Thabo Sefolosha 6-6 213 SG Switz. 1984

A Rush wrote:You mean the LA championship teams where we had one great ball handler (Kobe), a SF who focused on defending and shooting (Fox), banger power forwards with little versatility (Green, Grant, Walker; Horry was an exception but he was mostly used off the bench) and a center who was a defensive anchor and only played inside? Those LA teams were a lot like the Spurs team in that you didn't have a ton of versatile players who can play 3-4 positions. You just had players who could play one position extremely well + one player who could do multiple things in Kobe. The only bit of versatility was at PG and SG (when we still had Harp). Other than that, every player played his designated position and the team was better off for it.

Even the Bulls - apart from Pippen - were a very conventional team. And even Pippen was "only" a small forward who could handle the ball. He was no tweener.

I don't want to get into a huge argument, but our championship teams had at least two ball handlers...the PG and Kobe...The Bulls had at least three guys who handled the ball a lot: PG (Armstrong/Harper/Kerr), Jordan, and Pippen.

k0pr0phage wrote:

A Rush wrote:You mean the LA championship teams where we had one great ball handler (Kobe), a SF who focused on defending and shooting (Fox), banger power forwards with little versatility (Green, Grant, Walker; Horry was an exception but he was mostly used off the bench) and a center who was a defensive anchor and only played inside? Those LA teams were a lot like the Spurs team in that you didn't have a ton of versatile players who can play 3-4 positions. You just had players who could play one position extremely well + one player who could do multiple things in Kobe. The only bit of versatility was at PG and SG (when we still had Harp). Other than that, every player played his designated position and the team was better off for it.

Even the Bulls - apart from Pippen - were a very conventional team. And even Pippen was "only" a small forward who could handle the ball. He was no tweener.

I don't want to get into a huge argument, but our championship teams had at least two ball handlers...the PG and Kobe...The Bulls had at least three guys who handled the ball a lot: PG (Armstrong/Harper/Kerr), Jordan, and Pippen.

The point is most championship teams only have PG and/or SG to initiate the offense and handle the ball. No tweeners. Pippen was one of the few forwards who initiated the offense on a great team and even he wasn't a tweener. Forget about Pippen for the moment. Every other great team had either PG or SG initiate the offense, primarily a PG. Vast majority of truly great teams also had small forwards who were just small forwards, palyed their limited roles to perfection and were not playing power forward spot. That's how you build a truly great team by and large. PG or SG initiates and the rest play their roles. You don't stock up on ball handlers and have 3 players initiating the offense. You don't bring in small forwards who want to be point guards. You don't bring in power forwards who are really small forwards, etc.

BTW Jordan initiated very very seldomly on those Bulls championship teams. At least in the games I've watched. Even the Bulls only had two guys initiate and handle the ball and even then Pippen did most of the work. But again, Pippen was a unique player. There are no Pippen's in today's league. Just because a SF can handle the ball and initiate doesn't make him Scottie Pippen. Pippen was just Pippen.

Bah. It's the triangle. Odom is the best passer on the team. He also has handles at least as good as Smush's. I'm fine with him initiating. Of course no one is Pippen. That goes without saying.

lakers are interested in any tall PG.. 6'5-6'8

thabo can throw it down

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17ZkWHzR8O0