Davis vs. Powe: February poll

[Edgar]

Powe really deserves to be this teams backup PF

Very true, however I guarantee you his agent is in his ear that Powe really deserves to be another teams starting power forward.

Career wise I think it would be best if he would back KG up for a couple more years and then he can replace him as KG retires. I just don't think that they will want to wait that long though. 

If the Celtics don't want to expand Powe's role beyond being KG's backup, then I have to believe Powe will be gone after this year. I don't think 16 minutes a game is going to help Powe's career, even if he is backing up a HOFer like KG.

how about sharing the load
and making kgs playing life longer
26 and 22 mins a game will do it

[elcotte]

As much as i like both players,the team needs and will need length in the future for those positions.In order to compete with the top tier teams like the Lakers,Cavs,Hawks,etc.we need players taller than 6'7"or so.Playing aganist scrub teams like the today's Griz,Thunder,Minny(minus Big Al),we look good in the paint,but when you are looking to go deep into the playoff yr.after yr.,athletic bigs are a requirement for the future.     

yaaa...I'd go with you on that one if Powe hadn't just done the same thing to Cleveland, Orlando, and Miami before Memphis - he's shown he can do it against taller players, as long as he can be effective against PF's and select centers, he's perfectly fine...there have been a decent amount of sub-6'9" PFs who have had success - considering Powe's per-minute production and effeciency with his moves i'm inclined to believe he's another one...

Im not suggesting dump Powe but i would like to see some length added to the roster in the future.I would like to see a few players with length with better ability than Mikki Moore(no knock on Mikki)but for the future.Whose 6'9"on our roster? BBD is listed at 6'9"but i doubt he is that tall.

I don't think it's just about length...Leon plays bigger than his length...he positions well, he hustles better than most, he has perseverence, soft hands and he's showing he can score against bigger players. He plays hard and like the player with more length that some desire.

[housecall]

As much as i like both players,the team needs and will need length in the future for those positions.In order to compete with the top tier teams like the Lakers,Cavs,Hawks,etc.we need players taller than 6'7"or so.Playing aganist scrub teams like the today's Griz,Thunder,Minny(minus Big Al),we look good in the paint,but when you are looking to go deep into the playoff yr.after yr.,athletic bigs are a requirement for the future.     

yaaa...I'd go with you on that one if Powe hadn't just done the same thing to Cleveland, Orlando, and Miami before Memphis - he's shown he can do it against taller players, as long as he can be effective against PF's and select centers, he's perfectly fine...there have been a decent amount of sub-6'9" PFs who have had success - considering Powe's per-minute production and effeciency with his moves i'm inclined to believe he's another one...

Im not suggesting dump Powe but i would like to see some length added to the roster in the future.I would like to see a few players with length with better ability than Mikki Moore(no knock on Mikki)but for the future.Whose 6'9"on our roster? BBD is listed at 6'9"but i doubt he is that tall.

I don't think it's just about length...Leon plays bigger than his length...he positions well, he hustles better than most, he has perseverence, soft hands and he's showing he can score against bigger players. He plays hard and like the player with more length that some desire.

What part of the posts didn't you understand,no one is suggesting to replace Leon or whether he is a good player or not,its adding to the puzzle in the future when KG is gone.Its simple,add a few players taller than 6ft7in.,some nearer KG length.   

[hwangjini_1]

Powe really deserves to be this teams backup PF

Very true, however I guarantee you his agent is in his ear that Powe really deserves to be another teams starting power forward.

Career wise I think it would be best if he would back KG up for a couple more years and then he can replace him as KG retires. I just don't think that they will want to wait that long though. 

If the Celtics don't want to expand Powe's role beyond being KG's backup, then I have to believe Powe will be gone after this year. I don't think 16 minutes a game is going to help Powe's career, even if he is backing up a HOFer like KG.

how about sharing the load
and making kgs playing life longer
26 and 22 mins a game will do it

i sincerely doubt that KG will play an average of less than 30 minutes a game in the next few years. if power gets 26 just from backing up KG, then KG will be playing around 22 minutes a game.

i doubt it will happen.

so, if powe is going to get minutes, it has to be backing up both KG and perk. 16 for KG, 16 for perk = 32. but will powe be able to play center for such a length of time?

[BillfromBoston]

Powe really deserves to be this teams backup PF

Very true, however I guarantee you his agent is in his ear that Powe really deserves to be another teams starting power forward.

