I don't disagree with that but that is not what happened here IMO with Dragic. You have a 3rd team All star PG that by all accounts of yesterday is a well sought after PG in the NBA. Teams that want to play him in his natural position by the way.
To say that the sales pitch wasn't your a PG of the future is hardly a stretch. I can guarantee it wasn't hey we are going to trade, draft or bring in guys to play PG too.
Our font court is weak. If there was an issue with not winning it's hardly Dragic's fault. The team lacked leadership on and off the court with rudderless direction. We are playing guys out of position which has never produced a title for us.
What player would be happy with that?
Let's revisit that point in a season or two. We wanted to play him at the point guard spot also but a full season of traditional basketball showcased his flaws. I think it's amazing how so many people here have forgotten how weak he was at really running an offense. He can pick and roll, he can drive and dish but he has tunnel vision, he's a mediocre passer, he (apparently) can't see the play developing in his mind and each year he gets a little worse at defending the position. Not because he's slowed down but because each year there are fewer and fewer Derek Fisher's, Jameer Nelson's, Andre Miller's etc.
This is the era of the quick point (read:scoring) guard. The changing game makes him a far better basketball player than he is a point guard. Jeff still wanted him to handle the ball, not stand in the corner and pout, because his two guard offense is based on the advantages the rules give to the perimeter ball handler. The defense has to play that man differently than the guy just standing in the corner but Dragic has been reluctant to take advantage of that this season.
I agree we are weak down low but just season before last we had Scola, Gortat and Jermaine O'Neal - a front court many teams would love to have. Dragic could do nothing with them. It wasn't until we paired him with a big man that can also pick and pop or shoot the 3 that the lane opened up enough for him to be effective. And he was mostly effective at getting his own shot or working with that one player. Even when we lost Bledsoe his assist rate stayed even (5.9/6.0 thereabouts) despite no longer playing next to a point guard.
This team has problems and the front office has made mistakes. Big deal. Nothing warranted Goran's shots leading into the deadline and I'm sure he knew it. He even acknowledged after it was over that he made the situation sound worse than it was. But you can't casually call men liars and not expect a response.
I spent some quality time with the dentist this morning that didn't go well so I'm probably all over he map with this post but I just finished watching the press conference and I'm surprised that the reaction wasn't even stronger. Although I think that was due to Babby sitting on McDonough. I forget the exact point but there was a leading question about me-first players directed to McDonough (long after the one Lon answered) and you could see Babby raise his eyes sternly towards McDonough as if warning him away from the answer he wanted to give. I thought it was funny and more than a little telling about the power structure. Anyway, I give Lon a 9.5 and McDonough a solid 7 for this press conference.
Steve
Your rational is so ass backwards it's painful.
