When the offseason began, there was a lot of talk about which PF would best compliment Yao. A lot a people argued that Yao needed an athletic man next to him to make up for his lack of quickness. Now we have that in Swift, he just needs to fulfill his role by playing to his abilities. By with the focus mostly on our frontcourt, we've mostly neglected our less talented backcourt. We have no great overall player in the backcourt. Sura, James, Wesley, Anderson, and Barry all have their weaknesses. Sura is slow, Wesley is short, James ballhogs, Barry is old, etc. Head should be left out of the equation, seeing as how we have no idea what to expect from him. Because of these weaknesses, there are obviously advantages by playing certain players together. Swift might compliment Yao, but which guards will compliment each other? Sura/Wesley Pros: A lockdown defender paired with a tough hustle guy. Cons: Little ballhandling. One of the oldest starting lineups we can play. Can both players handle the rigors of an 82 game season? Sura and Wesley compliment each other quite well. Wesley takes on the harder defensive assignment and knocks down the open threes. Sura tries to create through penetration and is getting better at shooting threes. But both guys are getting older. Wesley's at the age where I wonder whether he's better suited coming off the bench. Sura may not even play the season opener, we should focus on limiting his minutes too. And with this guard combo, will Tmac have to bring up the ball again and again? James/Sura Pros: Sura goes back to his natural SG, James is our youngest PG. More quickness. Cons: James can't guard SG's Sura and James could work well together, but unfortunately Sura would be locked-in to guarding SG's. That means he'll be guarding the Kobe's, the Allen's, and the Ginobli's because James is just too short and lightweight. Otherwise, they're groovy. Mike James adds quickness and athleticism to the lineup. Unlike Wesley, James can create his own shot and score from anywhere. Sura doesn't have to chase around quicker PG's this way, and hopefully his rebounding might get better as a result because he'll have more energy when sprinting for those long rebounds. Sura would have to be the playmaker unless James improves his team play. James/Barry Pros: Great 3pt shooting. Barry can pass. Combining old age with quickness. Cons: Barry can't be relied on for heavy minutes. This was our backup guard lineup last year and it worked well. This is the absolute best guard combo for Tmac and Yao to run the Pick n Roll with because both these guys are absolute bullseye 3pt shooters. Barry works with James well because James can prevent dribble penetration much moreso than Sura. Barry is arguably our team's best passer, even being able to lob pass to Yao when fronted, which makes up for James' lack of playmaking abilities. But Barry can't start, and if his best partner is James that basically limits James to backup guard when he should potentially start. James/Wesley Pros: Great 3pt shooting. Two guards who prevent dribble penetration. Combining old age with quickness. Cons: Way too short. No playmaking whatsoever. If Sura can't play the season opener, this might be our starting lineup again. But these guys are way too short. Wesley can guard SG's despite his height, but James can't. Therefore Wesley can't defend PG's without concern like he does with Sura. That shouldn't be too much of a problem, though. Wesley rarely had to defend PG's. And both James and Wesley are good defenders. Neither can pass, though. And again, Wesley is old. ****** I know I'm leaving out Anderson, but I really haven't seen him play. I heard he's a streaky shooter, good playmaker, and decent defender. If anyone wants to come up with potential lineups with him, be my guest. If he can truly play PG, that'd be great. An Anderson/Wesley combo might just be the best starting lineup with James/Sura coming off the bench, although the idea of an Anderson/Sura combo sounds downright sexy. And how does Barry get PT with Anderson in the mix? We'll see.
nice read! But I must disagree with you when you say Wesley is not a good passer. Aftr the Wesley trade last year, there was alot more passing on the perimeter. This, along with the Barry trade, was no coincidence
The best matchups will depend on the other teams backcourt. If we are playing a bigger more physical back court then Sura/Anderson or Sura/DWes would work well. If the other team's guards are quicker then James and Anderson would work well. IF (and this might be a big if) we are healthy, we have quite a bit of flexiblity in our back court.
Nice post. To add a few comments: Sura/Wesley: I don't think this backcourt will see much time. We didn't do the total revamp I wanted but it's safe to say this combo won't happen often when the game is on the line. James/Sura: On defense, James will take the PG, Sura the SG. They are interchangeable on offense. If the opposing SG is slow enough, this combo works. James/Barry: When we spread the floor and go small, this combo will definitely be out there. When T-Mac and Yao are destroying a weak defensive team and they adjust by double teaming both, this pair will clean up with open jumpers and James will take it to the hole. James/Wesley: Both guys can pressure the ball. This pair fits against small, quick backcourts. Wesley will struggle against big SGs. Bottom line: We better hope DA becomes our best guard and earns 30+ minutes a game. I'm hoping James will focus more on distributing the ball to others instead of just looking for his own shot. [I know it's a reach but I can hope].
lets just hope DA can guard bigger SG´s, so we can adjust the guard combo at any situation: with the exception of DA and MJ, all the others are able to play both PG and SG. JVG could change between size or athleticism at any time.
