We've discussed Flip, Flip, Ben, Darko, and Sheed to death lately, so lets turn the attention to our young small forward.
He needs to deal with at least 50% of the criticism Sheed routinely gets; he too has tons of potential and does not put up the 'numbers' to back that up. I am not bothered by the offensive disapperance - which has always been part of his game - but his very disappointing defense. One never knows how much of that is the system, and how much is the player. Though I would not consider any one on a perenial contender with a bottom-five payroll in the money stealing category.
Thief! Theif! Run him out of town! I guess I'm the first to choose option one. I have liked Tayshaun since his college days, but at the same time it's become more and more obvious that he is flying below his potential. The sad thought is that he may never actually "break out" unless he is traded to another team.
Kinda hard to hit numbers when you are the 5th option. And when we were man to man defense, his talents showed up, but now that you have the guys running around trying to cover and close the gaps ... kinks in the armor are bound to show. Could he do more? Yeah, but watch his reactions when sets are called. He's the 4/5 wheel and he knows it. Change the personal around him, and you'll see a different contribution.
I don't think the zone defense is hurting Tayshauns numbers. Flip has Tayshaun where he was so successful playing KG in Minny. Look at the numbers Kevin put up.
His play seems Darkoesque. The talent is there, but as people were so fond of pointing out against Darko, there doesn't seem to be a lot of drive, or energy. His body language is very passive. A lot of it has to be with him being the 4th option, and with Flip's Jump shooting O not encouraging him to post up people. But the talent is there, Tay just needs to show some aggression on the court.
That is the furthest statement that you can possibly get from the truth. Prince is a near All-Star. He is probably the best defender on the team. He plays smarter than anyone on the team. He is putting up career highs in several categories: Points per game - 15.0 Rebounds per game - 5.6 Assists per game - 3.1 3-point percentage - 42.6% He is durable. The guy has started over 200 consecutive games. He hasn't missed a game in 5 years. He has only 5 technical fouls in 5 years. He is professional. He is unselfish. I'll take Tayshaun Prince on my team any day.
Actually, his numbers this season are comparable to 2004/5 under Larry. Very close. I'd say Caron Butler is a lot closer to being an All-Star than Tay. Tay is a good player, but I would hesitate to call him great. When Sheed defers, he's lazy. When Tay defers, he's a team player.
For $12 million per season, people just want to see more consistent efforts from Sheed. His 3rd-quarter performance from last night shows that he still has the talent to dominate a game when he wants to. I don't have a problem with Sheed launching threes once in a while. I get frustrated when he sleeps on defense and gives up offensive rebounds. Maybe it is old age or maybe it's an injury. Whatever the case, it doesn't help the team's chances for winning. Watch a Pistons game and count how many times Prince's guy scores on him or gets an offensive rebound over him. If you're using your fingers to count, you will only need one hand.
Sometimes. That guy from Charlotte scored over him about eight times in a row the time before last when the Pistons played the Bobcats. And I'm not sure that's the only time it's happened. Tay looks a lot more vulnerable to me on defense this year than ever before. He is a bit of a mystery to me though. I always think he should be doing more, but I can't figure out if it is the system (he's at best option 3 or 4 on most plays) or if his demeanor just makes him seem more passive than he really is. Could be time to really watch him for a couple of games and try to see what's what.
Yeah. It's an interesting question. I really needed to think about it. I still can't decide, so I've decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. I think he's earned it.
Tay was beat several times in at the top of the zone last night. I wouldn't have caught it if ahb hadn't pointed it out, but sure enough once I was looking for it, consistently Tinsley was able to beat the zone and get to the second level.
Tinsley did blow by CB a couple of times. I don't remember much zone being played last night. In which quarter did Tinsley beat Tay? To borrow a phrase from Lee356.5, "I'll go back and look at the tape."
I'll have to consult the tape as well. I like Tay, but I'm not in love with him. He doesn't take over games.
How many guys does a team need to "take over games"? As the 5th offensive option and an above average defender, I just think Tay is a good piece for a championship team. He certainly isn't "stealing money".
Think of Tay on the Suns. I love the Pterydactyl stretch on the fast breaks. To me, this is similar to when we questioned Chauncey. You don't know what you're missing until he's gone. With Tay, he's never gone, so we don't have any frame of reference. I'm guessing that if he were out for an extended period of time, it would become painfully obvious how much he contributes. I'm definitely biased though.
Prince's man will score consistently and his poor defensive rebounding has been a team problem ever since Ben stopped having 20 rebound games. Unlike some of the others, I don't feel that Prince is really underachieving. I believe that he's more or less maxed out his talent as a 15 PPG scorer, capable of only a limited number of scoring plays in normal halfcourt sets; and while he's intelligent and a decent team defender he has been an extremely ineffective perimeter defender since handchecking was outlawed (i.e., below average; one of the worst on the team). Again, that's not underachieving; it's a simple fact of lack of athleticism. He will never be a "shutdown" defender again, and his vast reputation from 2004 has clouded many people's minds to the fact that he is extremely slow laterally and has been scored on more or less at will by every type of player in the league except standing jumpshooters like Kyle Korver since then. The only aspect of his game that I think he could be considered "underachieving" at is his rebounding effort, which is really pathetic. I am glad to see that he's become a deadeye standing 3-point shooter, though.
Thats kind of my thoughts as well. He is never going to be the type of player that produces when defenses collapse around him. We saw that when Billups was out. Then again, he will not have to. He is a great opportunistic scorer and can get the job done in the normal flow of the offense. Plus he is a good passer and defender. Needs to work on his rebounding. I do think he is worth the money but would not be opposed to upgrading that position at some point in the future if the right deal came along.
