ROSTER TALK: Mavs favs for Vogel if no HC job exists. Kyrie handshake deal?

[cow]

Yeah, I just disagree with so much here. I like McGee but I do not think he’ll be any more effective as a vertical spacer than Powell, particularly in the playoffs. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see on that. 

Yes, he’s a better rim protector and a MUCH better rebounder (who wouldn’t be) than Powell, but my personal belief is that neither of those things are as important as the top-notch, feet-moving, switchable TEAM defense that Powell played. 

Powell wasn’t short on minutes in the playoffs because of defense or rebounding, it was because of him being exposed (at that level) on offense, imho. To stay on the court at that point, you kind of need to occupy a defender, and when defenses get to the level where they can take the roll option away WITHOUT giving up a pass-out look (the warriors were so good they could accomplish this BEFORE the screen, even) guys like Powell who can’t shoot or handle the ball on the short roll are pretty much cooked. I see no reason to believe McGee will be any more useable in that end-of-the-season situation.

Defense doesn't matter if you can't collect the board after a stop.  GSW had 19 more offense rebounds in the series against us.  You might have an argument for Powell's defense if he was even a passable rebounder but he had 10 (TEN) boards for the series which is also the number of rebounds that Bertans gave you.  That combination played about 20 minutes per game and gave you four rebounds, five points and a steal per game.  

COTY candidate Monty Williams failed to take the #1 seed to the WCF against the #4 seed and really did a poor job taking advantage of mismatches.  People like to throw out the "McGee got benched for Biyambo" rhetoric but what success did that gimmick lead to?  It shades of Carlisle starting Boban against the Clippers.  It worked once and was quickly adjusted to.

There will be bad matchups for McGee but with a rotation of four big men with varying skillset, the hope should be that we can plug someone in for productive minutes.  Flexibility.