Career wise I think it would be best if he would back KG up for a couple more years and then he can replace him as KG retires. I just don't think that they will want to wait that long though. 

If the Celtics don't want to expand Powe's role beyond being KG's backup, then I have to believe Powe will be gone after this year. I don't think 16 minutes a game is going to help Powe's career, even if he is backing up a HOFer like KG.

There are more minutes than that available if the team wanted to cater to him:

- Assume that the team keeps Powe, lets Davis go, and signs Moore or some other 7 footer as a 4th big for situational use only.

- Many teams use glorified PFs at center, very few true centers in the league. Perk plays about 30-35 mpg and KG can pick up 24 mpg at PF.

- Powe picks up 24 minutes of backup PF and gets another 10 minutes a "center" with KG guarding his back and taking switching according to situation. That's KG's 34mpg overall and 34 mpg for Powe

-- for the 6-10 Centers that neither KG or Powe are apt to handle consistently,  Perks backup plays spot minutes to fill in the rotational gap.

This is a pretty common type of rotation with teams that have 3 main big men whom all contribute significantly. KG isn't going to be playing more than 30-34 mpg the rest of his career, so using him for 10 minutes at center - as the team did last year - would open up 20+ at PF. KG and Powe can then split the 13-18 minutes left a Center depending on the matchup.

The key to all of this is the decided lack of talented offensive centers in the league - Powe is quite good at defending the average centers who don't possess enough touch or skill to adequately take advantage of the size mismatch.

If Powe is going to continue to progress, which I  believe he will, its worth retaining him for the next 3 years and getting his production into the lineup.

[expobear]

Powe really deserves to be this teams backup PF

Very true, however I guarantee you his agent is in his ear that Powe really deserves to be another teams starting power forward.

Career wise I think it would be best if he would back KG up for a couple more years and then he can replace him as KG retires. I just don't think that they will want to wait that long though. 

If the Celtics don't want to expand Powe's role beyond being KG's backup, then I have to believe Powe will be gone after this year. I don't think 16 minutes a game is going to help Powe's career, even if he is backing up a HOFer like KG.

There are more minutes than that available if the team wanted to cater to him:

- Assume that the team keeps Powe, lets Davis go, and signs Moore or some other 7 footer as a 4th big for situational use only.

- Many teams use glorified PFs at center, very few true centers in the league. Perk plays about 30-35 mpg and KG can pick up 24 mpg at PF.

- Powe picks up 24 minutes of backup PF and gets another 10 minutes a "center" with KG guarding his back and taking switching according to situation. That's KG's 34mpg overall and 34 mpg for Powe

-- for the 6-10 Centers that neither KG or Powe are apt to handle consistently,  Perks backup plays spot minutes to fill in the rotational gap.

This is a pretty common type of rotation with teams that have 3 main big men whom all contribute significantly. KG isn't going to be playing more than 30-34 mpg the rest of his career, so using him for 10 minutes at center - as the team did last year - would open up 20+ at PF. KG and Powe can then split the 13-18 minutes left a Center depending on the matchup.

The key to all of this is the decided lack of talented offensive centers in the league - Powe is quite good at defending the average centers who don't possess enough touch or skill to adequately take advantage of the size mismatch.

If Powe is going to continue to progress, which I  believe he will, its worth retaining him for the next 3 years and getting his production into the lineup.

Bill,

Nice explanation for the Powe naysayers on the board.  For some reason, they think Powe can only back up KG, limiting his minutes to 16 or so. What Powe has done the last 3 or 4 games is rather incredible considering he couldn't beat out Scalabrine nor Davis for a starting role when KG went down. All I know is Powe's numbers are incredible for somebody that almost appears to be an afterthought in Rivers' rotation.  He is quite an effective ballplayer!

[billysan]

Powe really deserves to be this teams backup PF

Very true, however I guarantee you his agent is in his ear that Powe really deserves to be another teams starting power forward.

Career wise I think it would be best if he would back KG up for a couple more years and then he can replace him as KG retires. I just don't think that they will want to wait that long though. 

If the Celtics don't want to expand Powe's role beyond being KG's backup, then I have to believe Powe will be gone after this year. I don't think 16 minutes a game is going to help Powe's career, even if he is backing up a HOFer like KG.

There are more minutes than that available if the team wanted to cater to him:

- Assume that the team keeps Powe, lets Davis go, and signs Moore or some other 7 footer as a 4th big for situational use only.

