improving without the perfect PG, without a SG who is automatic.

I think the guy needs more time to improve on the D side of things.