Dion to the pine?

[Playmaker0017]

We have all started seeing what we really didn't want to see: Dion playing like Dion.

At the beginning of the year we were impressed with his aggressiveness and decent play. Heck, even I was a tad impressed. But, I said we should temper this and see how it goes.

Now, it seems like every night one (or both)of our guards KILL us. Terry or Dion, every night. Whether it is offensively or defensively, but most of the poor play rests on Dion Glover. Terry is just not playing up to his ability, but Dion is playing at the top of his game.

Every night, some guy goes off for his career best against Dion - Vince Carter, Eddie Jones, Allen Iverson (and these are the past three games)! I don't totally blame Dion... he shouldn't be asked to cover these guys... he doesn't have the skill.

Dion is a BENCH player.

Diaw needs to start. Period.

I could care less about people's feelings. If Dion doesn't want to produce off the bench, then he shouldn't have an NBA contract. Simple as that.

What are your thoughts, guys?

Play.

[Weez]

"Now, it seems like every night one (or both)of our guards KILL us. Terry or Dion, every night"

I completely disagree here...it's more like Dion or Sjax jacking shots, esp. 3's...live by the three, die by the three...but we think we're phoenix's instead of Hawks, cause we sure seem to be dying a lot...

[Playmaker0017]

Weez,

Jackson may do dumb things. but he does try to play defense and is an energizer.

Terry isn't playing up to potential and is getting burned nightly by his man.

Theo is CONSTANTLY out of position to cover for the guards, who act as virtual matadors EVERY SINGLE NIGHT.

Theo would NOT be leading the league in blocks if the guards could keep their men out for a little.

Then when we finally get a guy to stay outside (see AI) then he lights us up. Instead of playing him close-up, we allow him space to shoot.

Play.

[chillzatl]

You can't lay the blame for Vince and AI on Dion. Those guys are superstars and have lit up much better defensive players than anyone on our team. When either of those guys is ON, nobody in the league will stop them.

The fact that they got lit up by stars isn't the problem. It's the bad shots and stupid mistakes that brings me to say it. He has yet to see a bad shot he didn't like. HIs mid-30s FG% is all the motivation you need to bench him. A former all-star wouldn't get the starting nod with that kind of percentage. There's no way he deserves it.

We have nothing to lose, bench him and let Diaw get the experience. He has more upside and will be more of an impact player on this team the more he improves.

[Playmaker0017]

Chillz,

AI, Vince, Jones are just three guys. But each of them came desparately close to 50 points. That isn't superstars being superstars, that is getting lit up.

But, add in the stupid mistakes and you have to wonder what he is doing out there.

Diaw plays MUCH more solid defense. Has a better sense of basketball and doesn't think he is MJ.

Diaw is one of the future stones of this franchise. He won't be the centerpiece, but he sure is heck is a good compliment.

Play.

[Diesel]

The way I see it is that Diaw has some upside but Diaw is going to be a points deficit everytime he hits the floor. I don't think that we are in Rebuild mode just yet. I say we give Diaw more playing time, but if we want success, I say we go to the minime backcourt.

JT, JV, SJ, SAR, Theo.

Reason being is that I believe that we have better ball handling with JV on the court. We have better shooting with JT on the court. This team really needs something that is stable to start games. Maybe splitting the offensive duties with JV will help JT learn to run an offense... However, i've said the same thing for the last 3 yrs. The truth is that JT is a SG.

Dion doesn't help becuase of his horrid shooting percentage. He takes a lot of bad shots. If he's going to do that, then he needs to be on the court with a team whereby it doesn't really matter.

I'm not giving Jackson an automatic pass either. He puts up his share of Bad shots too. I guess we just have to send a message.

[Lascar78]

The fact that Diaw isn't a scorer and Glover is is no reason not to bench Dion. In my mind, that's exactly why it makes sense. With Diaw in the starting line up you have enough scorers (Reef, JT, Jax, Theo at times) and Boris' passing will get the ball moving better. Then the 2nd unit would have a pass first PG in vaughn and good bench scorers in glover, Nazr, and Nailon. Vaughn can score too.

The way I see it we have two players who can pass, and they both sit on our bench while we keep complaining about the lack of motion in our offense. It wouldn't jurt our defense either.

It might not pay off in a huge way but I doubt it would hurt our performance at this point. Boris clearly has talent, so we might as well let him get the experience he needs now.

[chillzatl]

no I disagree. I don't care about Vince and AI getting their big scores. They do that to just about anyone who guards them. There's no way around it and blaming Dion for that is ridiculous.

Eddie Jones only scored 28pts. That's not a lot and it's not far off what he's capable of doing every night. He's averaging 20ppg already. Were it not for a smoking hot 4th quarter he would have finished with his average or less. It's not like scored at will the entire game. He got hot, players missed their rotations and he put his team back in the game. Dion doesn't take all the blame for that.

So basically we agree on what needs to be done, though for different reasons.

[Plainview1981]

The team is averaging 90PPG so that tells me that

JT/SAR/Jackson aren't enough scorers. Theo isn't a

scorer at all....7PPG on 39% shooting is TERRIBLE.