- Many teams use glorified PFs at center, very few true centers in the league. Perk plays about 30-35 mpg and KG can pick up 24 mpg at PF.

- Powe picks up 24 minutes of backup PF and gets another 10 minutes a "center" with KG guarding his back and taking switching according to situation. That's KG's 34mpg overall and 34 mpg for Powe

-- for the 6-10 Centers that neither KG or Powe are apt to handle consistently,  Perks backup plays spot minutes to fill in the rotational gap.

This is a pretty common type of rotation with teams that have 3 main big men whom all contribute significantly. KG isn't going to be playing more than 30-34 mpg the rest of his career, so using him for 10 minutes at center - as the team did last year - would open up 20+ at PF. KG and Powe can then split the 13-18 minutes left a Center depending on the matchup.

The key to all of this is the decided lack of talented offensive centers in the league - Powe is quite good at defending the average centers who don't possess enough touch or skill to adequately take advantage of the size mismatch.

If Powe is going to continue to progress, which I  believe he will, its worth retaining him for the next 3 years and getting his production into the lineup.

Nice points, TP. I would add that Leon is bringing us a somewhat rare commodity that we can ill afford to lose and that's his low post scoring off the bench. Many of the criticisms of Leon are valid IMO. I am not sure if he is ready to start at PF yet but I do know this: Regardless of minutes, regardless of height issues, regardless of defensive shortcomings against perimeter oriented bigs, regardless of mobility or running the floor comments, Leon Powe has a rare and valuable gift that most teams in this league simply lack. We need to keep Leon a Celtic if possible, for this reason.

[nickagneta]

Posey picked up 26 MPG last year as a PF/SF. Without BBD, There is absolutely no reason why Powe can't get that many minutes at PF with either he or KG playing center when they play together for 5-6 minutes per game or so. The key is keeping only Leon and a real 7 foot backup center, like Bill said. If Leon is the PF the C's are going to go with as their backup then the BBD experiment has to end because he is not a center.

I would love to see Perk and KG starting with Leon and Zaza Pachulia coming off the bench in the 4 and 5 roles next year.With those four big guys, Doc could really put them in on an interchangeable basis because he'll always have defense, offense, a center, a PF, height, size and strength on the court no matter which of the two he decides to put out there.

[Fafnir]

Powe really deserves to be this teams backup PF

Very true, however I guarantee you his agent is in his ear that Powe really deserves to be another teams starting power forward.

Career wise I think it would be best if he would back KG up for a couple more years and then he can replace him as KG retires. I just don't think that they will want to wait that long though. 

If the Celtics don't want to expand Powe's role beyond being KG's backup, then I have to believe Powe will be gone after this year. I don't think 16 minutes a game is going to help Powe's career, even if he is backing up a HOFer like KG.

There are more minutes than that available if the team wanted to cater to him:

- Assume that the team keeps Powe, lets Davis go, and signs Moore or some other 7 footer as a 4th big for situational use only.

- Many teams use glorified PFs at center, very few true centers in the league. Perk plays about 30-35 mpg and KG can pick up 24 mpg at PF.

- Powe picks up 24 minutes of backup PF and gets another 10 minutes a "center" with KG guarding his back and taking switching according to situation. That's KG's 34mpg overall and 34 mpg for Powe

-- for the 6-10 Centers that neither KG or Powe are apt to handle consistently,  Perks backup plays spot minutes to fill in the rotational gap.

This is a pretty common type of rotation with teams that have 3 main big men whom all contribute significantly. KG isn't going to be playing more than 30-34 mpg the rest of his career, so using him for 10 minutes at center - as the team did last year - would open up 20+ at PF. KG and Powe can then split the 13-18 minutes left a Center depending on the matchup.

The key to all of this is the decided lack of talented offensive centers in the league - Powe is quite good at defending the average centers who don't possess enough touch or skill to adequately take advantage of the size mismatch.

If Powe is going to continue to progress, which I  believe he will, its worth retaining him for the next 3 years and getting his production into the lineup.

Bill,

Nice explanation for the Powe naysayers on the board.  For some reason, they think Powe can only back up KG, limiting his minutes to 16 or so. What Powe has done the last 3 or 4 games is rather incredible considering he couldn't beat out Scalabrine nor Davis for a starting role when KG went down. All I know is Powe's numbers are incredible for somebody that almost appears to be an afterthought in Rivers' rotation.  He is quite an effective ballplayer!

