Where will we be without JJ

[Final_quest]

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The problem is where you spend so much time working the draft, your original draft prospects leave to get overpaid in NY. ha ha

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Ha ha is right. We got one of the top free agents this offseason, potentially could end up being the best free agent of that crop. Also, picked up Zaza.

Also, why do you need a dominant PG to win a NBA championship?

Consider, some of the NBA champs of recent years:

Derek Fisher

Avery Johnson

John Paxson

BJ Armstrong

Who is the best NBA PG to win the championship in the past 15-18 years?

You have to say either Tony Parker, Billups, or ?

The last great NBA PG to win the title was Isaiah.

[macdaddy]

Exactly. I'm with you (and BK) on this. A great point guard is obviously extremely valuable but that doesn't mean you can't win without one. Billups was thought of as a shoot first kinda guy at one time.

Although to me Parker is a great point guard.

[KB21]

....most of you would have fired Kiki Vandeweigh in Denver after his first two seasons in Denver....seasons in which Denver won 27 games and then 17 games.

Billy's rebuilding started at the end of the 2003-2004 season.

[Lascar78]

well first of all, the triangle is an entirely different beast, and the lakers and bulls account for 9 of those championships. In that system, your PG needs to know how to dribble, and how to hit outside shots.

Other than that, "pure" points haven't been winning titles, but every title team had a very, very good point guard. Chauncey is certainly a shoot first PG, but he is an amazing player. Same for parker. All we have is a good backup in Ty Lue. We don't need a Jason Kidd to win the title, but it would be useful to have a starting caliber point.

No one's won the title with a Lue/Ivey type PG combo either.

Earlier in the year I thought a PG was our biggest need, because the youth couldn't get shots off and our offense was stagnant. But our team seems to have figured out how to get good shots without a pure point, so our focus certainly should be on bigs at this point, but it would still help to get a PG.

[KB21]

.....that before Chauncey Billups landed in Detroit, he was basically a journeyman guard who was largely considered a bust based on where he was taken in the draft. He had played for four different teams before hooking up with Detroit....Boston, Toronto, Denver, and Minnesota. During that time span, he was averaging 11.4 PPG and 4.1 APG.

I think it should also be noted that while his play definitely took off in his first two years in Detroit, his All-Star caliber play didn't start till this season. When Detroit signed him, they didn't expect to get what they have gotten. Chauncey simply finally found a system that he could flourish in, gained confidence, and became the player a lot of people though he would become when he was taken 3rd in 1997.

[thesheedera]

Very few point guards perform at a high level in their first few seasons.

Sometimes the best PG pickups are the guys with about 4 or 5 years in the league, who know what to expect and understand the game. Who've been "journeymen", with experience in different cities, systems and with all sorts of different players. Who have still put up decent production, and who play the game the right way.

Sometimes all they need is a HOME, and a team that they can run. Speedy, Earl...