NVE for Houston

[kg_veteran]

<< another thing.. yes, KT would be much more effective against centers as well as PF's defensively..what do you have to actually base your argument there?
anything?
the best center in the league admits that players of KT's size give him biggest problem. >>



KT is more effective guarding centers than Howard, I agree. But to suggest that KT would give Shaq a problem is ludicrous. Both Juwan and Kurt have absolutely no chance against him.



<< and yes, the number of rebounds are similar... jh is close to KT..how many minutes per game did they play though? >>



Last year they played virtually identical minutes when Howard was in Denver and Thomas was in NY.



<< right, thekid, the object isn't to shut down KG or shaq or anyone else. it's to make them work harder defensively.. and instead of them shooting 55-60% against the mavs, help to force them to shoot 45-48%. that's a huge difference over the course of a game.. and an enormous difference over the course of a season >>



Again, the argument wasn't (and isn't) against acquiring Thomas. It's simply against overvaluing him. I think that he would make opposing post players work harder. His toughness inside would be a very nice addition. But he's not going to be worthy of 30-35 minutes a night for the Mavericks. He's going to be a 20-25 minute a game blue collar guy, whether Nelson starts him or not.



<< and thekid, i don't think KT would average 20, but if put in the same situation that JH was in (washington and denver), i can see him putting in 15 a game to go along with 10-11 boards..while shooting 50-51%. >>



Kurt couldn't score 15 a game for a terrible NY team last year, and he was the only rebounder on a bad rebounding team, and he couldn't get 10 boards a game in NY. He's not gonna suddenly do that somewhere else.

[kg_veteran]

<< I'm not sure anyone was arguing against acquiring Thomas. I wasn't. As I said before, he is a clear positive for our bench. What's up for discussion is

a) the other components of the deal--I'm fine with NVE for Thomas+Ward IF the Mavs acquire a pg in a free agency by another trade. I'm against it if we do it with Ward and AJ as Nash's backup. I'm against Thomas+Houston as the team gain is less than the team loss.

b) whether an acquired Thomas would be a starter or not. Thomas is certainly no better a scorer than Howard and I'd contend that even as a 4th option, he's still a better scorer (his average as a Mav than Thomas as a Knicks). He may get us one more rebound than Juwan would have--but that's pretty much balanced by the one we lose because Dirk is now guarding out on the perimeter where he is pretty much by definition a less effective rebounder. He's obviously a better man-on defender than Dirk--but he doesn't really add anything to team defense and putting Dirk out on the perimeter as a 3 makes our perimeter defense even *more* porous than it was last year. So like I said, Thomas as a 20-25 minute PF and occasional center backup? Great. Love to have him. But Thomas as a starter is a step backwards for this team. >>



Good post.