looking at this team i see one thing missing. leon powe.
last year he was the guy who stepped up to fill in for the loss of posey. whether he was taking a charge, battling 1 on 4 for a rebound or punishing the opposing defense with an in your face dunk, powe was the x factor that teams had a hard time neutralizing. after he went down baby filled in ok, but could not and does not play with the ferocity that made leon so valuable.
we replaced him with sheed, a taller,more well rounded vet who may bring lots to the table but not what the team is starving for. when was the last time either baby or sheed slid into the lane take a charge? how about second chance points off the offensive glass? whats more demoralizing than playing 24 seconds of good d, resulting in a missed shot, only to see leon gather the rebound and throw down an emphatic dunk. kid has KG fire and a bruisers game. we can't replace that with baby's more polished O or even 1000 sheeds.
Baby goes to take charges all the time....and would people already just forget about Posey/Powe???!! Its ridiculous powe as of now and this year would have done zero for this team
obviously he would have done nothing while injured. but do you really think that if we resigned powe and he came back from his injury in the same time frame as he is with cleveland, he would do nothing for this teams chances? that his infusion of hustle, rebounds and fire would have little effect on our prospects?
i think he would be a welcome addition to the squad.
also, i've not been harping on the loss powe/posey. i mention him to bring a different perspective to the question of whether the sheed signing was a mistake. and given that we signed sheed the same offseason as we chose not to sign leon it seems to me to be a valid comment.
Would he really give us any more than Baby or Wallace currently are giving us
Would he effect this team's inability to take care of the ball or shoot better from outside or make the starters not give up huge leads or have the second team go long stretches without scoring
I doubt it
Leon didn't look like he was any better than Sheldon Williams in that comeback game against us
Maybe he looked better in the next game he played but, come on, even if he were to return at his peak effectiveness and efficiency he EVER played at, he would be a drop in the well of what this team needs to fix itself
i'd give him a few weeks/months before deciding that he will never return to form. personally i dread meeting him in the playoffs.
would he stay in the paint, collect rebounds and put them back with out being stuffed?
would he increase our second chance points, throw down monster dunks and scream in the face of the player he just posterized?
would he put his stamp on every stretch of action he saw? sure he would. would that effect the opo's ability to mount big runs? would it effect the energy level of his teammates? he was the opposite of sheed. he incited his team through hustle and fire sheed (who could kick it up by dominating in the paint) shoots low percentage 3's that act like pee on a campfire. baby plays hard but there is nothing more demoralizing then watching your big get stuffed repeatedly on easy putbacks. this years bench has no one who brings it like powe brought it.
Again, what would Powe being back have to do with taking better care of the ball, stagnant offense, the starters stinking up the joint, the injuries or the other myriad of problems this team has that would not be fixed by simply having Powe instead of Sheldon Williams
Here's the answer
NOTHING
He will be rounding into playing shape just about the time March is ending
His addition to this team and/or retention by this team would not be some magic elixir to fix its ills simply because Leon could grab a rebound and put it back with authority or jump in front of someone to take a charge on a regular basis by April
Now a healthy Leon on next year's team would be a different story
This year, as I said, what he brings would be a drop in the well of what this team needs to right itself