Let's keep this simple.

[troubleman]

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My point is you don't know Yi. How can any self respecting poster crow about wanting a guy you have never seen play in a game? I LMAO at the people who are all over Yi as the next great Dirk or International savior.

You don't know Yi and yet you defend his selection to the depths. There is something a little crazy about that position.

Now, if he blows people away in workouts and becomes a huge buzz because he outplays other top players in workouts then that could change things. I am still for Conley either way but, based on evidence, supporting Yi is a defensible position. Right now, every poster who is advocating drafting Yi is doing so based on blind faith. You have watched him dunk on pitiful competition on Youtube.

This whole Yi stuff is pure nonsense. We have all wanted a young franchise PG to take the helm of this team and now that we have a chance to take a great athlete with brains and a real PG mentality...some want to grab another forward. And, as if that isn't crazy enough, they want to take a player they have never actually ever seen play, based on Chad Ford and Youtube.

That is the epitome of irrational fan behavior...with a twist of stupidity. If you railed against BK for taking a forward last year without even working out SW, then how can you be an advocate of taking a player nobody on this board has ever even seen play a game?

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I said this in an earlier post: The Hawks have two lottery picks, so not taking Conley is not the end of the world. The Hawks are still a bad team, which means taking the BPA. If that is Conley, then fine. If that is Yi, I'm fine with that too.

Unlike many of you, I'm not stuck on this one guy bandwagon right now. I've stated several times that my mind can change, but I will say that you can save your keystrokes and insults, because you won't be the one changing it. I've watched enough basketball in my life where I don't need you, Chad Ford, and all the other "expert" opinions to make a decision on who I want. I watched Shelden Williams for 4 years at Duke, and once I saw his measurements I knew at that point that I didn't want him.

As far as my defending Yi, I can do that for the very same reason that people are against him. You all have not seen him play either. So you can rely on the negative aspects and not want him, but I can't rely on the positive aspects and want him? GTFOH. I respect the posts of many of the Squawkers, including Exodus, and I like debating those who like to use "stats" to prove their point.

[exodus]

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Wow, Marvin's Opponent PER is 17.2 at the 3 position, but he doesn't struggle.

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The Hawks are a bad defensive team, as you pointed out, so that works against him. He is 20 which also works against him as far as knowing how to play D, knowing the rotations, etc. Plus he is weak and can be overpowered.

However he has good footspeed and is able to keep guys in front of him, even when he gets switched onto pgs.

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The NBA has screwed with the rules so much, that a team like the Hawks, with only one legit shotblocker in the starting lineup, is doomed defensively.

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So naturally the answer is to take one of the best shotblockers in the league and put him on the perimeter while bringing in a guy who can't defend in the Chinese league. OK

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We know that Smith had his best production at the 4 spot.

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I wonder why you didn't address this.

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s I have stated several times, it's Zaza or Smith. They cannot play the majority of the minutes at the 4 and the 5 together

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I agree, as far as i am concered Zaza is nothing but a backup. They need a defensive upgrade at center in the worst way.

As a side note i think Solomon could be very effective as a backup 4. He might be as good a shotblocker as Smith.

[troubleman]

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The Hawks are a bad defensive team, as you pointed out, so that works against him. He is 20 which also works against him as far as knowing how to play D, knowing the rotations, etc. Plus he is weak and can be overpowered.

However he has good footspeed and is able to keep guys in front of him, even when he gets switched onto pgs.

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But you said Marvin is a good defender, right? Being on a good defensive team doesn't work for Duncan? Can you explain the PER to me once more?

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So naturally the answer is to take one of the best shotblockers in the league and put him on the perimeter while bringing in a guy who can't defend in the Chinese league. OK

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You go me there. lol One things is for certain, they need to improve the frontcourt, because right now it's not working.

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We know that Smith had his best production at the 4 spot.

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I can't because we don't know how much he was affected by the injury earlier in the season. I don't know if it was the move to the 4 or the the recovery from the injury, plus another year of NBA experience. I also know that Josh had some pretty good games at the 3 in 2005/06.

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I agree, as far as i am concered Zaza is nothing but a backup. They need a defensive upgrade at center in the worst way.

As a side note i think Solomon could be very effective as a backup 4. He might be as good a shotblocker as Smith.

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I agree with you to an extent. I'm not as down on Zaza as you are, but his lack of athleticism concerns me. Solo was one of the great picks by BK.

[TexasPete]

I am not "for" or "against" Yi Jianlin. I don't know his game so I'm not one way or the other.

However, I know that we have a massive glut at the forward position and it hurts our team to keep using high lottery picks on bench players. We don't have the luxury of building our bench. We need to build a cohesive starting unit and then we can worry about the bench. Yi would come in as a Hawks and go right to the bench. Period. The odds of him being ready to start are long odds.

Conley will be the athletic stud PG that we have craved for years. I do not want another forward. We don't need a forward unless he is a huge upgrade on what we have now...like Durant.

I want to draft our future PG for 10 years in Conley and then package Chill and the 11th pick for some help along the front line. Getting a young athletic big like Bynum would be ideal because in two years he will be a beast.

Bottom line, Yi may/may not be the real deal. Either way, he is a duplication that we don't need.

[exodus]

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But you said Marvin is a good defender, right?

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Again with the misquote. I'll ask again is English your second language?

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Being on a good defensive team doesn't work for Duncan?

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Actually it does. He spends a lot of time at center where his opponents per is much lower. And they use him primarily for his help D. If you watched them play you would know that their entire defensive scheme is based on funneling any driving player towards Duncan.

That is why opponents score 6.6 fewer ppg when Duncan is playing, even though they are a good defensive team without him.

[troubleman]

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Actually it does. He spends a lot of time at center where his opponents per is much lower. And they use him primarily for his help D. If you watched them play you would know that their entire defensive scheme is based on funneling any driving player towards Duncan.

That is why opponents score 6.6 fewer ppg when Duncan is playing, even though they are a good defensive team without him.

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Thanks Stat guy. Fortunately, I don't need stats to prove to me that Duncan is a good defender. Simply using him to prove that the opponent PER stat is flawed. The Pistons are a good defensive team right? So using your logic, shouldn't Wallace have a good opponent PER? How about the Bulls? Good defensive team right? Shouldn't Ben Wallace have a good opponent PER?

[exodus]

It is nice to see you were able to make a post without misquoting me. Congradulations.

And certainly defensive stats aren't as definitive as offensive stats. I have never claimed to try to "prove" their validity.

However if a player is a "terrible" defender it is going to show up somewhere. There will be some evidence of it.

As far as the Wallaces go they are both 33. Ben's production has been on a steady decline for years. And this is Rasheeds first year without having Ben next to him so that is probably a factor for him.