stuff

[MikeJ]

Now that things are settling down about Shelden, I want to throw my two cents in about him. All you people that are complaining about his athleticism and measurements need to take it easy because a) they're not that bad and b) they're not that important. Anyone who has played / coached basketball knows that defensive fundamentals is what makes a defender, not how high they can jump or how tall they are. There's a reason that Shawn Bradley, Manute and Darius Miles arnt great defenders. They might get a lot of blocks but that's not defending. 70% if not more of defending comes down to getting good position and holding that position. I'm sure that Shelden with his head alone can do both. Charles Barkley said "it's not how high you can jump, it's when you jump".

While we're on defense. How about Justin Williams? He went undrafted, sounds like a helluva shot blocker. Does anyone have any good knowledge on him? We could realistically play Justin Williams, Shelden, Solomon and Smoove for short periods to pretty much ensure a defensive stop. There's some shot blocking, muscle and intimidation in that lineup. Could be fun to see.

[Diesel]

I think you hit the nail on the head.

Defense is about position, timing, and strength. There are a lot of guys who have great athleticism but no timing and no knowledge of how to get position. I think that's what will keep Smoove from being a starter quality 4. He has to learn how to fight for position, how to beat his man to position.

I think the most relevant example is Dennis Rodman. Before Rodman became known as a party all the time person, Rodman lived in the gym building up his strength.. Before that, he was taken to the top of the mountain called Bad Boys and taught defensive positioning by Buddha, Mahorn, and Sal.. By that same token, they also taught him dirty tricks and tactics.

But you never saw anyone just dominate Rodman. IN fact, this guy would get 17 rpg easily.. While holding his man under 20 ppg. And if he couldn't beat his man with skills, he'd beat him with Wit. I remember him getting Karl Malone kicked out of the finals. It was hilarious... That's when I realized that the refs referereed with prejudice. Karl Malone was Rodman's for the taking every game, but the refs let Malone get away with Murder because "it was Rodman".

[MikeJ]

Exactly, Rodman is the perfect example and was the very player that me and my friend were discussing a couple of hours ago in regard to this topic. Rik Smits is another one for all the wrong reasons. Here's a 7'4 guy who had a career average of 6.1 rebounds per game. I can't help but think that if I was 7'4 I would find it to get less than 6 rebounds in any game?!?! In fact a common negative for a lot of tall players (not all but a fair %) is that they are used to reaching for everything and going for every block with their long arms. If a shorter but stronger guy is posting them up and pushing them back e.g. Shelden, then they tend to push against them and smother them with their arms often committing fouls. For over athletic guys, they tend to rely on their jump and fall for the fake too easily. A smart post player will get by with smarts on both ends of the floor. Duncan aint athletic, sure his height is an advantage but it's his footwork that gets him his points. I think Shelden is a guy that gets the most out of his (some say limited) athletic attributes. Postioning and heart will get him by, and hopefully then some.

[GST]

Another name to throw out there is Karl Malone. I don't think Shelden will ever match Karl's offensive output, but he possibly can rebound like him. Karl was known as a player who would rarely jump a foot off the ground, but he still got all those rebounds (10.1 per game for his career). Shelden is built similar to Karl, and is probably a better jumper.

[Guest Riv]

Karl had some big guns.