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We need a legit big

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We have Jefferson who can play some 5 and do well against many a team but he's more of a 4 naturally.

I agree with this, and I have to laugh every time some refers to AL as a center, as if he's a natural 5, but the fact of the matter is that we got the best option that was available.
 
PG - Deron, ? (see below)

SG - Brewer, Luther Head

SF - CJ, Hayward, Evans

PF - Millsap, AK, Evans

C - Jefferson, Memo, Fes, Augustine

I'm almost tempted to suggest Dee Brown as backup PG and reunite the Illini, but it might be too painful to give Dee another shot. I actually really like Patty Mills (RFA) and at SG I'm on the Rudy Fernandez bandwagon - although I'd like to know more about what his beef is. If it's just playing time then Utah can provide him that at SG. Then there's the whole working this out with our personal bully, Paul Allen.
 
Fes actually intimidates players from taking it straight to the basket in a way that neither of Boozer will ever be capable doing. If you've ever played ball against someone built like Fes (though probably shorter), it is like running into a wall with huge elbow buttresses that might swing down onto your skull for your +1. I don't think AJ is any kind of defensive stopper, but in the games I've seen him play he actually looks to intimidate on defense. I think the jury is out on AJ's overall defense until we see if he can play in a system. If he misses a position he'll know it from the bench. Boozer may have had cinder block feet, but he was also smart (he went to Duke). He knew where to be. Now did he commit to defend once he got there? Not usually. More like, "Hey, I made my rotation and waved my arms like you said coach, now keep me in and run another pick and roll for me." AJ isn't used to that. My biggest fear is that he may be too much of a one-on-one player once he gets here, but my feeling is that he'll thrive and commit to defending. When is the last time Boozer had two blocks in one play let alone three (see video making the rounds)? And yes, he can play the 5 against most of the league. You need a Fes, obviously, to try to tire out your Dwight Howards. Having a little more offense to make the Dwight bodies work on both ends of the court is even better. If Fez would've just spent the summer playing catch with a marble or raquetball I think we'd see pretty big strides. I don't know how many easy points he gave up fumbling the ball.
 
To be honest, the only "legit" defensive big still playing I know of is Dwight Howard. The problem I see with most NBA bigs today is they aren't agile enough to both get up and down the court when the game goes uptempo, and strong enough to defend a good post player when the opponent starts feeding the low post. Lots of bigs, but their defensive skils are inconsistent at best. Teams need to be able to deal with both scenarios, so we see a lot of PF-types playing C in the NBA these days, mixed with space-eater-types like Shaq.
Don't under-estimate the value of having a big guy who can post up inside. Most bigs aren't very skilled around the basket; we now have one of the best in the NBA.
 
They need a back up 4 like Amundson or Tolliver, not a back up 5. Right now AK is back up 4, which is fine but he may start at 3 so he cant start at 3 and back up 4, he would have to play more minutes than Deron to do that
 
PG - Deron, ? (see below)

SG - Brewer, Luther Head

SF - CJ, Hayward, Evans

PF - Millsap, AK, Evans

C - Jefferson, Memo, Fes, Augustine

I'm almost tempted to suggest Dee Brown as backup PG and reunite the Illini, but it might be too painful to give Dee another shot. I actually really like Patty Mills (RFA) and at SG I'm on the Rudy Fernandez bandwagon - although I'd like to know more about what his beef is. If it's just playing time then Utah can provide him that at SG. Then there's the whole working this out with our personal bully, Paul Allen.

Deron-Price-Brown
CJ-Hayward
AK-Barnes
Millsap-Evans
Jefferson-Okur-Fes-Augustine

This would be a solid squad and better than last year's imo. Except we know Jeffers and Gaines are almost guaranteed to come back and we most likely won't get Barnes or Brown let alone both.
 
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