All this Powe love, so little perspective.....

I like Leon, and I love what he brings. But until he proves that he can keep this up, especially keep it up off the bench, waxing on and on about him is getting silly.

You casually dismiss playing Leon at center but that is a bad match up against a lot of teams no matter how you just assign 10 minutes at center. Big Z, Howard, and other true post players will draw a lot of fouls on Leon. Considering Leon's consistent attempts to take charges that can easily mean foul trouble early.

Leon's a nice player, but he's not worth mucking up a rotation to get him an extra ten to twelve minutes a game. Not when Perk/KG is still our most effective big man duo.

[Fafnir]

Posey picked up 26 MPG last year as a PF/SF. Without BBD, There is absolutely no reason why Powe can't get that many minutes at PF with either he or KG playing center when they play together for 5-6 minutes per game or so. The key is keeping only Leon and a real 7 foot backup center, like Bill said. If Leon is the PF the C's are going to go with as their backup then the BBD experiment has to end because he is not a center.

I would love to see Perk and KG starting with Leon and Zaza Pachulia coming off the bench in the 4 and 5 roles next year.With those four big guys, Doc could really put them in on an interchangeable basis because he'll always have defense, offense, a center, a PF, height, size and strength on the court no matter which of the two he decides to put out there.

I'd love to get a true backup center. It would simplify many things. But I wonder who's the jumpshooter at the 4 next year then? Doc loves his fours to space the floor for the team, would we force Powe to take the shot next year?

[BillfromBoston]

Powe really deserves to be this teams backup PF

Very true, however I guarantee you his agent is in his ear that Powe really deserves to be another teams starting power forward.

Career wise I think it would be best if he would back KG up for a couple more years and then he can replace him as KG retires. I just don't think that they will want to wait that long though. 

If the Celtics don't want to expand Powe's role beyond being KG's backup, then I have to believe Powe will be gone after this year. I don't think 16 minutes a game is going to help Powe's career, even if he is backing up a HOFer like KG.

There are more minutes than that available if the team wanted to cater to him:

- Assume that the team keeps Powe, lets Davis go, and signs Moore or some other 7 footer as a 4th big for situational use only.

- Many teams use glorified PFs at center, very few true centers in the league. Perk plays about 30-35 mpg and KG can pick up 24 mpg at PF.

- Powe picks up 24 minutes of backup PF and gets another 10 minutes a "center" with KG guarding his back and taking switching according to situation. That's KG's 34mpg overall and 34 mpg for Powe

-- for the 6-10 Centers that neither KG or Powe are apt to handle consistently,  Perks backup plays spot minutes to fill in the rotational gap.

This is a pretty common type of rotation with teams that have 3 main big men whom all contribute significantly. KG isn't going to be playing more than 30-34 mpg the rest of his career, so using him for 10 minutes at center - as the team did last year - would open up 20+ at PF. KG and Powe can then split the 13-18 minutes left a Center depending on the matchup.

The key to all of this is the decided lack of talented offensive centers in the league - Powe is quite good at defending the average centers who don't possess enough touch or skill to adequately take advantage of the size mismatch.

If Powe is going to continue to progress, which I  believe he will, its worth retaining him for the next 3 years and getting his production into the lineup.

Bill,

Nice explanation for the Powe naysayers on the board.  For some reason, they think Powe can only back up KG, limiting his minutes to 16 or so. What Powe has done the last 3 or 4 games is rather incredible considering he couldn't beat out Scalabrine nor Davis for a starting role when KG went down. All I know is Powe's numbers are incredible for somebody that almost appears to be an afterthought in Rivers' rotation.  He is quite an effective ballplayer!

All this Powe love, so little perspective.....

I like Leon, and I love what he brings. But until he proves that he can keep this up, especially keep it up off the bench, waxing on and on about him is getting silly.

You casually dismiss playing Leon at center but that is a bad match up against a lot of teams no matter how you just assign 10 minutes at center. Big Z, Howard, and other true post players will draw a lot of fouls on Leon. Considering Leon's consistent attempts to take charges that can easily mean foul trouble early.

Leon's a nice player, but he's not worth mucking up a rotation to get him an extra ten to twelve minutes a game. Not when Perk/KG is still our most effective big man duo.

Lack perspective?

How many true centers with legit offensive skills are there?
Have you looked at the Off/Def production in the minutes that Perk/Powe and KG/Powe play?

