Enough 12hr shifts will make that decision for you though. Good to see Mason stepping up and going clutch. He will probably need to fill Manu's shoes some in that department while he is out.
Reply With Quote
It would have to be a HUGE family emergency for Tolliver to miss this game unless he already knew he was on the team. But let's assume he wasn't told he was on the team - he'd be putting his family in a much worse situation by potentially not getting an NBA contract by missing the game. I can't see anyone possibly throwing away hundreds of thousands of dollars over a family situation.
As for Tolliver's shooting being the reason he should be on the team - he hasn't shown it consistently enough to assume this is a given. The best shooter was Farmer. That seems clear.
It may not have been from a post player but I'd rather have a wing be our outside shooter than our post player. Tim needs more help inside with rebounds than a trigger happy one trick pony who camps outside. I'm sure others will disagree but I think we need a legitimate post player to go along with Tim.
It's odd that the team preaches defense then gets seduced by these post players who are outside shooters and don't play defense. To go back to the idea that Pop is locked into finding the next Horry - it wasn't just outside shooting that made Horry special. Horry played good defense - that was his important trait. Yes, he made occasional outside shots, but that was more and more rare. By the end he was actually a horrible outside shooter but he could contribute in other ways. (Though in truth, even that was in question for long stretches of the last 2 years.)
It's funny that Farmer gets critiqued for being a one dimensional shooter. Isn't that the exact same trait for Tolliver, with the exception being that Farmer has a long history of being a solid outside shooter and actually delivers, whereas Tolliver is more of a mystery.
I think people underestimate or forget how Kurt Thomas is also a big who shoots from the outside. No, not all the way from the 3 point line but he was getting many open looks from about 18 feet on the baseline a few games ago. Given that we're going to play him and he isn't going anywhere considering we just signed him, I rather just roll with him as big who shoots from the outside. The fact that Tolliver shoots the 3 is more a theoretical distinction to me. Yeah, I know it's an extra point but as far as spacing it's only a few feet difference.
This whole scenario makes no sense. I suppose if we hadn't given Finley that ridiculous contract this Summer we could have kept both Farmer and Hairston, though of course no one knew we actually have two quality players to choose from. And in fairness, to Finley he has shown up in better shape so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, even though in my opinion it was clearly time to move on from him when he became a complete liability for us last year for the majority of the season.
Yes, I suppose there is a glut of wings ("small shooters") now but there isn't a huge separation between them. Hairston could be better than Udoka by the end of the season, and Farmer could easily be more productive than Finley by the end of the season, if not sooner.
Ha, sorry for this rambling post. It's been a relatively interesting pre-season. We might as well wish the best for Tolliver and Hairston because that's who is going to be on the team. I think it was bad taste to make it seem like there really was a compe ion for the last spot and then keep Tolliver and Hairston away because it might look bad if they make mistakes or get outplayed. What goes on in the FO meetings must be fascinating. I can only assume there actually is an active discussion going on over decisions, but in the end the choices were predictable and obvious from a mile away.
