Speaking of stud SFs, what ever happened to Tony Mitchell? Hardly hear his name mentioned anymore. He having a lackluster season?
Speaking of stud SFs, what ever happened to Tony Mitchell? Hardly hear his name mentioned anymore. He having a lackluster season?
To put Aminu as a reserve would be a tragedy. He is most efficient players in basketball since his return to the starting line-up. He has been averaging 69% from the field of late and has the highest defensive rebound rate in the league. It's the combo of him and Davis that shuts other teams down. He's 22 noiw, by 25 he will be a top teir player IMO
Teams get to play 4 on 5 on offense vs us and sag off Aminu. It limits Gordon's effectiveness. So the conventional wisdom is a more offensive oriented 3, Aminu as the 6th man defensive stopper. Or we replace Vasquez as a starter for a PG like Jennings. Bottom line is we'd like more offense from our starters, but I say we NEED more defense from our bench. We have no defenders coming off the bench right now. None.
Aminu has hit 17 shots outside the paint al year.
17.
He is not going to get better at this, at least not to the point where he isnt still a huge liability. I know we all want to root for him and we all think our own players are going to take these huge leaps forward, but the sooner we accept Aminu for who he is, the quicker we can appreciate him, as opposed to dreaming of the player he could (but won't) be.
You can't have a guy like Aminu on the floor for extended minutes when you reach the later rounds of the playoffs. He would be a great 20-25 minute guy on a great team, and is fine as a starter for now while the expectations are relatively low, but long term we need another answer at SF or at least an offensively capable guy to share the load.
You're wasting your time with FCP. He has some unhealthy obsession with length and athleticism. I guess it could be worse, he could be one of those people that think being from New Orleans is a basketball skill.
I often wonder if it is better to let the dreamers dream or to inform them with some harsh realities so they can lower their expectations and therefore not be so disappointed. It is an everyday conflict to be honest.
I remember going into the Denver series that I actually thought we could beat them since we were more healthy at that point then we had been the majority of the 2nd half of the season. But then I was crushed and the 58 point loss took the life out of me.
Would I have been better off with lower expectations? The high before the series or after we won a game to get back to 2-1 wouldnt have been as good, but the low wouldnt have been nearly that bad.
Sometimes I consider just not writing the bad, fluffing up the good, and letting the dreamers dream. Which is more harmful?
Being a Negative Nancy is not enjoyable for anyone. Point out the positives and the areas that need to improve (as well as the likelie-hood of the improvement happening). Discussing what steps can be taken to improve something is much more productive and thought-provoking than just saying someone sucks.
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Wow you guys got me thinking.
Jennings/Rivers
Gordon/Mason
Granger/Aminu
Davis/Anderson
Lopez/Smith
Would be pretty friggin nasty for the first year Pelicans. Wow.
I'm still on the Smart/Burke via draft train though. Did you SEE Burke last night? He's gonna be a star. That kind of kills the GV/Granger thing unless they want to roll with a Rivers/Burke rotation at PG which is scary (but perhaps could work).
But Burke/GV and snagging Iggy could defiantly work.
GV/Burke
Gordon/Rivers
Iggy/Animu
Davis/Anderson
Lopez/Smith
So many possibilities...
I've been on the Burke train for a very long time and he's just a So. I'm sorry the way he controls that team is very CP3ish. The fact that he's been slept on his whole career despite his accolades is amazing. The fact that he still ends up at the cream of the crop speaks volume. I want that young man on this team.
Pointing out problems is necessary, especially if y'all are doing it in an X and O's way or talking about why these guys fit and these guys don't. But fans don't need to get a reality check, people usually fan up to escape reality. There also is a difference between constructive criticism "Gordon may never play more than 50-65 games a year, can you contend with a star like that?" and obsessing over the worst case scenario "Mr. Coon, we have a star player that never plays, what kind of trade value do you think a player that never ever plays and probably won't ever play again has?"Quote:
Sometimes I consider just not writing the bad, fluffing up the good, and letting the dreamers dream. Which is more harmful?
Yeah- constructive criticism and "being negative" is such a thin line and honestly some fans perceive the same exact statements as one of those and other fans perceive it as the other.
For instance, if my observations of Eric Gordon lead me to believe he is an will be more Joe Johnson than Paul Pierce or Wade as far as being a closer, is that being negative or constructive?
