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Originally Posted by b_o_r
He has no go to moves nor a consistent jumper.
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Not sure what this has to do with the part of your earlier post that made me go "Huh?", but I'll respond anyway. I have no argument on the lack of a go-to move, but while Lamar's never been in Dirk and JET's class as a jump shooter, he's historically been a much better mid- to long-range shooter than what he's shown this year. Point being, I don't at all believe you can account for his struggles by a playing-to-his-weaknesses argument. A prime example, you keep acting like him playing PF is the tonic for his struggles, but the fact of the matter is that he's been a huge failure in his role as the team's backup PF.
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The SF position in the offense is standing near the 3pt line to provide spacing for when Dirk receives the ball in the low post. The low post is already occupied by Dirk and the Center. Since Kidd has no use for a screen, the center has no reason to come out of the low block. That means there is little space for Lamar to make a cut to the basket. It also doesn't help that teams are no longer doubling down on Dirk.
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1) The Mavs' centers are frequently used as screen-setters in the offense, 2) Dirk's role in the offense goes way beyond simply getting the ball in the low post, and 3) I wonder if you've ever seen Shawn Marion play for the Mavs if you think there's no room for the SF to be a cutter.
And more generally, that anyone would espouse the notion that having Dirk and Kidd on the floor at the same time is somehow incompatible with good spacing just baffles my mind.
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If you look at Lamar's body of work with the Lakers or Clippers as a PF, his offense is cutting to the basket when the center backs down (Bynum/Gasol/Kaman/Brand) his man or when the guard penetrates. The other facet of his game is facing up a bigger/slower player and taking him off the dribble. If he is playing the 3, he is going to being facing a faster player. He would have to back his man down which he's not really good at either.
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Again, not really what I was Huh-ing about, but Lamar's got enough size, good enough handles, and he passes well enough that posting him against SFs should be a viable option, and one that I won't mind seeing them try a bit more. And honestly, at this point, if you're going to continue to play the guy at all I think you've got to be willing to experiment some, because he's not been succeeding at much of anything that he's been doing to this point.