You can talk in generalities all you want, the bottom line is that Powe has produced nearly 17/10 in ALL games over the last two years that he's played over 25mpg - its not been the last 4 games.

Powe has played effective minutes with KG and Perk, so I see no reason why those minutes can't be extended. Clearly the development of a jumper for BOTH Perk and Powe would further the diversity of the match ups they could face, but I KNOW that both possess the ability to hit set jumpers from the elbow and need only to continue to implement it into their repertoire.

I'm off this topic after this post, but it should be fairly obvious that if Boston has 3 high quality big men it would pay to maximize their time on the court. Splitting time between Davis and Powe is counter-productive to their individual development and overall production. If the team chooses Davis so be it,  but  having both is limiting each...its time to give one guy the role...

[Fafnir]

Okay, I can respect your feelings on Powe. But a big key is there have been a lot of games where Powe hasn't been effective. Rivers tends to ride hot hands, if Powe struggles he's been pulled out of games.

I love Leon's game, but our best chance to win this year is next is to maximize KG's effectiveness. Moving him to center is a poor way to do this. Playing Leon at the 5 is worse for many match ups, because he's not nearly the shot blocker or post defender Perk is.

The offense/defense +/- is nice, but with all plus minus the sample size needs to be huge to matter. Powe has not gotten enough minutes with Perk or KG to have that stat mean much.

Leon should be the primary backup at the 4, but talk of playing him 30+ minutes a game once KG back seems rather silly to me.

[expobear]

Powe really deserves to be this teams backup PF

Very true, however I guarantee you his agent is in his ear that Powe really deserves to be another teams starting power forward.

Career wise I think it would be best if he would back KG up for a couple more years and then he can replace him as KG retires. I just don't think that they will want to wait that long though. 

If the Celtics don't want to expand Powe's role beyond being KG's backup, then I have to believe Powe will be gone after this year. I don't think 16 minutes a game is going to help Powe's career, even if he is backing up a HOFer like KG.

There are more minutes than that available if the team wanted to cater to him:

- Assume that the team keeps Powe, lets Davis go, and signs Moore or some other 7 footer as a 4th big for situational use only.

- Many teams use glorified PFs at center, very few true centers in the league. Perk plays about 30-35 mpg and KG can pick up 24 mpg at PF.

- Powe picks up 24 minutes of backup PF and gets another 10 minutes a "center" with KG guarding his back and taking switching according to situation. That's KG's 34mpg overall and 34 mpg for Powe

-- for the 6-10 Centers that neither KG or Powe are apt to handle consistently,  Perks backup plays spot minutes to fill in the rotational gap.

This is a pretty common type of rotation with teams that have 3 main big men whom all contribute significantly. KG isn't going to be playing more than 30-34 mpg the rest of his career, so using him for 10 minutes at center - as the team did last year - would open up 20+ at PF. KG and Powe can then split the 13-18 minutes left a Center depending on the matchup.

The key to all of this is the decided lack of talented offensive centers in the league - Powe is quite good at defending the average centers who don't possess enough touch or skill to adequately take advantage of the size mismatch.

If Powe is going to continue to progress, which I  believe he will, its worth retaining him for the next 3 years and getting his production into the lineup.

Bill,

Nice explanation for the Powe naysayers on the board.  For some reason, they think Powe can only back up KG, limiting his minutes to 16 or so. What Powe has done the last 3 or 4 games is rather incredible considering he couldn't beat out Scalabrine nor Davis for a starting role when KG went down. All I know is Powe's numbers are incredible for somebody that almost appears to be an afterthought in Rivers' rotation.  He is quite an effective ballplayer!

All this Powe love, so little perspective.....

I like Leon, and I love what he brings. But until he proves that he can keep this up, especially keep it up off the bench, waxing on and on about him is getting silly.

You casually dismiss playing Leon at center but that is a bad match up against a lot of teams no matter how you just assign 10 minutes at center. Big Z, Howard, and other true post players will draw a lot of fouls on Leon. Considering Leon's consistent attempts to take charges that can easily mean foul trouble early.

Leon's a nice player, but he's not worth mucking up a rotation to get him an extra ten to twelve minutes a game. Not when Perk/KG is still our most effective big man duo.

Lack perspective?

How many true centers with legit offensive skills are there?
Have you looked at the Off/Def production in the minutes that Perk/Powe and KG/Powe play?

You can talk in generalities all you want, the bottom line is that Powe has produced nearly 17/10 in ALL games over the last two years that he's played over 25mpg - its not been the last 4 games.

