Should we have Mbenga or Pavel on playoff roster?

[tgfan]

Instead of Armstrong? Yao is for the most part going anywhere he wants to. We need somebody to work him hard, and keep him about 3 feet farther from the goal, as well as absorb some of the foul calls so Damp and Bradley can play hard while they are in.

What are we getting out of Armstrong?

[grndmstr_c]

What are we getting out of Armstrong?

Most likely the exact same thing we'd be getting out of Pavel or DJ if they'd been on the playoff roster.

[FINtastic]

MBenga and Pavel couldn't find a way to get any minutes during the regular season. Now you want these rookies on the playoff roster?

[DubOverdose]

We need Armstrong to change the pace if needed, or for some clutch defense. Pavel and DJ haven't proven their worth on the NBA level yet.

[EricaLubarsky]

I thought the roster was locked?

[tgfan]

Originally posted by: EricaLubarsky
I thought the roster was locked?

It is. But I was just questioning whether one of them SHOULD have been. Even though we won tonight, it really scares me how long we went tonight with no center in the game to work Yao hard. With Dirk trying to guard him, you have two problems:

1. Dirk is bound to get tired out trying to hold him out, limiting his ability on the offensive end.

2. Dirk is more likely to pick up fouls.

[G-Man]

Can we replace an injured player on the playoff roster?

[LRB]

Originally posted by: tgfan

It is. But I was just questioning whether one of them SHOULD have been. Even though we won tonight, it really scares me how long we went tonight with no center in the game to work Yao hard. With Dirk trying to guard him, you have two problems:

1. Dirk is bound to get tired out trying to hold him out, limiting his ability on the offensive end.

2. Dirk is more likely to pick up fouls.

Bradley is tons better than either of those two, and AJ didn't put Shawn except for one play. We've got another center available if we need one. But Pavel and Benga are not ready for the NBA regular season, much less the playoffs.

[birdsanctuary]

The mistake of not developing Benga and Pavel this year may cost the Mavs dearly if they should some how advance into the second round and beyond. The Mavs are simply one big man short.

[LRB]

Originally posted by: birdsanctuary
The mistake of not developing Benga and Pavel this year may cost the Mavs dearly if they should some how advance into the second round and beyond. The Mavs are simply one big man short.

If we make it to the 2nd round we will either play Memphis or more likely Phoenix. Neither one of these teams have killer centers, or even good centers for that matter. In fact both start a PF at center.

And there was no way in hell that either Benga or Pavel could have been developed in time for the playoffs this year. Trying to do so would have resulted in failure and would have stunted the development of the team as a whole. I willing to bet that Pavel won't be ready for at least 2 more seasons and Benga will probably need at least 1 more season. They both have lots of RAW potential, but they are a long way away from being able to positively contribute to an elite NBA team.

[FilthyFinMavs]

Originally posted by: birdsanctuary
The mistake of not developing Benga and Pavel this year may cost the Mavs dearly if they should some how advance into the second round and beyond. The Mavs are simply one big man short.

It's gonna take well over a season to develop those two. They are so far from being able to play on the NBA level it's ridiculous. They are atleast 2 or 3 seasons away. Playing them this year wouldn't have done any good for us.

[FilthyFinMavs]

I think Armstrong is on the roster just for insuarance. We take an injury to any of our points and we are screwed. Armstrong isn't a bad insuarance to have.

[birdsanctuary]

LRB

You have to admit you were pleasantly surprised with the fact that Benga at least made Amare work for his points in their one head to head match-up?

FilthyFin and LRB, I think Benga is closer than you think, and an NBA player doesn't improve simply sitting on the bench.

[LRB]

Originally posted by: birdsanctuary
LRB

You have to admit you were pleasantly surprised with the fact that Benga at least made Amare work for his points in their one head to head match-up?

FilthyFin and LRB, I think Benga is closer than you think, and an NBA player doesn't improve simply sitting on the bench.

