southeasy

i'm baaaack

dropped off when the layout changed, but thought i'd drop some ideas

i'm not so sold on bargnani being able to play center after his performance for italy.. rasho however was probably the mvp of the fiba euros... you can't discount that... if bargnani is ready in training camp & preseason, he'll start.. if not it's gonna be rasho & bargnani will have to either be subbed in, or maybe start at the sf? is that entirely out of the question, then you can still have bargs offense & rasho's tough d, with bosh, ap & ford. calderon, kapono, delfino, garbo, baston, 5 off the bench? these are just ideas i'm throwing out, we'll really see soon enough.

i'm sure nobody has actual preference and jsut wants to see whats best (what works) for T.O.

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1AJosh Howard/1BGerald Wallace/2Amare Stoudemire/3Rajon Rondo/4Sean Williams/5Chris Bosh/6Renaldo Balkman/7Al Thornton/8Stromile Swift/9Jose Calderon/10Dwight Howard/11Antawn Jamison/12Dorell Wright/13Leandro Barbosa/14Samuel Dalembert/15Thabo Sefolosha/16Caron Butler/17Ronnie Price/18Trevor Ariza/19Jamario Moon/20Travis Outlaw

Close but No Puro: Julian Wright, Jeff Green, Amir Johnson, Louis Williams, JR Smith, Quincy Douby


RIP to the Career & The Man, Jonathan "Best Practice Player In NBA History" Bender & Eddie "Most Known Unknown" Griffin

ItalianStallion

I have been saying this thing for ever and it seems like noone is with me on this, but i will make the same old points once again.
1)If you drafted a player at number 1, why would you play him off his natural position? isnt there the risk to waste a player by constantly asking him to do things that he is not good at?
i.e. would you play steve nash at SG if you had also, say, TJ on your team?
2)If you keep saying that bargnani is weak to play the 5(which i dont think he is because he is just as big as greg oden who was supposed to be the next great think), then why don't you play bosh at the 5?
3)If what Bargs does better is passing and shooting from far away, and what Bosh does better is shooting close to the basket and rebounding, doesnt it make sense to play Bosh at the 5 and Bargnani at the 4?
4) STOP SAYING BARGNANI IS A BAD DEFENDER! HE'S BETTER THAN BOSH AND DIRK AT IT BUT I NEVER HEAR COMPLAINS ABOUT DIRK'S DEFENCE. IF YOU WANTED A DEFENDER YOU TRADED FOR BEN WALLACE AND DIDN'T DRAFT ANDREA.

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billfindlay10

It does not matter how they play on the offensive end, it is how they guard the position they play. We need to see Bargnani improve on defensive rebounding, blocking out, and not giving up deep post position. I feel this will come with age and NBA playing time. Andrea will be the center of the future, I just don't think he will start games in November....but lets see who gets the start in January. My guess is that will be the 3 ballin Italian!

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Onions, Baby

Bargnani is definitely not a better defender than Dirk or Bosh.

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SkywalkerAC

I'd love to see Bargnani starting and putting up allstar numbers next season but I think it makes sense for him to come off the bench, at least to start the season.

Andrea's foul troubles were kept in check, by himself and Mitchell, last season. In the starting lineup, is it more likely this becomes an issue? I'd be surprised if it wasn't and would expect opposing teams to go at him early and often on the block, whether his defense is decent or not. That said, maybe our team defense is good enough to make this a non-issue.

Rasho in the starting lineup makes sense for defensive purposes. Bargnani will eat up any bigs that are tired, have foul issues, or are also coming off the bench.

That said, maybe Mitchell wants to start off the season with a bang - 100 shots. Now that the team has found its shooting range he'll want to come out of the gates running rather than jogging up the floor with Rasho. I wouldn't be surprised. It's not like we don't have the depth to compensate for any foul issues and a frantic pace.

At the end of the day, I'd prefer to see Bargnani start because that says a lot about where he's at as a player. Our bench doesn't NEED him. We all want to see him develop a lot more chemistry with the starting lineup (especially TJ). And, quite simply, his presence gives us one of the most offensively potent starting lineups in the history of basketball.

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AC

Onions, Baby

Exactly. Have TJ run a full-court offense and get a Suns-style tempo going and then bring in Calderon off the bench who is an excellent game manager that excels in the half-court. Throw in the other half-court, defensive-minded players like Garbo, Rasho, and Delfino, and we will roll.

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trick

eh? I would say he's already on par with those two, considering Dirk and Bosh play not-so-great defense already. I mean, trying is one thing, but being a good defender comes from raw instinct IMO. You either have it or you don't.

As for Bargs starting or coming off the bench as a C, I say let him start the season as a C regardless who the matchup is. Eventually if he does become a full-fledged C like what he's projected to be, he should learn right away what it takes to be one (i.e. banging bodies, knowing the spacing on the floor, be familiar with the post, etc.) Even if he does struggle there (and he will), it's better for him in the long run. I think having Bosh start a C via Kevin O'Neill did wonders for his game now.

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ItalianStallion

Well then, let me bother you all once more and put the question in a different way.
PLAIN AND SIMPLE: who do you think is better? Bosh or Bargnan? i.e. who would you want in your franchise had you to start from scratch?
whomever you think is the worst out of the two should play off his natural position.
and for me (but i admit i am not impartial) Andrea is the better player and therefore it seems more natural for me to have Bosh play at 5

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seifer0406

I consider Bosh to be better, but that's not why I put Bargnani at C. Bargnani is just bigger and has the potential to get to acceptable center size. Bosh's frame is just too narrow and he will never be able to play center full time.

Crossword

Oh boy. What qualifies Bosh for this status on defense? His perimeter defense is okay against guys his size, but his post positioning gets exploited time and time again. There's a reason why Jason Collins looks all-star caliber against us and our offensive rebounding discrepancy is almost always in the double digits, in favour of the opposing team.

From what we've seen of Bargnani in the post, he's a more clever defender and tougher presence down low. Did he have lapses last year, of course but that's just part of his learning curve towards adjusting to the NBA game. This year I expect an improved Bargs on defense, especially with another year of Smitch's coaching under his belt.

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