Amir as a backup SF? no way, Amir itself has said that he hated it when team tried to do something like this( in his rookie year)

can i go to the place of a lee theory... GRIN this was the plan all along but they were afraid to play him to early and burn him out from the increased amount of mins. so they waited this long so he won't hit the wall during the playoffs.


Na, my attempt was weak... I'll leave it to others to come up with this sort of thing.

He missed the summer league (except for 1 game) and the pre-season (except for 1 game) which hurt his integration into the rotation big time just like Flipper said.

He injured his ankle and the fact is that even after they activated him he was not physically anywhere near his capabilities for November and even part of December due to his ankle injury.

January we were on the road so practices were limited.

He has only had 18 DNP's out of 46 games is averaging almost 9 minutes a game so all things considered, including his injury, he has gotten his minutes even though some of us, including me, were at times frustrated with his DNP's.

He now needs to reduce his fouling. Now that AJ is in the regular rotation Flipper seems to be removing AJ when AJ gets his 3rd foul. I expect his minutes to go up as he gets stronger and his defense continues to improve, which includes reducing his foul frequency, which will come as he gets more experience.

We all like Dyess this year because he is getting the boards. But I'm pretty sure Amir would grab more in Dyess's role.

Some of those grabs last night were pretty tough.

Your analysis looks at hard numbers, but what about the soft side. Certain synergies have been built between the pairings. Sheed and Dice defend seamlessly, with both alternately manning up against the center position. As of yet neither Max nor Amir can do this effectively. Granted Sheed and Dice seem to lack cohesiveness offensively, so there is room for improvement.

The second unit is developing a totally different style of hyperactive defense leading to transition offense which I fear Dice would become lost or ineffective in. That defense relies on Max & AJs shotblocking and pass deflecting abilities.
I wonder if the zoo crew shouldn't be allowed to more completely develop their identity before effecting major changes. At this point I believe the contrast in style will become an advantage overshadowing many stated shortcommings..

__________________
Bye Ben...................sigh ................HELLO MAX !!!!!

For Amir SF is only a positional label. If you don't attach a specific skillset to the label there will be no angst. Just tell him to go play hard. Point to the court and say guard that guy, rebound, block shots, create havoc, drop the ocassional dime, and foul when necessary.

And we win happily ever after.

If they can really groove that fast paced style, then I'm all for it. That also solves the main problems that I was addressing, which is that Stuckey doesn't have room in the paint to drive and Max/Amir aren't as good on the defensive boards. Neither of those will matter if we are causing turnovers and running.

I'm sort of curious about a small-ball lineup of Stuck/Hunter/Afflalo/Max/Amir. 3 great ball handlers and 2 trapeeze artists.

Interesting indeed.

Fast hands and feet that can generate many loose balls. Sounds like a post All Star game experiment, which if sucessful remains in FlipSr's back pocket till needed in a pinch.

I just don't like the way Sheed and Dyess constantly do such a great job providing a layup drill for the other team in the first quarter of games. Nor the fact that between them, they do such a great job of anticipating things such that they ensure the other team gets all the rebounds in the first quarter. Defensively, this pair ain't working, not even a resemblance of working. Far far too often, Rip will get hot, hitting shot after shot, just to see the other team make shot after shot right back, and mostly by going right to the hoop. Its bad, and its got to change.

AJ is a our best rebounder period, both on the defensive boards (7 last night in 12 minutes) and offensive.

Maxiell can attack the offensive boards but that would be okay playing with AJ as Maxey will be able to clean up AJ's misses from the outside. He will start taking more and more jump shots as time goes on.