I think our starting should look like this: Yao Swift Tmac Anderson James James/Anderson will be the best guard combination imo. Anderson can play at both positions SG and PG and so can James. James is a better shooter than Anderson and Anderson is a better passer than James. I still put James at PG position because of his height. And top of that, both Anderson/James are good defenders as well. I think Anderson can get as many assists as Sura can. And James is way better shooter than Sura. Sura will be better coming off the bench. So our bench would look like this: Mutombo Howard Barry Wesley Sura
Pretty good breakdown.... But I do not agree with you comment about MJames being a dead eye 3pt shooter....he's spotty at best. I suspect we will see the same lineup in our backcourt (and our frintcourt for that matter). Wesley is a great defender on PnR's and Sura gives us rebounding and an enforcer on the court...(barring injury or someone having a monster camp of course)
Honestly it is very hard to determine which of Sura, James, DW and DA make the best duo. Careerwise, DW and DA have accomplished the most. But Wesley is the oldest and DA has had recent off/injured years. James is the youngest and best athlete at this point in his career, and DA is the most versitle. Sura is the best rebounder by far and physically the strongest. I think based on size we are better off not pairing James and DW together, and I think James is more suited for the bench energizer. So I saw either Sura or DA starts at the 1, DW starts at the 2. But more importantly, who finishes (makes the best duo) is up for grabs. I also look for Sura and DA to get the bulk of the back-up 3 minutes behind Tmac. I think we can do a lot more of our normal thing with them as the back-up 3 than with Bowen.
I'm still hoping for that 2 for 1 trade, and hoping it's a starting PG, who has a high basketball IQ, is a great passer, and can hit the three, such as a Brent Barry or Chris Duhon. But even though SA might want to let Barry go, I doubt they'd let us have him. CHI sure has a glut at guard ... hope they'd be willing to trade one of them.
Uhm......just wanted to mention: Brent Barry is NOT a PG and Why would Chicago trade one of our their guards for two of our guards if they already have a log jam at that position?
Forgot to mention that every one of our guards brings something unique to the table. If you yank one out of the starting lineup, we lose something, no player is clearly better than another at everything. If you yank Sura you lose his strength, rebounding, and the intangibles. Wesley, the defense. Barry, the shooting. And James, the scoring ability. It's a shame we can't combine the best attributes of each to form some kind of uber-player. But we already have that, I guess. And his name is Tmac. Versatility is nice, but so is consistency. You don't want guys going out there every night not knowing if they're going to be in the starting lineup or not. Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith said you have to be mentally prepared to start to perform well, not just thrown in at the last second. So instead of just playing matchups, JVG should be wondering what starting duo should be out there every game.
We still have our fabled "2for1" guard trade to look forward to solving this question. Either James or Wesley will be traded along with an expiring contract and maybe a pick for either a starting SG or a starting PG (hopefully a PG). This will replace what we couldn't afford to hire in free agency. CD and JVG have both indicated it will happen. What it exactly will look like is anybody's guess, but IMO it will happen at least by the trade deadline. But it may happen sooner than later.
Nice post... who needs Anderson! Sura and Wesley are our best option for starting. If not because of what they bring as individuals and as a unit... but because you really want the change of pace and energy that James and Barry bring off the bench. I don't have the statistics handy... but I imagine that we more than held our own if not pulled ahead in games when James and Barry where in vs the other teams second unit. In regards to Anderson... he with either take playing time away from Barry (assuming that Sura is healthy) or see most of his time backing up TMac at the three. He is undersized for that duty... but with a small ball lineup we can dictate the pace of the game and it won't matter as much.
Not just against other teams' second units, but the Rockets outscored opponents by 161 points in the 400 minutes that James and Barry were on court together (Stats from 82games.com). I do think these stats are primarily against 2nd unit/smaller players, though.
Yep, but we'll just have to settle for the Captain Planet system. Anderson: "Explosiveness!" Wesley: "Defense!" Barry: "Three's!" James: " Scoring!" Sura: "Heart!" "By your powers combined, I am Tracy McGrady!!"