Gerry V and I both agree that Vasquez has plenty of fine attributes, but he is not a starting PG for a championship caliber team. Constructive or negative? My feelings about Aminu- constructive or negative?
It's so hard, but in the end, I will just be true to my personal observations and let the chips fall where they may
Do you think Aminu's Olympic experience hurt his work during the offseason?
I was thinking he may have not gotten in the developmental work that he needed since he devoted so much time to the Nigerian team.
Good stuff here. As a reader, I always want the truth or at least perceived truth from a writer.I dont have to be right on everything, but also don't dismiss the other side's points as if they're nothing. There are truths to both sides of the coin, and often on message boards people forget that, trying to force their opinion on others (not saying this is you, just talking in general). I honestly think you've toned down some abrasiveness that you had in the past, which has made me a fan.
Schwan has tracked free agency tendencies and points per game = $$$ in free agency. Guys like Aminu dont typically get paid unless they stepped up big in free agency during a title run (Posey and Ariza)
I always point to Tony Allen. I would be beyond shocked if Aminu got 5-6 million per year. Just can't see it
Lot's of fans have thin skin and are overly defensive, not much you can do about that. People post on message boards to measure their opinion, but they read articles and listen to podcasts seeking the information they form their opinions with. When writing or recording you should care about what we know, not what we think.
Aminu has been showing some pretty nice post-moves. Would anyone's opinion change if he added that to his game?
I mean he posted of KG against Boston and recently has shown some good touch around the basket moving across the lane.
^True dat; Aminu's really been more aggressive going to the basket lately and showing nice post moves. And I guess for me personally, I see these players as people , people with personalities and internal thoughts, drives, motivations. Some fans and fan-writers seem to leave this human element out of the equation while keying in on the stats and past trends as the be-all-end-all. Have players ever improved parts of their games in the game of basketball? Yes, surely they have. Especially when we're talking about players that are in their young 20's. Take Tyson Chandler for example. Early in his career he didn't show much offensive skill, people were saying he would never develop any offensive game, limiting him to a situational defensive shot-blocker role-player. Over the years, he worked on the offensive part of his game with the help of good point-guards and now is a double-digit scorer all-star and starter for one of the top team's in the league. And former Defensive Player of the Year because he made sure to continue to focus on what he naturally excelled at while improving his weaker spots in his game. People change, people develop. Basketball players are people, too.
Exactly. Also, everyone seems to think that Rivers will be leaps and bounds better next year with practice but its impossible for Aminu to improve his jumper. Why is improvement exclusive to certain players. To me, that's crazy thinking. Everyone has the ability to improve and to think that Aminu's jumper isn't fixable is a foreign concept to me. I only see upside with Aminu personally.
Aminu has been in the league for three years and his jumper misses by a mile. It's not like they are just a little short or a little long.
Notice that nobody thinks Henry will get much better either. And trust me, if Rivers still is this bad in year 3, nobody will believe that he will get better either.
Aminu is one of the worst, if not the worst, perimeter shooters in the league- with regard to guys that play the perimeter positions. He is in year 3. It isn't going to get much better, and if it does, it will go from horrible to just very bad. It will not jump from horrible to average. That would be almost unprecedented. Maybe he will be the exception, who knows, but those who say that Aminu will always be a bad shooter will likely be right on this specific topic.
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/...tar-selectionsQuote:
6. Al-Farouq Aminu's Jump Shot
If it could speak, Aminu's jumper would say, "WHEEE!!!! I have no idea where I'm going, but I'm way high in the air right now!" It is a basketball prayer, every time. It has been nice to see Aminu work his way back into Monty Williams's rotation as a rebounder and plus defender, but, man, is he hard to watch on offense.
:hihi:
The difference between them is Rivers has had zero offseaons to work on his shot while Aminu has had multiple.Quote:
everyone seems to think that Rivers will be leaps and bounds better next year with practice but its impossible for Aminu to improve his jumper.
I don't think Aminu will improve his jumper unless he radically changes his mechanics and works with a shooting coach in the offseason.
I dont think Aminu will ever even get to the "below average" category with regard to jump shooting, but if he can continue to develop this mini post game he has and work the baseline on offense, he can be of huge value to the team. Like a much longer, better rebounding version of what Ronnie Brewer was in Utah
I think aminu might improve slightly with his jumper. Jason kidd and sefolosha improved their 3 point shooting later in their careers, so i will always be a little optimistic.
