Not sure what this has to do with my post? Yes Anderson is a bad defender. But people shoot worse in the playoffs, with some exceptions. Teams are better, players are giving more effort on defense. Yes but Gobert is the exception. He is all-time unique with his wingspan and relative quickness. If exceptions are counted, then take into account that our elite guards destroyed him. He was not able to be an anchor. He wouldn't have been able to do it against the Warriors either. You've definitely jumped the shark here. It is without question a hot commodity, AND both those players doubled their salary and we couldn't afford to keep them. We would take them both back right now if we could afford them. Phoenix and the Clippers are TANKING and they paid one of them $15m - which is way way way above what anyone else would offer. Clippers offered $3m for a possibly permanently damaged Moute who walked away from them a year earlier for the minimum. Honestly if you're not able to concede that, you are not being rational and are too married to your argument.
I didn't say Houston's defense was better than Utah's, nor did I bring up Gobert. He's an excellent defender and not even bad on the perimeter by center standards. I didn't even endorse a switch everything defense, though that seems like the best way to slow down Golden State. I said that a big man can't just be a rim protector anymore. They need to do more and there are several examples demonstrating why. Yao anchored top 5 defensive teams for several years in a row, being as high as 2nd in defensive rating in 2008. Roy Hibbert anchored the absolute best defense in the league in 2014. I'm a huge Yao fan, he's the reason I'm a Rocket fan in the first place but despite being a great rim protector he had glaring weaknesses that were exploited even in that era. It's doesn't take a GS or Houston's legendary dual-PG backcourt to exploit a shotblocker. Yao couldn't guard Okur so we put him on Boozer, who could also shoot jumpers. Yao couldn't guard anyone in the Utah series. And Hibbert was neutralized by Bosh in the playoffs, but even Pero Antic was giving him trouble with his range in the first round. Yes, the NBA has 30 teams, but you're only playing the good ones in the playoffs. You're not facing Charlotte or Sacramento. The good ones exploit matchups. What teams are trending towards the Rockets style? Just look at how many threes are being taken nowadays. Not only are teams taking more threes but they're also hitting them at a higher percentage than ever before. The 2005 Phoenix Suns led the league in 3PA/G. This season they would've been 25th. And nearly every talented center has three point range now. Even the scrubs are raining from deep. Rim protection is great, but a big man cannot rely on that alone when more and more teams are taking threes by design. There are simply fewer shots in the paint to contest.
Lots of words flying around about Zhou. Bottom line, He should be our starting power forward by the end of the season. G Chris Paul G James Harden F Melo F Zhou Qi C Clint Capela
The elephant in the room. The China revenue helps fund luxury tax payments to augment the current roster. Just something to think about.
If you are talking about the Asian Games, I only saw highlights of the 1st game in YouTube. Still waiting for the rest of the games to show up.
Spot on accurate. May be understated even. Qi should be in the rotation, playing backup minutes, and ready to supplant Capela in the starting lineup. His 3-ball release is getting quicker simultaneous with increased accuracy. The combination of that 3-ball, his ability ro handle the rock a bit and finish with it, and his extreme length and defensive quickness and switchability is ideal for our system. I can easily see a closing lineup of cp3, Harden, PJ, Melo, and Zhou with Gordon spicing it up, sliding in to spell those guys in the 4th. And I really believe Gordon and Capela are prime trade bait for another superstar at the 3 at the deadline with Zhou/Melo rounding out our top 6. I only hope we don't trade Zhou unless it's a king's ransom type trade as part of a package for a guy like Portzingis. Short of that type of talent coming back, Zhou is too valuable to our roster, signed for 3 more seasons.....at the minimum! Guys that refuse to see and believe that this man is going to be a great piece for us this coming season and that still think he needs 2-3 more seasons to be a contributor are exhibiting Zhou negative bias. They're not being realistic. I'm not saying Zhou is going to be a superstar. I don't think he'll be that. I am saying he's a rotation-ready piece on a championship team right now. His skill set is ideal and has been developed more properly than a guy like Capela was. Capel was bulked up. And he wasn't taught to shoot. Zhou has been encouraged to run, get faster and quicker, and to shoot, shoot, shoot. The difference is night and day and will soon be reflected in Zhou's sophomore season provided he stays healthy. I am truly excited to see what Zhou and DeAndre bring us this season. Both guys feel right to me. Need to get DeAndre signed for 3 seasons....even if it's above the minimum. Pay him like a bottom first round pick for 3 seasons and let's get to camp already.