Powe has played effective minutes with KG and Perk, so I see no reason why those minutes can't be extended. Clearly the development of a jumper for BOTH Perk and Powe would further the diversity of the match ups they could face, but I KNOW that both possess the ability to hit set jumpers from the elbow and need only to continue to implement it into their repertoire.

I'm off this topic after this post, but it should be fairly obvious that if Boston has 3 high quality big men it would pay to maximize their time on the court. Splitting time between Davis and Powe is counter-productive to their individual development and overall production. If the team chooses Davis so be it,  but  having both is limiting each...its time to give one guy the role...

Oh Bill,

Why leave us now when you're so good at explaining this "topic" to all of us on the board.  

Nice stat when Powe plays 25 minutes or more.....nearly 17/10, wow!

I agree, it's got to be either Powe or Davis but not both.  I still see Davis as the favored one, although his injury may prove to be a blessing for Powe. Every game where Powe has a double double while starting is going to make it harder to dispatch him to the bench for his customary 16 minutes when the Celtics are at full strength again.  I know Powe is saying all the right things about his role on the team when KG comes back but 17/10 in games where he's playing 25 minutes or more has to be a stat that other teams around the league will covet, especially for a 3mm per year type player. Powe has to consider another team with more minutes and perhaps more bucks if he doesn't at least get the minutes with the Celtics.  This should all shake out next year.

The other thing I wanted to point out about Powe is his ability to draw fouls. I think it's safe to say that it's not an anomaly that Powe can draw fouls.  What this does is put other teams in foul trouble and can hinder an opposing team's defense. And Powe does it on both ends, drawing charges and getting fouled going to the hoop.  This asset of Powe's is often overlooked by many on the board but contributes to Powe's overall effectiveness as a player.

[expobear]

Okay, I can respect your feelings on Powe. But a big key is there have been a lot of games where Powe hasn't been effective. Rivers tends to ride hot hands, if Powe struggles he's been pulled out of games.

I love Leon's game, but our best chance to win this year is next is to maximize KG's effectiveness. Moving him to center is a poor way to do this. Playing Leon at the 5 is worse for many match ups, because he's not nearly the shot blocker or post defender Perk is.

The offense/defense +/- is nice, but with all plus minus the sample size needs to be huge to matter. Powe has not gotten enough minutes with Perk or KG to have that stat mean much.

Leon should be the primary backup at the 4, but talk of playing him 30+ minutes a game once KG back seems rather silly to me.

When Powe has not been "effective", Rivers will pull him early and Powe will see 10 or 12 minutes, if he's lucky.  How can you develop any kind of consistency with that amount of time on the floor?  All I know is Powe will perform and do good things for the team when given extended minutes as Bill's stat of 17/10 in games over 25 minutes indicates.  Powe has never earned Rivers' trust in the last 3 years. If Powe makes a mistake early, he's often pulled. Celtic fans should applaud what Powe does in 16 minutes of playing time, not get down for his inconsistency which I feel is a direct correlation to the amount of minutes he plays. 

Let me quote Bill from another thread:

"But give a guy more minutes with higher caliber teammates and allow him to touch the ball 20-25 times instead of 7-8 and all of a sudden you have the opportunity to create that "rhythm" that players always talk about.

No starting player or even star player shoots well or plays flawless every night, but they get the touches and the time to work through the down times - role players do not."


This sums it up for Powe and even Davis, whose play has improved when he was getting more consistent minutes as a starter.

[Fafnir]

Okay, I can respect your feelings on Powe. But a big key is there have been a lot of games where Powe hasn't been effective. Rivers tends to ride hot hands, if Powe struggles he's been pulled out of games.

I love Leon's game, but our best chance to win this year is next is to maximize KG's effectiveness. Moving him to center is a poor way to do this. Playing Leon at the 5 is worse for many match ups, because he's not nearly the shot blocker or post defender Perk is.

The offense/defense +/- is nice, but with all plus minus the sample size needs to be huge to matter. Powe has not gotten enough minutes with Perk or KG to have that stat mean much.

Leon should be the primary backup at the 4, but talk of playing him 30+ minutes a game once KG back seems rather silly to me.

When Powe has not been "effective"

Today. It has happened other games too. Leon is not consistently effective. A ton of his value is finishing on dunks and open looks created by penetration.

Paul, Ray, and others were putrid today as well. Perkins tried to keep us in.