WallyWorld wrote:
Sorry.

wolfenstein wrote:
I think what you and others are implying without saying it is that Beasley needs to play Power Forward. I think it's time for us to come to this realization and accept it. Beasley and Dwill are in the same exact situation, only Beasley has been in it for a season and a half and has struggled as a result. He can't excel if his only offensive contributions are long twos and trying has damndest to get into the lane. Those two offensive 'methods' are secondary to his high post/finesse/close game, which is exactly how Beasley became Beasley in college. He is a stretch 4. End of story. D Will and Beasley now both come off the bench and are likely to be traded for cents on the dollar, a trade exception that will go unused, or both.

Hopefully we can get something from D Will, or he loses 20 lbs in the offseason to become a full time 3. It ain't happening this year, either way.

By the way, as soon as I heard the Laker rumor I found myself getting oddly protective of Beasley as a fan. It was strange.

wolfenstein wrote:
Oh my. More horrifying than a Chris Dudley free throw attempt.

WallyWorld wrote:
I disagree with you on this. What I am saying is that Beasley's shot selection needs to be more slashing and cutting and less long 2s. The 3s he shoots are good shots (mostly) and in any case he makes enough of them for him to be okay out there. He suffers the same issues as Williams with regards to being lost at times, but his skill is more suited to being a slasher than Williams at this time.

I also have found myself protective of Beasley, and to that end I have lobbied to keep him for the MLE as our 6th man.

The problem is that we need someone who will bring effort and attention every night at the 3 and someone who will do the same plus handle the rock at the 2.

Turner and Dorrell Wright, or someone like him, would get it done for me.

Also we have no reason to hang onto Love, Pekovic, Beasley (top 3), Williams, Tolliver, Randolph, Darko, Miller... I mean, even if we had 2 or 3 more Webster-level wings it would make a world of difference since you could swap them out if they were playing poorly.

Finally, how disappointing is it that Webster has been in the league what? 6 years? And still plays like a rookie?

Ha, that was a forgettable game. Everyone looked bad, mostly. It happens, I suppose. Love looked absolutely terrible and appeared to have 10 pound ankle weights on, I think. Probably a combo of fatigue with the B2B, Faried’s inner-Ben Wallace, and just playing poorly. Rubio, Luke, and Pek before he left all struggled in box and non-box score indicators. Just not a good game. Chemistry was off.
Beasley played well. Again, it’s awesome to find his mistakes in a game and to ignore the fact that he kept the Wolves in the game and was taking it to Brewer on both ends (I guess my 82 point prediction was a bit off, eh?). In OT, when he say that the offense was a complete train wreck he knew they just needed a bucket and reverted to the long 2 & iso’s that he knows. Mostly, he stayed away from that, which was good.

Beasley can’t play with Derrick Williams. It’s hard enough to find defensive energy with Beasley but now you have TWO lethargic defenders? I know I’m irrational but I do not enjoy Derrick Williams’ game. He has no fluidity, he doesn’t have any interaction with his teammates, he’s lazy, etc. I can’t blame Kahn for taking him but get him out. I hope he figures it out but let it be elsewhere. Surely he’ll become a fine player but it won’t be here. I see legitimately ZERO reasons that he’ll ever be better than Beasley. Call me irrational and blind here, you’re probably right.
Playing PF is irrelevant for Beasley. As the “SF” or wing player he just posted up Brewer and took it into the lane. He could never have done that against Faried. Faried would destroy him on the block. Remember when one legged KG destroyed him in 09? I know meaningless regular season #’s say otherwise, but Beasley needs to be getting his points inside (like you said) by posting up SF’s while Love spots up at the 3, taking his man outside. When Love/Pek go down low Beasley should be used to spot up for 3 more often. We’d all much rather have a quasi-contested 3 from him than a contested long 2. And wings are less likely to bother his outside shot than 4’s.
End discussion, keep Beasley on the wing.
Here is Martell Webster’s game log prior to the last 4 games:
• 10 min
• 14 min
• 8 min
• 0
• 20
• 3
• 21
• 22
• 23
• 6
So he’s played something like 14 games this year after surgery and not playing for months and months. He is just getting consistent minutes to find a rhythm. I am surprised he is even semi-competent at this point. Missed 3’s and poor decisions be damned, whenever he gets any confidence back in his jumper and stops driving into the lane so he can just spot up and shoot 40% again he’ll be a fine 6-8th man on this team. He plays with energy and there is no reason he won’t get his quasi-mojo back if RA allows him to. He just needs to quit driving and shoot 3’s. This team needs the court spread out. RA, slap the hawk off him if he passes up a 3 again. Matter of fact, tell him to JR that sh*t until he gets his mojo back and they’ll take 40% on 8 3 pointers a game!

