Ugh. Windy was on ESPN radio yesterday morning. He said Cleveland had their eyes on PJ Tucker, thinks Phoenix wanted a first rounder for him, and the FO essentially chose Korver over him by making that trade.
I like Korver but what the hell. The point of getting Tucker would've been to guard KD or Draymond. Is Korver expected to do that...?
Kyle Korver was a way way way way better pick-up with that first round pick.
The problem with Durant is not simply us not having a 3/4 tweener perimeter defender outside of Bron who can guard him. Durant isolations are not what will keep us up at night. It doesn't matter as much who is matched up with Durant. It really doesn't. He's a solid defender, but he it isn't like he's prime Tony Allen. I'm not convinced he's any better than RJ or Shumpert, honestly.
He is shooting 30%!!! THIRTY!!! from 3 this year. That is literally unplayable. We can't make our biggest addition somebody who can't shoot. Maybe if they're all-NBA defensive team material, the elite of the elite, and can guard the 1-4, etc... still....shooting is a BIG DEAL.
Our offense gets in trouble when we have Liggins in, and he is shooting 39% from 3. Or when Shumpert misses EVERYTHING, again, teams literally start leaving these guys wide open to shade LeBron and Kyrie and stay with our other shooters. This is a recipe for DEATH against the Warriors. They can very easily turn a 3 point lead into a 15 point lead in 2 minutes of game-time and it gets a lot easier to do that when they can ignore one of our players offensively.
Korver is a very important piece because he adds a new DIMENSION to our team, to our offense. The action we run with Korver is a whole new element of offense that the defense has to pay attention to. Once we get some real time with Korver in, 6-8 weeks+, and the team understands how to both get him shots AND how to benefit from the SPACE and CHAOS his movement creates on the court, it will become evident that the Korver trade might end up being one of the most important things for us in terms of competing against GS(if they make it to the Finals of course..and Korver helps us so much more vs S.A. or Hou as well).
Korver will end up playing big minutes and being one of our most important players in that series, and if we win it will be in big part because Korver added a dynamic that Golden State could't ultimately control, especially when we run LBJ at the 4.
I just don't event think it's debatable. Korver is by far a better player than PJ Tucker and he's also a complete necessity against the Warriors as they are now.
Even if it comes down to the 4th quarter multiple times and Durant really does begin isolating and we need a guy to really get up and check him, well, that's basically what LeBron will be there for. Even if we had Tucker, Bron is still checking KD in the 4th and Tucker is definitely not closing games. Korver will be closing games.
Kyrie/JR/Korver/Bron/Love(or TT depending how things are going). I think we have a distinct advantage in every game that is "close" with 8 minutes or less left.
PJ Tucker would be a nice get if the Cavs could literally get him for absorbing his salary and one of those top 55 protected 2nd rounders, just because that extra size and depth would help. But instead of Kyle Korver? It's not even debatable in my mind.
When I watch ed the Cavs struggle against GS, I was never thinking "we need somebody to man up KD". I think two things:
1: "Longabardi trying to to the Thibs 08-09 Celtics thing is cute and well meaning, but WE DONT HAVE THE GUYS TO DO IT. Switch the pick&roll. Every time. They can jack up as many threes as they want whether it ends up being Steph v Love or TT, or Durant v Love or TT, or even Durant vs a smaller player depending on the screen. Seriously. Jack all the threes up. All of them, because ANYTHING is better than letting Steph, or KD, or Draymond, dribble into interior space and collapse the defense/force rotation because if done right the rotations might be more effective, but if anyone misses ONE, it's a death sentence for that defensive possession"
2: "We're going to need some kind of new source of offense besides just Kyrie and LeBron this year, I think.. hey wait, wow, they're shading an awful lot of people towards Korver....wow, they're really dedicated to following/tracking/grabbing/contesting Korver everywhere he goes....WOW...there's so much more space for everyone else to play in the half-court...this could be a serious problem for Golden State in the finals if we can figure out how to properly use him"
I think we can get Korver and the team as a unit up to a level that we can win with by playoff time. What I would REALLY love to see is Korver here for another couple of years as long as he doesn't fall off a cliff, I think with a year together, a training camp together, an off-season, etc....things could be immense. The Hawks won 60 games a few years ago and Korver's action was basically the ignition switch for their offense. And they only had Teague/Millsap/Horford to benefit from it. We have Bron, Kyrie, Love, JR, etc..
I'd like to get our hands on Barbosa moreso than Tucker at this point as well. TBH.