Quote:
Originally Posted by Thespiralgoeson
Hardy is at least as good a shooter as THJ, so I don't think that's a good reason.
But yeah, Maxi is done as a useful NBA player as far as I'm concerned. I in the offseason, we can find something akin to what Maxi used to be. As great as Gafford and Lively are, we do need at least one big who can stretch the floor.
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I'm not saying Hardy is not a better player than THJ. He's got much better ball handling skills so he can get inside and score or pass where Tim is more likely to fumble.
I'm saying that, in the NBA, all those games in years past where THJ got hot resound in the minds of other coaches. They will put a defender on him to make sure he doesn't heat up, and that is one less defender to double team Luka or Kyrie. Some of the same is true of Maxi. The threat that either might have a good game demands defensive attention, which stretches the court. Teams never know when Tim might put up 20, like he did in Sacramento. Count the Mavs among the teams that don't know. The answer could be tomorrow, but it could also be never.
Right now, no one is worried that Hardy will score 20. Because of injuries, he's gotten a lot of minutes and he's gotten better. He has more potential than THJ...but Tim has a history. As bad as he's been lately, he's still shooting his career average of 36% on threes, and that's what keeps him on the court.