Dumars on league direction "You gotta have some size around that basket B"

Zion for J. Smith Jr, R, Sheppard, and T. Eason confirmed .

He’s not wrong. The small ball idea is fading away.

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"If you look at the top 3-4 teams in the league, they have something in common. They're putting 2 bigs out there...

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are they?

Are the Thunder good b/c they are playing Hartenstein and Chet together?
The two of them combined barely played the whole season.
Maybe they are really good b/c they have the MVP on their team who plays with 8 other guys who shoot 37% or better from 3.

Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley have a negative +/- together in their 2 playoff games. Maybe they are really good b/c Donovan Mitchell is having a great season, and Mobley and Garland have had breakout seasons.

You could throw just about anyone out there with Tatum/Brown/White/Jrue and they'll be just fine. The Celtics aren't trotting out KP/Horford at the same time at the end of games.

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Guys are so athletic now, you better have some kind of paint presence or it's a layup line"

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You know what those 3 top teams have in common? Great perimeter defenders who can shoot the 3, and at least 1 big man who is a decent perimeter defender when he's forced to switch, and can also shoot the 3 (that last part about big man shooting 3 is kind of important).

Rim defense starts on the perimeter, not at the rim.


I"m not saying we shouldn't have 2 good bigs that we can play together, but unless Zion learns how to shoot a 3, then those two bigs playing with him better be jacking up 3's or it's going to be a difficult time on offense.

Zion is a 4 who can defend literally everyone in the league. Until he, and the team realizes this, we are never going to field a championship level roster. and I laughed at myself for just typing out championship level roster in reference to this organization. If he's going to weigh 275lbs, then he needs to use it to his advantage and gaurd 5's on defense and take advantage of it offensively. If he's not going to do that, then either he needs to be effective from 3, or he needs to be surrounded at all times by 4 guys who can shoot the 3. We cannot have lineups where Zion is on the court with another non 3 point shooter, like Missi, and be successful long term. We cannot shoot the mythical 40 3's a game when 2 guys are playing 30 minutes each and not attempting a single 3.

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Link to full interview LINK

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Uh oh, I smell another Steven Adams trade incoming.

This is a great post and i agree with it.

I’ll add to it: Zion’s (as much as a i hate to say it) lack of a consistent midrange jumper is the problem. If he cannot add this to his arsenal, we’re toast.
And I’m not talking about 3pt consistency because i think he’s ok in that area, but the midrange is what will make him a great player - defenders will have to respect his pump-fake which will allow him to attack the rim. Or shoot the jumper.

If he’s not currently in the gym working on 10-12 jumpers, get ridddd of himmmm.

And again, i hate to say it, but at 6’8”, he’s gotta be able to shoot consistently.

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Thank God!! I’m tired of watching a “PF” and C take 5 threes a game!!

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This doesn't really have much to do with small ball.

Yes small ball helped teams put more 3 pt shooters on the court but that hasn't changed.....

There's just more 7' who can actually shoot 3's now instead of making 3 pt shooters play out of position.

The goal is to still have PF and C who can shoot multiple 3's just 7' and not 6'8".

He's referencing true center sized guys shooting 3's/ defense not small ball. Think Reid/ Gobert and AD/ Cousins not Andre Drummond

He's not wrong about needing a rim protector or it's a layup line.

He's wrong that putting 2 bigs out there at the same time is the goal. I think most teams have two bigs who can rotate and you not lose a step on either end. That's the goal.

Right now we have maybe 1.

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Zion is a 4 who can defend literally everyone in the league. Until he, and the team realizes this, we are never going to field a championship level roster. and I laughed at myself for just typing out championship level roster in reference to this organization. If he's going to weigh 275lbs, then he needs to use it to his advantage and gaurd 5's on defense and take advantage of it offensively. If he's not going to do that, then either he needs to be effective from 3, or he needs to be surrounded at all times by 4 guys who can shoot the 3. We cannot have lineups where Zion is on the court with another non 3 point shooter, like Missi, and be successful long term. We cannot shoot the mythical 40 3's a game when 2 guys are playing 30 minutes each and not attempting a single 3.

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This is a better grasp on our situation than anyone in the entire organization can come up with.

Exactly. Zion would dominate and could win with any type of lineup. We continue to forget they had the best record on the West 20+ games in 3 years ago and he had barely any shooters. Please stop it with the "Zion needs _______ to succeed". He has not been healthy enough for us to know if he can win with or without certain types of players around him.

One thing I know for sure is both BI and CJ struggle to feed the post, struggle to find cutters, and are just not good creators outside of driving and kicking to wide open players. CJ might be the worst post passer and alley pop passer I've ever seen. Even when he completes a pass to the post it takes him so damn long to find a passing angle. It's also on awful arse Willie Green because the team obviously never worked on feeding the post.

Missi is tall and they still struggled to feed him when he had post position. Zion is better with a few shooters, but I think a shooting and passing PG that doesn't need the ball in his hands would take Zion to the next level. Garland definitely fits, Anfernee Simons, players like that.