Jazz fans have become entitled when it comes to their expectations of a back up center. We have gone from having Rudy and Favors two guys I consider to be close to top 5 centers in the league with Gobert being in the conversation of being the best and as I'm concerned comfortably the best defensive player in the league, to having Bradley and Davis. Davis struggled to defend and was absolutely useless on offense while Bradley also has the defensive struggles but can fit in on offense. The reality is whoever is the back up is going to find it difficult to emulate what Rudy is doing because 1. he is so good at what he does and 2. the system doesn't change from Rudy to his back up and 3. the bench guys that whoever Rudys back up plays with are also lesser defensive players than our starters. There might be better back up centers available than Tony Bradley but playing in our system (which in truth doesn't exactly aid Bradley) they might not be the upgrade Jazz think they would be.
We need a backup Center
- Thread starter Elizah Huge
- Start date
Jazz fans have become entitled when it comes to their expectations of a back up center. We have gone from having Rudy and Favors two guys I consider to be close to top 5 centers in the league with Gobert being in the conversation of being the best and as I'm concerned comfortably the best defensive player in the league, to having Bradley and Davis. Davis struggled to defend and was absolutely useless on offense while Bradley also has the defensive struggles but can fit in on offense. The reality is whoever is the back up is going to find it difficult to emulate what Rudy is doing because 1. he is so good at what he does and 2. the system doesn't change from Rudy to his back up and 3. the bench guys that whoever Rudys back up plays with are also lesser defensive players than our starters. There might be better back up centers available than Tony Bradley but playing in our system (which in truth doesn't exactly aid Bradley) they might not be the upgrade Jazz think they would be.
jumpin bean
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Refs call fouls on Bradley whether he fouls or not which makes him hesitant. We need a backup center that will at least not get a rookie like whistle
jom2003
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there was a reason for quin to use a lineup of Favs next to Rudy last couple of seasons even though they don't really mesh offensively because favs' mere presence on the floor serve as a tremendous reinforcement to Rudy on defense. whenver rudy goes out to contest a shot, he knows Favs will be right behind him to secure those rebounds and vice versa.
and now that is gone this season, rudy's work simply has turn from somewhat "human" to "godlike" because he has to protect the paint and collect the boards all by himself when we only have a 6'5 royce oneale as the second best defender/rebounder on the floor.
ED would've been perfectly fine this year have we kept favs. just have Favs play right next to him and let Ed only worry about collecting boards while helping out on D occasionally like everything that made him so good as a backup center in the first place. of course he would look garbage when we expect him to anchor the entire paint all by himself. any centers who could pull that off wouldn't be just a backup.
So here's where I'm at...
I don't think that Bradley is ideal for us as the backup THIS season. Just because he's still young, still learning, still growing. And we're trying to contend right now.
However... Bradley has shown a lot of promise and I don't think that the defensive issues and fouling are all his fault.
Our team defense is putting a lot of pressure on Gobert and Bradley to save us. Our perimeter defense has been bad the last few weeks. I mean we're just letting players blow by unimpeded. No resistance whatsoever. We're asking Gobert/Bradley to guard the opposing center, guard the blow by, protect the rim AND rebound. It's too much too ask on damn near every defensive possession.
So my question is... is it a defensive scheme problem or is it a personnel problem?
I think in a lot of ways it's a scheme issue. We've always funneled to Rudy. But Quin needs to somehow get the perimeter defenders to be more disruptive... don't make it as easy as it's been recently.
I feel like Bradley would look better if we weren't asking him to do what Rudy does. That's a MASSIVE ask.
I do think we need one more piece in an ideal world. I keep changing my mind on what that piece looks like. Sometimes I feel like it's a traditional backup 5. Sometimes I feel like it's a stretch 5 so we can go back to running some 5 out. Most times I feel like it's a disruptive defensive 4 who can also play some 5. Tonight I was wondering if maybe we need a strong perimeter defender so we can have Royce be more free to be disruptive in help D. Ideally its probably a mix of some of those traits in one player.
I don't think that Bradley is ideal for us as the backup THIS season. Just because he's still young, still learning, still growing. And we're trying to contend right now.
However... Bradley has shown a lot of promise and I don't think that the defensive issues and fouling are all his fault.
Our team defense is putting a lot of pressure on Gobert and Bradley to save us. Our perimeter defense has been bad the last few weeks. I mean we're just letting players blow by unimpeded. No resistance whatsoever. We're asking Gobert/Bradley to guard the opposing center, guard the blow by, protect the rim AND rebound. It's too much too ask on damn near every defensive possession.
So my question is... is it a defensive scheme problem or is it a personnel problem?
I think in a lot of ways it's a scheme issue. We've always funneled to Rudy. But Quin needs to somehow get the perimeter defenders to be more disruptive... don't make it as easy as it's been recently.
I feel like Bradley would look better if we weren't asking him to do what Rudy does. That's a MASSIVE ask.
I do think we need one more piece in an ideal world. I keep changing my mind on what that piece looks like. Sometimes I feel like it's a traditional backup 5. Sometimes I feel like it's a stretch 5 so we can go back to running some 5 out. Most times I feel like it's a disruptive defensive 4 who can also play some 5. Tonight I was wondering if maybe we need a strong perimeter defender so we can have Royce be more free to be disruptive in help D. Ideally its probably a mix of some of those traits in one player.
Handlogten's Heros
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Most of them are just soft fouls because he’s late but it looks like he’s straight up. He’s not very good.
I think there is maybe something to changing our defensive scheme to adjust for the fact that people aren’t Rudy... or you go get someone like WCS with the right build to contest a lot of shots.
At very least maybe get a shooting 5 and do some 5 out stuff... we can do better at the 4/5 spot.
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Right! I thought this thread was sponsored by Captain Obvious... but not I guess... this is fine.
jom2003
Well-Known Member
that are many different ways to approach this.
either bring in more defense help in getting more size/length at the forward spot to relieve your center's defensive load.
or, just give up defense entirely cuz quin still wanna play the likes of niang, bradley, etc. then go small, bring in another shooter like davis bertans, instead of trying to make your opponent score less. you score more.
jom2003
Well-Known Member
not just him. Ed Davis also. we can bring in as many centers as those fans want, and i'm sure they will all look bad in our current setting. no one can match what rudy's done for us this year. not even close.
Zombie
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It's not about matching Gobert though. No one should be expecting that out of our backup center, but we can't be playing someone that's as easily exploited as Bradley.