First of all that wasn't in the playoffs, and 2nd of all I don't want Benga anywhere near the playoffs. The playoffs are for winning a championship, not letting some raw rookie get some development time. We need players who are NBA ready and can contribute solidly. Benga is not only not close to being in the ball park of being there, he's not even close to the overflow parking lot.

NBA players who are Raw as Pavel and Benga don't improve by playing on a championship contender. They improve by playing in practice, in summer pickup games, and in summer league. Sure it's not as fast as if they got plenty of PT in real games, but if you're a contender you don't sacrifice you opportunity to win now to develop a couple of raw rookies who may or may not pan out. Once they get up to the level of a decent 12th man on a contending team, then maybe we can start bring them along. Right now they bring many more bad things than they bring good things. They are a huge liability on the court because of their inexperience and lack of skill. The only possible role that they could fill is designated fouler and anyone on our playoff roster could do that tens times better.

Give them a few years and we might have some very usable players, but right now they're just too raw.

[chumdawg]

If the NBA is college, these kids are still in grade school.

But maybe they will graduate high school next year!

[birdsanctuary]

LRB, I'm not saying that this is the time he should be developing... it should have been done gradually from the beginning of the year. 5 minutes per game...some trash time...culminating with a player who plays about 10 minutes per game as an athletic, quick, shot blocking option to play against physical centers.

You also have to admit that Shawn doesn't have the size to hold his own against more physical bigs.

NELLIE, and his old school mentality screwed up.... Either DJ or Pavel needed some weaning. In Nellie's defense he never thought, nor I that this team would develop into a team capable of winning it all.

AJ, had he been the coach has already shown more faith in rookies than Nellie ever did with Devin Harris' playing time. DJ and/or Pavel were exluded because they simply aren't ready.

Still... I stand by what I said, DJ will not need 1 year to develop into a guy who can play 10 mintues per game as a back up to Damp, provide some hustle and rebounding as well as blocks.

Pavel, in 3 years he may develop into the future starting center...his upside depends totally on what he is willing to put into his game. In 3 years Pavel has the potential displace Yao as the Heir Apparent to Shaq.

[LRB]

You also have to admit that Shawn doesn't have the size to hold his own against more physical bigs.

Neither of those two can give us anywhere near the contribution that Shawn can. Is Shawn going to out muscle Shaq and Yao? Of course not, but neither is Pavel and Benga. But Shawn can give us some quality minutes on both ends of the floor. He's still an excellent shot blocker and can affect the game defensively more than most players in the NBA. If Pavel and Benga were college juniors coming out, maybe I could have seen them playing a little during the regular season if they were on the level I would expect a college junior to be at to elect to leave early for the draft. However, Benga and Pavel probably wouldn't be ready to start at center for any team that made the NCAA tournament. And this the NBA is a lot tougher than that.

What you're probably looking at is Benga's raw athletism,which I admit is impressive. However there are tons of super athletic players who couldn't hack it in the NBA. Athletism is great, but you at least have to have a bare bones foundation of NBA level basket ball skills to justify PT on a playoff team. Both Benga and Pavel are light years away from having that level of skill. To top it off, both are having to learn a from a staff which doesn't speak their native languages. That is not just a trivial point. Good teams communicate on the floor. That's hard to learn for anyone, but a non-American (yes, American, not English) speaker has a exponentially harder time with it. Heck Dirk still struggles at times finding the right words.

Lastly, we had 9 new 7 new players as it is and got 2 in mid season via trades. They needed to learn to work together as a team and they needed all the PT to do it. Sorry, IMO, if we had put someone else on the IR and given Pavel and Benga minutes all year that would have been a colossal mistake.

[LRB]

If anyone had any doubts about Benga or Pavel being on the playoff roster instead of Darrell armstong, they were certainly answered tonight. DA completely took Mike James out of the games and played great at both ends of the game.

[tgfan]

Yeah, I guess this shows why I sit here at the keyboard and not on the sideline. We were pulling away from them tonight without even a center in the game.