I don't believe McD and Hornacek set out to have such an unbalanced team, they signed IT because he represented value at a good price. In fact the team wouldn't be quite so unbalanced if McD hadn't thought a stretch 4 was a necessity and signed Tolliver to that end, overlooking the fact that he really couldn't play the 4 - as his history attests.
Our unbalance is not entirely due to the pressure from below pushing guys up a slot, its also due to the partial vacuum at the top. Its probably wise not to play Len normal starters minutes now as far as his health and development are concerned - though it irks me when he appears to sit because of foul trouble. Plumlee hasn't really earned more minutes than he's getting though it does appear he's coming around a bit since his demotion - I predicted he would so maybe I'm seeing what I want to see. I do think Jeff is missing a bet with Randolph but he's not a long term answer to anything. So we basically have our 3 useful bigs playing 70-75 of the 96 minutes available at PF & C - thats the partial vacuum. I was all for adding Tarik Black to fill in the void since he seems to have done a good job filling in for Terrance Jones, but it could well be that he'd be more trouble than he's worth - Houston had a few other guys they could have waived, but they chose him despite his, statistically, good play.
I'm not really concerned about balance in the abstract but I believe that solid interior defense in one of the most important elements to succeed in the playoffs, and right on its heels is rebounding - maybe more important for a fastbreaking team. And you don't want to have to keep your guards crashing the boards to hold your own on them. So it pretty much comes down to maintaining balance. (Ideally you have rebounders that are so good that if they have good position you can depend on them getting the ball - so a quick look by the guards and wings can tell them if a 'break' is in the offing when the shot goes up... you know, Bill Russel or better. [Thats a joke.])
Our rebounding sucks - we are 28th in rebound differential at almost -3 bds/game, thats with quite good rebounding from our guards and wings. Plum's rebounding is down 18% from last year, Markieff down 15% - probably due to him playing against starters more this year. (And, of course, we traded Ish for IT - a 20% drop there.) Little wonder I wanted Tarik Black.
I'm not looking for blockbuster trades but I am searching for bench bigs who can both defend and rebound and who might be available in the summer if not now.
