08-07-2022, 05:14 PM
(08-07-2022, 04:59 PM)IamDougieFresh Wrote: Personally, a player who is unplayable in the playoffs has no value to me, but we don’t need to debate it. Maybe a bad team would like to use his one skill to try to gimmick offense their way into the play in or something, but bad teams generally don’t have a point guard who can get him wide open dunks.
We don't need to, but I'll throw this out there for consideration:
One of the overwhelmingly negative critiques Suns fans have hurled at Monty Williams in the wake of the series upset is that he seemed dead-set on switching every screen, despite not having the personnel to make such a tactic viable. Care to guess why they went into the series with that mindset? I strongly suggest that the Luka/Powell pnr game was not only not a gimmick, but actually something so potent that it caused teams to game plan for it, even in ways that played away from their strengths.
Now, it is undeniably true that once the switching defense is chosen, Powell's effectiveness takes a huge nose dive, and he did nothing in that series to punish the opponent for switching guards onto him. Sidebar: even if McGee is actually as good as Powell as a screen/roll guy (something that's being actively assumed around here but I don't think is a given) he will be just as worthless out there against a switching defense as Powell was, save a few more offensive rebound opportunities along the way. McGee will provide better defense at times in the paint, but you're probably giving up quite a bit in terms of your own switch-ability in order to get that. McGee's biggest offer of improvement will likely come on the defensive glass, but count me among those who didn't really feel that was a burning issue to begin with. When those big, important rebounds need to get grabbed, during close games down the stretch, he won't even be on the floor.
I can definitely see the school of thought that Powell needed to be upgraded, but I'm not sure adding TWO more centers and losing the second best scorer/handler/creator on the team was what any of us had in mind (at least before it all happened). Personally, I'd have preferred another year of Powell (backing up Wood, minutes wise, regardless of who started) and adding another creator to a re-signed Brunson. I'd be raising my pom-poms higher than anyone here if they'd been able to do that. Even Brunson leaving would've stung way less if they'd just found a way to use that tpMLE to the effect of someone who could be played against any team in any situation. For me, it would've been worth watching one more year of Powell in his same old role to accomplish that.
And...I still see no evidence of Powell being dropped completely out of the rotation anyway, although I was happy to hear that they won't be starting the season with two bigs out there at tipoff. That generates a little hope for me.