Priorities -> order

much rather have him than marion and hes only 23 and improving. how much money is he going for? i think he would be a solid addition to the suns

hopefully clark turns into a solid pf or better which would give us 2 young stars assuming williams keeps improving plus whoever we aquire through trades

also think we should make the trade for chandler and if our training staff say they cant fix him after examination we do what the thunder did and send him back

I’ve never played a game of organized basketball in my life, but I’ve been studying it a long time. I know what a perfect team takes, and I’ve realized that the idea is not to pile up on any one statistic, any one characteristic. We shoot the ball really well, but we sacrifice on defense. The Bobcats play defense, but they don’t have any scoring. Once you learn to balance your stats and characteristics, you have a championship team.

There are ten basic types of players. Kobe and LeBron and some of the greatest names in the game have been many of these, but that just means they can be any one of the things they are and add some versatility.

Shooter- someone who can give you 50% FG, 40% 3PT, and 90% FT, or close. Ray Allen comes to mind. Typically should start at the 2. Code: SH.

Scorer- someone who can score 30 PPG, and give you 50 at will. Allen Iverson comes to mind. Typically should start at the 3. Think Elgin Baylor or Dr. J. Code: SC.

Distributor- someone who can give you plenty of assists and less than 3 turnovers. Muggsy Bogues is the ultimate example. 89-90= 10.8 AST, 1.8 TO. Perfect. Doesn’t have to shoot well. Typically starts at the 1. Code: DIST.

Guard-like- a forward who plays like a guard. Often, he’ll give you a STL, or a 3, or more than 3 AST. Kevin Garnett comes to mind. Typically starts at the 4. Code: GL.

Banger- someone who gives you lots of rebounds and blocks, regardless of scoring or decent percentages. Shaquille O’Neal works well here. Typically starts at the 5. Code: BANG.

Instant offense- just add water. Someone who doesn’t need a lot of minutes to score 10-15 pts. JR Smith is an example. Typically comes off the bench at the 2. Code: IO.

Forward-like- a guard who plays like a forward. Often, he’ll give you 5 rebounds and 5 ast, a couple points or more, and possibly a block or a steal. Percentages are, again, discounted. Jason Kidd and Mike Miller come to mind. Kobe Bryant sort of fits the definition; then again, he’s Kobe Bryant. He fits plenty of definitions. Typically comes off the bench at the 3 or the 1. Code: FL.

Variety show- someone who gives you a little bit of everything. 1 blk, 1 stl and 1 3PT, 2 blk 2 stl guys are the perfect example. Shawn Marion doesn’t come off the bench, but he does this well. Mostly comes off the bench at any position but the 5. Code: VS.

Defender- a hard-nosed, sometimes called “dirty” player who simply mans somebody up well. Bruce Bowen comes to mind. Mostly comes off the bench at the 3, but sometimes at the 2. Code: DE.

Specialist- does one thing, and does it well. Chris Andersen is a block specialist. Trevor Ariza is a steal specialist. Comes off the bench at any position. Code: SP.

Our depth chart looks like this:

Nash/Dragic
J-Rich/Barbosa
(Hill?)/Barnes
Clark/Amundson
Stoudemire/Lopez

until further notice. But it also looks like:

DIST/IO
SC/IO
IO/IO
GL/IO
BANG/DF

That’s a lot of instant offense. That doesn’t surprise me, considering we’re great on offense. Steve Nash counts as a shooter, but he doesn’t really shoot the ball all that often. We would need:

a shooter
a specialist
a variety show
a forward-like

In other words, we’re missing 4/10. The more you’re missing, the more you stink.

I think signing a guy like Tyrus Thomas might be beneficial. I think dealing a guy like J-Rich might be beneficial. I think finding a way to deal Stoudemire to the Warriors with Curry (somehow), maybe even at the sacrifice of Biedrins if we can put a Chandler/Wallace deal together, might be beneficial. I think now you can see why.

Just so you don’t think I’m crazy, let’s take a look at the Celtics, 07-08.

Rondo/House
R. Allen/T. Allen
Pierce/Posey
Garnett/Powe
Perkins/Brown

which also looks like:

FL/IO
SH/IO
SC/IO
GL/BANG
DF/BANG

The thing is, their starting lineup was pretty much perfect. Whenever the starters came in, as you noticed, they wrapped things up. Only when it came to the second unit did things start to fall apart. They were missing a true distributor and a variety show. Not so bad. The thing is, they were actually better this year with KG. Without KG, they were horribly worse.

It’s a theory I made up myself, and it holds true. No team has ever come up with the perfect 10 role system, and unless someone besides me figures it out, no team will.