Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack of Arcades
Don't like thunder dan, but I can't really explain it.
I can explain it. Than I'll explain Clark's poor choice (imo) bc, well, I think he made another blunder.
Dan Majerle
I assume Nath is going to be playing Dan at the 2, which leaves a fairly nonathletic core (including Boozer, who is a power house and for his size has alot of finesse, but is a terrible athlete) - as a preemptive warning, playing Dirk at the 3 epitomizes his athleticism deficiencies, he gets away with it at the 4 because he's better at every other thing, but quicker 3s are going to be too fast for him defensively.
Anyway, Dan in a nutshell: Big pros are health, size (if playing the 2 especially), and shooting ability. But... I always remembered him being an elite shooter, and the stats just don't back this up. He's a career 35.8% 3pt shooter (4 a game) which is basically slightly above average for a bulk number. However, his 2pt % and FT % (only career 74%, huh???) drag his TS% down. He only got to the line 2.4 times a game, peaking at 25 at 3.9 fta (in ~30 mins). The other things he brings to the table are at a below avg clip - not really a good passer, no blocks/forced TOs, at the 2 he wont really have a rebounding advatage...
Career 13.8 PER, too. Best season was 17.8. That's pretty weak, even if PER tends to underrate 3pt specialists.
Pairing wise I don't really think Nate needed to spread the floor. Calderon and Dirk are ELITE shooters, so perhaps picking up a more athletic swingman who could cover defensively or so forth would be more of a need. And again, it's the one thing Thunder Dan does well (but not elite) so I think it's redundant.
Allan Houston
So he drafts Mookie, hears criticism about needing shooting, and goes after a pure shooter who does nothing else. I don't want to say too much, but Allan will hurt you defensively. Atleast he truly was an elite 3pt shooter (40.2% on ~4 a game is pretty terrific no matter how you cut it). I can't criticize too much because he fills a need, and I don't hate the pick.
*actually, note in general the previous 3 picks are quite solid, perhaps I got too pampered by the previous picks which were all quite good