NBA Offseason: Rasheed and KG Together, Still Not Sold on Artest, Etc.
I want to call Sheed and KG the odd couple, but they're just too similar.
Both are mobile power forwards who are great defenders with a lot of range on both ends, have above average low-post games, yet prefer to live 16 ft. away from the hoop and out, shy away from taking over on the offensive end, despite having the abilities to do it, have some questionable pasts in the clutch, and have one ring.
I wonder how this will work.
Sheed and KG together cannot work at the offensive end, unless Sheed does an about-face from a career of avoiding the low-post whenever possible, and whenever it would be most beneficial to play there.
If Sheed starts, Perkins will not be happy about losing his starting spot after single-handedly holding down the post on defense for the Celtics against Dwight Howard in the playoffs.
Then again, it opens things up for Rondo to go OFF. That lane is just gonna be wide open.
Overall, I think we're gonna be looking at a much different Celtics team than we were last year or two years ago.
The dynamics are just so much different.
Rasheed is not coming in to play a PJ Brown role.
Artest on the Lakers
Still just not buying into it.
Ariza just fit into what they wanted to do so well. He was a hawk on defense, loved to run the floor in transition, and was perfectly content spotting up for threes in the half-court.
Ron Artest is more of a pit-bull on defense. He'll hound guys and shut them down, but is not even three-fourths the threat that Ariza is in the passing lanes. He also has never shown much of an interest in running the floor, and he loves to go one on one in the half-court.
Yes, if they can keep Odom, a lot of those problems can be solved by moving Odom into a different role from last year to fill some of the voids, and Artest becomes purely an addition.
But if they can't bring back Odom—and nobody has heard much either way so far—then I can't help but think they would have been better off signing somebody like Matt Barnes on the cheap and keeping Odom.
As with all FA signings, we shall see.
But remember that Artest didn't really seem like a slam dunk in Houston until McGrady went down, and Houston pretty much had to deal with his occasional ball-stopping in the half court.
Love the Hedo move.
Maybe they live to regret it down the line near the end of the contract, but, when you're located in Canada and guys know you're desperate, you're going to have to overpay to bring in talent.
Just ask Orlando, but don't forget to ask them how it worked out last year.
Orlando
Then again, don't ask them later this year how it turned out trading away two rotation players for an overpaid Vince Carter. They might get upset at you mocking them, and in turn ask you what the five-fingers said to the face.
Got screwed and now must resist the urge to panic.
If it's not out there, then it's not out there.
They really aren't ready to beat the Lakers yet anyway, but could easily take another step toward that goal through internal growth and either add somebody in a lopsided trade at the trade deadline or in next year's offseason.
Zero clue what the logic behind their decisions have been so far, besides creating this wonderful blueprint for...
How to screw up a promising offseason:
1. Make a good trade.
2. Overestimate how good the trade was despite the fact that you currently only have six rotation players under contract, two of whom play the same position and are way past their primes.
3. Ignore the fact that you are located in Cleveland and have no cap-space with which to entice free agents to ignore that fact.
4. Waste your first-round draft pick because you overestimated how appealing the trade and LeBron make the team (despite being located in Cleveland), and think you can fill your holes through free agency.
5. Watch all your first FA choices go to other teams and start scrambling.
Clearly going for broke, and it's clearly the right thing to do.
As good as Dirk is, they're irrelevant in the Western Conference without Kidd to bring some stability at the offensive end.
Gortat will give them some much needed depth in the big man department.
If they can get Marion, it finally gives them a jolt of athleticism and gives Kidd a reason to get out in transition.
If they complete all three of those moves and Josh Howard comes back healthy, they can easily be the second or third best team in the conference.
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