Originally Posted by
vick
Yeah, I mean, I do understand where you are coming from, especially after this post, and I don't think it's crazy. If I believed Amile or Thornton were at the sort of defensive level where they could seriously affect rebounding or defensive FG% enough to do this, it'd make sense. It's just that, while I do believe Thornton is pretty clearly a better defender than Curry, it's not enough to offset the loss in offensive efficiency, and from what I've seen of Amile, he's not capable of guarding quality wings at this stage in his career.
I do think you're view of how another shooter like Curry fits into the offense is mistaken, though. Curry is a wonderful complement to Mason, especially with the development of Cook, I think. If you have three guys (Cook, Sulaimon, and Curry) who are strong off the dribble and can make their own shot inside and are credible three point shooters, then defenders are faced with a difficult dilemma when one of these three gets past their guy--break off Mason (leaving him free for a lob or bounce pass inside), Ryan (who can go inside or pop out), or one of the two shooters floating around the outside. I mean, compare the respective offensive roles of this team vs. the end of year 2001 team:
C: Boozer - Plumlee: efficient inside presence (I'm ignoring that Sanders technically started)
PF: Battier - Kelly: some post game, ability to pop for three
SF: Dunleavy - Sulaimon: strong off dribble, ability to hit the three (Dunleavy had more interior game though)
SG: Duhon - Curry: can distribute if necessary, some midrange game, efficient on open threes
PG: Williams - Cook: I mean obviously J-Will was a much better player at this stage, but Cook is a good shooter, and can get to the the rim, though clearly not at the same proficiency
First off bench: James - Thornton: Strong defensive presence, but ability to hurt teams who leave you open
I'm obviously not claiming this year's team is the equal of a team who sent all five starters to the NBA, so don't read me that way. But I do think the offensive structure consists of a group of reasonably complementary players the way it is, and is a fairly vintage Coach K offense.