You didn't read my post? The point was if we have any injuries in our frontcourt or Perk does not return at full strength or at all (which again are both possibilities) then we have no chance to win the title this year if that is our front court.
We would also be screwed without Prince if say Pierce went down, but Pierce has been healthy as has the rest of our backcourt (save Quis), Jermaine, Perk, KG are all with recent history of major injuries.
We saw in the Finals that if a big goes down we will be screwed. With this Prince trade we are in the same situation if say Perk went down again.
If Prince could play enough PF well enough, maybe then. But I don't know if he could and seriously would not want him to against teams like LA. We would have a much better backup wing, yes, but I think we need the front court depth. I would love Prince but I think the cost is too high for what we give up inside.
Maybe if there is a decent enough big available for the veterans minimum, but I don't think there are.
If everyone remains healthy this is a better option, but I would not be able to take losing another title because of a frontcourt injury that can't be recovered from because of a lack of depth.
You do realize that Bynum is also injury-prone. If he went down (again), who does LA turn to? Ratliff?? Gasol will have to play center and Odom will play the 4 and we can match up with that pretty well.
and if Dwight gets an ACL (i don't think Perk has a history with knee injuries), then the Magic are screwed because they have Gortat and none else.
Injuries will screw any team up. However, relying on passable talent (Quis, who will also surely go down again this season, & Wafer) isn't a good strategy because that way, we'll be kinda screwed even if we are at full strength. PP and RA shouldn't play that many minutes so that they can still finish strong. Prince is very capable.
- LilRip
1) We can talk hypotheticals among other teams if we want but I just am thinking about last year... if we had a decent enough 5th big to step up for Perkins we would have won the NBA title.
2) Just because other teams are thin up front doesn't mean we should be. Bynum has an injury history but Howard does not. Either way, both are young and we have old bigs who are injury prone... not a good combo. Certainly less favorable than the other situations.
Also, BBD would be an asset if you manage the regular season keeping an eye on the postseason, as you should. You can then give the old bigs reduced minutes or games off during the season. Did anyone watch Shaq the last couple regular seasons? He takes games off. Big Baby would be happy for more regular season PT and the old guys would benefit in the Playoffs from more rest (and less time on the court they could get injured in pointless regular season games)
3) Besides the changes in bigs, our team is mostly the same. We lost TA, but added Wafer. Nate will play a bigger role this year, hopefully Quis remains healthy, and Wafer will play some minutes. That is basically where TA's playing time will go (barring some sort of trade like the one for Prince). So basically you think TA is that good? If things go well, Quis can be the stopper we need and Wafer can bring in the offense (that Finley was supposed to). We came within a handful of points from winning the NBA title, and it wasn't because of anything but a lack of frontcourt depth (and Ray's missing shots, but that is unpredictable ). Our backcourt is not just "passable talent" if it was that close to a title.
1) i'm not the one who brought in hypotheticals. It was you. to quote you "We saw in the Finals that if a big goes down we will be screwed." At which point I responded that if a big had gone down for LA, they would've been screwed too and we would've won. It was a stroke of bad luck that Perk went down with an injury that bad.
2) Dwight has no injury history and Perk has no knee injury history either. big deal. Injuries happen. Shaun Livingston had no knee injury history either and he's still rehabbing. You think Dwight would've returned for game 7 if he had torn his ACL the previous game? or Gasol?
yes, it's nice to have a plethora of big men, but a team only has limited resources of talent and roster slots. I'd much rather have a highly capable 1st(!!!) wing off the bench than keeping a capable 4th or 5th big. If it was a trade off between a 1st wing and a 1st big, then i'd side with the big. But we're talking 5th. again, to invoke your hypotheticals...
If Pierce had been the one to go down with injury, a lineup of Rondo-Ray-Prince-KG-Perk would've stood a better chance than a lineup of Rondo-Ray-Tony-KG-Perk.
3) and how many meaningful minutes did Marquis play in that series? he played a whopping, wait for it..... 4 min and 21 secs! and 4:14 of that came in garbage time!
and how good is Von Wafer again? you could be sold on him, probably because he's a Celtic now and you're a Celtics fan, but the fact that he couldn't get back to Greece and he failed 2 NBA physicals doesn't instill a lot of confidence in me. so yes, TA is better than them and TA played some big productive minutes for us last playoffs. so yes, right now, our bench backcourt is just passable.
- LilRip
I will say again, just because other teams are thin up front doesn't mean we should be. Yes the Lakers would of been screwed, but we were screwed by Perk going down, that is the reality. Although Bynum has a history of knee injuries, our bigs are probably more likely to go down.
The injury history of our bigs is much more important than you factor in. Yes, people can have devastating injuries out of the blue, but often times guys consistently have these problems, ESPECIALLY at an advanced age. I know I don't want to risk it and again, BBD will be very useful in the regular season because he will love to play more minutes and him playing more minutes will keep our other bigs fresh. Do you think Shaq will play every game this regular season too? Beacause I guarentee he will not. BBD will step in then.
And with the injury factor, yes Pierce or Ray or Rondo could go down but these guys have less of an injury history. If you're hedging you bets you insure the front court.
There can be value in having a better wing but the thinking on my part is the value and strengths of our team in matching up with other contenders will come from the front court. The Lakers dominated us with size, Orlando's success is totally based on Dwight Howard, and Miami will be a great team I believe but if they do have a weakness it will be inside. A wing matching up to guard say LBJ could be useful, but instead I would rather pound it inside.
The bigs give us our best chance I believe. We already are an old team, so adding a wing isn't really going to make us youthful, athletic, or fast (though it could help). I would rather instead become a great and deep frontcourt team.
As for Quis, trust me I was not a fan of him last season, but he had injury trouble all year and that concussion in the Orlando series definitely rattled him. Why do I feel more confident for this year? He was resigned by the team. They definitely feel he can provide a positive impact, more than last year. If he comes in only as a defender, I think he could provide some of what TA did. Is it as good? Not quite.
But Nate Robinson will have a bigger role and played some very good defense in the playoffs at time. Wafer may not have much, we will have to see, but I think he'll be able to shoot at least, and he certainly won't be worse than Finley, who he basically is replacing. Between the 3 of them, we have enough I believe. Maybe not quite as good, but I wouldn't overrate TA and the upgrades inside will help us.
We were a terrible rebounding team last year. We will already be a lot better. I'm all for making more of a post focus for this team.
Anyways, basically it seems we are looking to bring in a another wing on the cheap. Maybe we can get someone good, but I really don't see them trading BBD. They like him and he will be useful this upcoming year, despite the frontcourt upgrades we've made. Again, Shaq won't play every game and other guys could use less minutes and games off.