Maybe you are right but i think if he changes his release point he could improve some...i don't think he has bad form at all. But he could improve his post game some to offset his jumper some. But i think with some hard work he can at least become a slightly better three point shooter... His mid range jumper will probably slways be worthless.
You mentioned that Vasquez is probably not a championship caliber starting point (I happen to agree). I would like to see reasons why you think that and look into if he would be able to reasonably correct those deficiencies himself. If we need to replace him, how do we do it? Keep in mind that we would lose some things without Greivs (like rebounding). Can the targetted player bring enough other stuff to the table to make up for it? Or would an easier solution be to replace a different starter to help make up for Vasquez's weaknesses? Same kind of questions can be asked about Aminu and Lopez.
Speaking of Aminu, I would be happy if he was able to develop a jumpshot that is similar in effectiveness to the old style of stretch 4 (more like David West range and less like Ryan Anderson's). He has a long way to get to that point and I haven't seen anything that makes me think he will. Which is a shame cuz the dude is my favorite player on the team.
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Vasquez deficiencies-
Lateral quickness on the defensive end
Inability to score in isolation against big, quick guards
Inability to create passing lanes because of his lack of speed
Basically, all of Vasquez's liabilities center around foot speed, and that is just not going to change. Now, can he minimize it? Sure. He can go into the post more on offense. You can hide him against the slower of two guards on defense. You can create passing lanes for him by making him the secondary ballhandler, allowing him to penetrate when the defense is trying to recover, as opposed to when it is set.
Those are the remedies. He won't improve much in that area, but the system and personnel could be put in place to support his deficiencies
I'm not saying that Aminu can become a world class shooter but to say that he can't work on his jumper to make it serviceable is crazy. He's been in the league 3 years is true but he's 23 yrs old. His game technically is still developing. Your prime is around 28 yo. He has more upside than downside. Working with Monty is obviously working
That is the type of stuff I like and would be the basis of a good article on how we can improve the team. Giving options on what can be done with existing resources versus free agency vs trade makes for good reading when discussing what players should be kept or let go.
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You shouldn't have to do that for a player, and if it's even a passing thought, a consideration... you need an upgrade. It's one thing to do it for a game, or even on the fly in a series, but you can't build your team around the deficiencies of one average player who has below average physical ability.
"If we upgrade SF, GV is our long term answer", how about we up grade GV and let the 22 year old AFA develop on a cheap 4 year with the other young guys we have, and that goes for other positions.
I see a similiar situation with Vasquez as I did with Jeremy Lin last year.
In the perfect world yes, you despise "average players" and if they have one or more deficiencies you throw them away.
Plenty of other perfect pgs to choose. Like bledsoe who has so big deficiencies on the offensive part that you should surround him with 4 30+ppg players to make up for it. And a playmaker as well coz he can't distribute the ball. Bah.
Evan though Aminu is in year three, player improvement, at least drastic changes take place in the off season, he has technically only had one off season, last off season he was busy with the Olympics, not much time to spend working on shooting mechanics. That being said he should probably work on that post game and continue to work on the jumper to make it somewhat reliable. It seems that post mechanics are easier to develop, considering the players that spend a summer working with Olajuwon and improve greatly under his tutelage. I know Hakeem is expensive, but maybe he will give Aminu a Nigerian discount.
Oh, and Vasquez is better than Lin, they are both bad defenders, but at least Vasquez is dependable on offense. When our offense lags, he usually elevates his offensive game. Vasquez is a decent stopgap and a competent player, his defense can improve, Bruce Bowen wasn't blessed with amazing speed and quickness and he was a shutdown defender of perimeter players, including some point guards
I agree, and I think that why people realize Vasquez won't be as dominant when teams prepare for him in a 7 game series. It's bad when our entire offense depends on Vasquez because he can easily be shut down. It's a scary thought.
EDIT:
Also, if I had to pick one position where I think I can live with an average player it would be Center. The league is transitioning from having true Centers, so if by chance we have an average one (Lopez). I can live with that. Being average at the PG positions scares me if we really want to win a championship.
Who on the Hornets would be dominant in the playoffs? Do you think that preparing for a 7 game series will stop with Vasquez? Will Anderson have all those open 3's? Will Gordon get in the lane at will? Unless you have a transcendent player (Kobe, LBJ, Durant), everyone's game will be affected in some fashion. How we deal with it will be key.