Painfully obvious need for rebounding...

[Cross]

When Ben left us, Joel was out first option at center but he went to POrtland so we were stuck with Nazr, which was pretty unfortunate but he got the same type of deal Nazr got, and I don't think we're looking at Joel as our center for the next 4 seasons. Plus 5 mil for a slighltly if not same version of Nazr?

The only difference I see between Nazr and Joel is that Joel has better hands and shoots better on the line, but if Joel ends up in Detroit, which is unlikely, he won't be getting the ball much so he won't even be at the line.

It'd be really sweet if we could get Samuel Dalambert for expirings because Philly is going to be spending big this offseason but obviously, thats very unlikely.

Seattle is probably the only other team with a suplus of bigs. Collison or Wilcox could grab alot of boards for us and they aren't a complete liability on O. Too bad they're undersized at 6'9 and 6'10 repsectively.

It's not like magically, Maxiell will grow a few more inches as that is probably the biggest reason for him not being able to be our best rebounder. Dice and Sheed are both good to give you 7-8 a game but they probably won't be giving you little offensive boards because they play in the highpost or for sheed at the 3 point line. compare that to Z who's one of the best at getting offensive boards.

The only real solution to this is just to get everyone to box out thenc rash the boards...unless we somehow aquire camby or dalambert.

[Tahoe]

CWebb still has hops...about 2 inches.

[Tahoe]

Good post Cross.

[micknugget]

I don't know if another player is the answer. What we need is Sheed to start going down into the paint more. Frequently on offense he hangs around the three point line and then immediately retreats. He has the size and ability to rebound but chooses not to. If we can get him to work a little more on rebounding, that would go a long way.

[Black Dynamite]

Camby's the guy, IMO, maybe the hope is that Stuckey makes Rip expendible.

Not yet, though, I imagine tons of those old scoring droughts without Rip.

Not ever. Stuckey eventually will be Cbill's heir apparent. I doubt he makes any 2 guard expendable at his height(6ft 5in is a lie, Rip is severely taller than him from what i've seen).

[FP22]

The problem is that you have to make big changes just to open minutes up for a new rebounder. And realistically, Dice is not the problem. Unless you're replacing Dice with Dwight Howard, I don't see a huge difference coming by just replacing Dice. The problem is that the rest of the starting lineup are all shit rebounders. Ideally, each of those guys should be grabbing about 1 of those boards we give up each per game. Since that isn't going to happen without a coach that will actually get on these guys I'd say we're SOL. If you move Sheed to bring in a rebounder, it opens up a whole other set of problems.

And bringing in a guy who will play 15mpg doesn't matter. Our main unit has to be able to grab those rebounds in crunch time.

This team needs many things. We need a 2nd player that can create off the dribble for when Chauncey inevitably gets locked up by a decent team in the playoffs. Some people will say Stuckey could be that guy, but Stuckey won't be on the floor in the 4th when the offense bogs down. At least not until Rip or Chauncey retire.

We also need a wing player that can defend slashing, physical swingmen. But bringing in a guy to play backup minutes isn't going to matter, because we need that in crunch-time, and Prince/Rip will be on the floor regardless.

To sum it all up, we've got some crucial flaws which may stop us from winning it all, but it is going to be very difficult to improve in the areas we need without getting worse in others or swapping starters (which I don't see happening).

[FP22]

Not ever. Stuckey eventually will be Cbill's heir apparent. I doubt he makes any 2 guard expendable at his height(6ft 5in is a lie, Rip is severely taller than him from what i've seen).

He is the exact same height as D-Courage according to their Pre-Draft measurements.

[Hermy]

I don't know if another player is the answer. What we need is Sheed to start going down into the paint more. Frequently on offense he hangs around the three point line and then immediately retreats. He has the size and ability to rebound but chooses not to. If we can get him to work a little more on rebounding, that would go a long way.

About 10 years and 2 Portland titles too late there.

[Jethro34]

I think it's wrong to say Stuckey won't be on the floor in the 4th when it counts until the other two retire. With 50 games left in the season, and however many more until they're done, Stuckey still has a lot of time to do certain things.

First and foremost, if he eventually starts to get the Dwayne Wade calls (ie refs start to view him in a similar light and put him on the line every time he cuts into the paint - decent shot attempt or not) then he is sure to get some crunch time minutes, however they have to do it.

[Higherwarrior]

the pistons have submitted the paperwork to the nba office to have stuckey as their future 'star' player. once it's all approved by stern and he puts out the memo to the refs, he'll start getting dwyane wade treatment. then you can be sure he'll see some crucial time in the 4th quarter.