Whether he sucks or not, you all know basketball well enough to know that the circumstances have yet to allow Martell to even flourish next to Ricard.

To clarify, I think Beasley has a place as a SF in something like 50% of his minutes, as long as he is used right.

wolfenstein wrote:
Too caught in what "positions" mean. KG if still a PF and sometimes a C but usually just shoots jumpers all day. Corliss Williamson was a "SF" but posted up the entire time. You just want him closer to the hoop or behind the 3, erasing that mid-range crap. Doable from the 3 or the 4.

Daddy, I agree with almost everything you say- except that with Webster, having spent so much time watching, I would have expected that his decision making would be better and his playmaking worse. I'm not sure if it's better or worse that he seems able to compete physically but is not necessarily making great decisions. You're right in his case.

With regards to Williams, we have 1 of 2 choices: wait and see how he develops this offseason (the long view); or trade him for a young player at a position of need.

Williams is sneaky athletic. He has a lot of bad or at least "rookie" defensive habits. I agree more that he is lost than that he is lazy. He's not mentally following the pace of the game.

Given that we can always chill and see how good he is in 2-3 years with little down side, I can't say that hanging onto him unless a similarly low downside player at a position of need (Turner, maybe Gordon) became available is a bad strategy. It hurts us in the short run but if he turns the corner like so many rookies/2nd year guys do when their mind catches up with the speed of the game, then the only way it's going to be acceptable given the condition of our team is if we either hang onto him or get back a guy that we won't regret.

So yeah, I think you're being a bit irrational. Also given that the Williams we see today might not be the Williams we see tomorrow, it's hard to peg him and Beasley as not being able to play together. They are lackadaisical or lost on defense right now. Well, they have had 2 crammed weeks of practice with this coaching staff followed by 3 months of back to back games. As a coach, you know as well as I do that you can't bring in a guy and just throw him out there with your team and expect cohesion and consistent execution of a game plan.

As far as the rest of this year is concerned, I agree with most all of what you are saying. And this year is what matters now. I get that too.

Williams for Turner.

Great thoughts all around. I see all the points here. Beas was definitely effective at the 3 last night in particular. I think it just depends on the matchups/opponent.

Yeah, I agree with DFS that we shouldn't get overly caught up in position except that it defines matchups. In any case Beasley is athletic enough to play and defend both PF and SF equally well/poorly in most cases. It's definitely not a physical limitation with him but a question of attentiveness.

The big question with Williams is whether it is the speed of the game thing (being lost) or lack of concern (being lazy). I guess the former but it's still early.

Williams. Yeah he lacks focus, but I'm trying to put myself in his shoes here. Adelman is CLEARLY the hardest on him of any player. He no doubt is extremely nervous out there, right? It's like if he were to fart silently he would get yanked.

And meanwhile Wes gets 20 minutes of shit basketball every night with no repercussions

WallyWorld wrote:
If that were the case, why isn't he hustling his ass off? Wouldn't see an exhausted dude that is running baseline to baseline? How many times have you seen Derrick Williams streaking down the court, filling any lanes? I don't know if I've ever seen it. He's fat and lazy.

Daddy once again with his Webster love and Derrick hatin. Nothing new.

Pek had Sikma to get him up to speed and in the flow with the Adelman system. Along with some good teaching by Sikma, a big part of that is Pek's determination to work and play hard.

Who does Wes, Williams and Beas have that can work with them to get them up to speed...and challenge them to practice and play at the same level of intensity as our 3 successful players?

Which reminds me from the Nuggets game, how great was it to have Wes and Corey guard each other? Smiley-est match-up of all-time?!

Tod Murphy wrote:
The Warriors, Lakers, Rockets, Bobcats, Nets, or Sixers coaching staff. (among others)