I don't care what he did for Philly 4 years ago. That

means nothing now. Just 4 years ago Penny was

still thought of as a star player....Grant Hill was a

star 4 years ago...Things change.

[macdaddy]

Dion definitely needs to go to the bench. Sometimes you need a guy who will go to the hole but not 40 minutes a night. Every game he looks like he doesn't know the offense. He just gets the ball and drives wildly.

I know that few agree but if you played Crawford 20 minutes a night he'd become really valuable. Sure he's made some dumb plays this season but he has barely played in 2 years.

[Playmaker0017]

Hots,

What that SHOULD tell you is not that we don't have enough scorers, but rather that the scorers we do have are either not getting enough touches or are being utilized in the wrong capacity.

Dion, leading the team in shots and with the worst FG % would be better served allowing someone else to take those shots.

JT needs to be shooting more, as does Reef. He may have led the team in scoring the past couple nights, but was still low on the shot chart at times. We can't allow that to happen.

Play.

[macdaddy]

You can't let them go for 50 though. Toronto and Philly aren't the Lakers. You force someone else to beat you and if they do you leave satisfied. Especially Toronto. If Carter is going to get 50 he better be doing it from the line with some bruises on his butt.

[Plainview1981]

Reef/Jt are averaging pretty much what they usally do...

These aren't 25PPG scorers....It's too easy to just sit

and say they should get more shots and they'll be top

5 scorers. It doesn't work that way. Reef/Jt isn't enough

to win you games...That can't and will never put out the

kind of effort to be those types of scorers...and if they

tried too...their defense would likely slip even futher

than than it already is. That's why players like JT can

score...They save all their entergy for the offensive end.

[Playmaker0017]

Hots,

Again, and Dion brings what exactly to the mix that makes his scoring SO extremely valuable?

Reef is used to shooting 17 times a game (plus fouls). He is currently shooting 14 or 15 times a game. There are two shots extra, right there.

Terry is pretty much the same.

I think you can get the SAME production with Diaw shooting and distributing as you get from Glover chunking up random/wild shots.

Play.

[Playmaker0017]

I completely agree with MacDaddy, but part of that deals with coaching too.

Play.

[chillzatl]

Starting JT and JV is not the answer. We tried this two years ago and it didn't work. JT isn't any better now than he was then. We'll still give up more points than we get. JV is also a point deficit. He's not capable of scoring more than 10ppg. I like JV, but he's an ostertag. He looks great in some games and you think that it's a no brainer to throw him out there all the time. But once you do it, you realise it was a big mistake because he can't give you those results every night against every lineup.

Diaw on the otherhand, has upside. With enough PT, he's capable of 10-12ppg, RIGHT NOW. While shooting a higher % than Dion, playing better defense and bringing a passing/playmaking ability that we've needed.

It's this simple. There is no player on our roster that is going to make us a great team tomorrow. JV is addition by subtraction, a stopgap measure. Dion is just subtraction. Diaw is the only player we have who has the potential improve and as a result, make the team better.

[Plainview1981]

For all you guys try and paint Theo and Diaw they are

a HUGE libility......Sure Dion shoots bad, but he's STILL

more of a threat than either Diaw or Theo.

JT/Diaw/Jax/Reef/Theo will score about 83PPG. Without

even Dion's threat to score that leaves more attention

to JT/Reef. Sadly, you guys don't want to look at things

with logic. No superstar+3 offensive libilities=bad idea.

Dion isn't great, but he's more of an offensive threat than

Theo and Boris together. Diaws skills are simply that of

a role player. he has NO scoring potential.

[Playmaker0017]

Hots,

I disagree.

Diaw is starting to shoot more now, and he is hitting a pretty good percentage of the shots he is putting up.

He has a nice looking jumper, that I think he will hit more often than not.

If we can get him to get the ball to Reef in the post, he might be the catch and shoot threat that we wanted Big Dog to be. The difference is that Big Dog is a GREAT shooter and an awful passer, while Diaw is a decent shooter (while timid) and a good passer.

I don't think Dion is a threat. Ever. Even if he goes off for 25 on a night. He is what you porport Reef to be... a guy that NO ONE is scared of.

Play.

[Plainview1981]

Diaw is a poor shooter....Look at that free throw percentage

he's had. He has no post game, no jumper, alittle slashing

ability but so did Ira Newble......This guy is a defensive

role player and has the skills for nothing else. But keep

him on the team because he's a cheap defensive player.

[Playmaker0017]

Hots,

The guy has looked impressive in the post over the past couple games. His jumper has looked good.

Remember - this is a kid from overseas adapting to this style of basketball. He's probably nervous as heck!

As for FT percentage, Reef shoots in the high-80s... but he has TERRIBLE form.

I'm just saying, you have to give the kid a break, he's a rookie. He isn't going to come out and dominate. He is going to contribute.

Dion WANTS to dominate and can't. Dion is awful.

Diaw has four times the basketball IQ of Dion.

It pretty much is a no-brainer.

You are weird... you stick up for Dion and bash Reef. I can't quite understand your loyalties.

Play.