Utah's defensive scheme is very simple. They overplay everything on the perimeter and push the opponent inside the 3-point line and try to make the opponent chose midrange or attacking the paint against Gobert. It works the overwhelming majority of the time. They only get cooked against teams like us and GS that have elite floor spacing and multiple elite playmakers. Gobert's problem isn't that he's no good iso'd on a switch. His problem, and Quinn's riddle to solve, is that he is neither any good iso'd on a switch nor can he shoot the three ball and space out the opponent defense. If he could do one of those two things (shoot the 3 or adequately switch and defend guard/wings on the perimeter) then Utah would be co-equal threats with Houston/GS. Because the Jazz aren't that far away from us. They need an upgrade to their 4/5 rotation for sure. But they're close, very close.
A slightly different take to @yanghan84 's excellent summary last week: While Zhou definitely has the highest ceiling of all the Chinese players, he is one of the 4 core players - Guo (the Blue team PG), Ding (the Red team SF playing alongside zhou, who got a mavericks camp invite but is currently bothered by injuries), Yi (the Blue team center piece who has not played as often lately) and Zhou himself. While Zhou distinguishes himself on the defensive side, his role in the Chinese NT is limited on the offense due to his inability to create for himself other than the pump & drive move. -- This is unfortunate for the NT as it desperately needs more offensive talents in the World Cup level, but not necessarily a drawback for Zhou in terms of competing for minutes in the rox roster. Generally speaking, Zhou is regarded as the best chance for Chinese NT to return to world stage relevance after Yao retired, but this is more a result of the obvious potential he holds as well as the unique skill set he possesses, and he still has a long way to go to realize what the fans are expecting of him - up until now, Ding & Yi's performance on the offensive end are probably slightly more impactful to Chinese NT's winning odds while Guo and Zhou's performance fluctuates a bit more. More specifically, Zhou has undergone some huge criticism in the last couple of years due to lack of development in terms of physicality. The negativity reached a peak when he looked totally lost during the Olympics and then was drafted lowly in the second round (Chinese media were hoping for a mid-to-late first round position prior to the draft and comparisons were made to Thon Maker, so the 44th pick was a considerable disappointment). People questioned his motor and self-discipline for his inability to gain weight for three straight years playing in the Chinese league. The criticism continued during the NBA season as he rarely see time with rox and did not light the opponent up in Vipers either, to the point of a small yet significant portion of fans and media started to calling him to go back to the Chinese league and stop wasting time in the hopeless NBA. On the other hand, the more optimistic fans points out Zhou generally plays up to the opponent and had some of his best performances in those most important games of his young career, so any lack of development is unlikely due to him not care. His passing ability and BBall IQ are generally recognized to be good, his ability to stay with guards after a switch is unique for his size. The recent Asia Games see a huge shift in public opinions towards Zhou - He was firstly being praised for looking much much stronger even before the game started, then almost all doubters went quiet after the first Philippines game, praising his jaw-dropping improvement both in terms of physicality and the much improved 3-pt shot (Zhou is hitting 11 of 19 3pts for the Asia Games so far, or 58% behind the arc). Almost all the fans are now excited about how much NBA training could help Zhou fulfilling his potential. Expect Zhou to be touted the next savior of the Chinese basketball, until the next loss hits at least.
After watching those highlights, his health really concerns me as it seems he has developed a severe case of monster measles.
You absolutely can against the Warriors, which is basically all that matters in the current NBA. Morey is trying to build the best defensive team to combat the Warriors - this involves having a lot of guys that can switch. You need mobility to guard the perimeter, so traditional defenses anchored by slower centers will undoubtedly have a tougher time. He isn't trying to build the best defense in regular season ratings - it's all in design to beat GS
