Would playing Pau with the 2nd unit maximize his strengths?
Posted by: SPQR on Oct 28, 2009 - 09:03 AM
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Watching our opening win last night, I saw some things that caused me to speculate on wether over the long haul, it would be better to play Pau with the second team instead of Lamar Odom.
We all saw the hard time the bench had in scoring. Granted, they did not have Lamar with them, do to Pau's injury. Yet is Lamar the best player for this group, and secondly, with Drew's emergence, Pau will be playing less center than in the last two years.
First off, it is obvious from Drew's play the last two years before his injuries, this years preseason and last nights game that he can certainly approximate Pau's effectivness in the pivot. The fact that he is still a work in progress and will get only better means at some point he will actually become a better center than Pau, who is a finished product.
I noticed last year in the short time Drew was healthy and playing, Pau's numbers did drop some when he played forward. Once Drew got hurt and he played the pivot again, his numbers climbed. This is to be expected. Even his mere presence is bad for the opposing team, even if Drew is more involved in the game. Yet wouldn't we want to maximize Pau's effectivness by trying to get him some extra pivot time?
To do this, Phil would have to change the rotation somewhat. There are two ways to do this. One would be to keep Pau on the bench and start Lamar and Artest at the forward spots. When Drew comes out, Pau would enter as the center with the second team. This would be highly effective for him and the team...even more so considering he would be going against the other teams second string players. Lamar has proven he is just as effective over the last two years playing with both Drew or Pau. It is the nature of his game, passing and rebounding, that makes him a perfect match no matter which of the other two are manning the post.
Pau seems to lose some effectivness when playing with Drew. Also, Pau playing with the second team would make them a much more potent offensive force than Lamar playing with them. He would also command the double team and therefor get the second team more open looks. While Lamars passing certainly helps the second team, Pau is a terrific passer as well and a much better scorer than Lamar.
The other way to do this would be to start Pau, and when Drew leaves and the second team comes in, move Pau to the pivot. Pau showed last year that he is an iron man and he could handle the minutes. When Drew comes back in, then Pau would get his breather, probably till the end of the half, if Phil uses Drew as he did last night. This would give Pau an adequate rest and the process and rotation would repeat in the second half.
It seems to me that playing Pau with the second team would accomplish two positive things: It would get Pau some good minutes in the pivot where he could clean up. It would also make the second team a stronger offensive team than it would be with Lamar. Of course, this would not be set in stone. Game conditions and matchups and other considerations would go into each game. Flexibility is certainly not one of our problems.
Remember now, this is just speculation based on what transpired last year and how the second team played last night. Before I did this move, I would play Pau and Drew together for a while and see how well Pau can do at the forward position with Drew at center. I would also want to see how the second team performed with Lamar once Pau is backa and healthy. If, Pau's performance does dip precipitously when playing with Drew, then perhaps try the move of Pau to the second team.
Of course one other factor that has to be considered if one trys this move: how would Pau take it? Would he become upset if removed from the staring slot?
It will be interesting to see this year if the second team improves a lot with the addition of Lamar and how Pau adapts over the long year if Drew stays healthy this year and he is pretty much consigned to the forward spot for the first time in three years.
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