Okay, then that's exactly where we disagree. First, Beilein apparently is not a guy we expect to be running the show in 5 years, so drafting talent to fit his specific vision of how a team should be run seems a dicey proposition to me. But second -- and perhaps more importantly -- it's not like the draft is a smorgasbord of equal talent at every position, so you can mix and match whatever you want to get the same quality talent to fit every system. Maybe the most talented guy available is not a guard at all, nor a guy who fits well in a guard centric system. Maybe it's someone like Jokic, or Zion or Giannis. Do you bypass greater talent just to get a guard, because that's what your system requires?
I think I should have been using less literal terms like guard and been speaking more to philosophy. Belein has a perimeter oriented philosophy. The NBA has been trending in that direction for a long time.....so I don't think it's some philosophical mismatch here, that is the issue. Maybe you stumble in to a player that makes you rethink philosophy but I'd argue guys like Giannis, Jokic, Zion, etc. fit in nearly any system.....so yeah, obviously you aren't bypassing greater talent just to get guards.......but that wasn't my point.
My comment was "
it is about putting a stake in the ground and saying "this is the system I believe in, here are its' principles, find me players who can play in it".......that system is one predicated on spacing.....with mainly player and ball movement but flexible enough to allow ISO play based on matchups or personnel. Don't nearly all good players succeed in systems like that?
Belein has also succeeded doing different things on offense.....when he had less creative players on offense, it was more movement. When he had more creative players, it was more spacing.....etc, etc. But the engine of those offenses has always been perimeter oriented players or players who could accent the offense with perimeter oriented skills (bigs passing, bigs shooting, etc.).
Right now, we have a lot of draft capital expended in perimeter players......if those guys can't play in a guard centric or perimeter oriented system, then you move on from them. This comment is specific to players on our roster......it has nothing to do with draft strategy today. I was speaking to evaluating current roster talent in the preferred offensive system. At this point in our timeline, I just don't see why you do anything else. If guys can't succeed in a perimeter friendly system, with a coach who gives players a lot of offensive autonomy, then maybe they just aren't NBA players? Which is still important to find out. My comments were based solely on current available players and the assessment of those assets.
And my view is that when you have a collection of nothing, the first and only order of business is to acquire the greatest amount of talent you can, regardless of position, and regardless of the system you prefer to run. Talent before system-fit. I'd actually say that changes as you get further into the rebuild, because you'll likely have developed a system around the talent you've already acquired. But when you're just starting off...talent is everything.
Sure.....but there is still nuance to talent acquisition. Do you want Harden? Or do you want Curry? Maybe you want both? But if you are choosing, there's a reason why.......and there's probably also an argument to be made that you are selecting a "less talented" player, regardless of that choice. That is entirely splitting hairs, because they're both great but it is also true that fit and philosophy matter as well when considering roster construction.
But again, my comments were not on talent acquisition if you look back. They are comments on where we currently are in the rebuild cycle and what we should be focusing on doing. Our focus should not be on building a system around our talent, because our talent is bad. Our focus should be on determining wether, philosophically, any of the current players fit in to our vision of what we aspire to be. Is that set in stone? Well no.....it's not. If we stumble in to Anthony Davis, I would imagine our philosophy will change.....until we get Anthony Davis though, we have to have some plan or vision.....we have to understand, at a high level, how we aspire to play and find guys (within a talent tier) that fit that vision.
www.espn.com
