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Win Dice a RING!
I've been following this guy since his college days and have watched him from team to team with my league pass. I spend the entire game paying more attention to what he's doing and how he's playing so I feel like I've got a better than average idea of what he's capable of.
First off, I'm extremely excited to see him here as a Spur. This team may be the absolute best fit for him over any team at this point in his career. His style of play fits perfectly into your system in my opinion.
Rebounding. His numbers from last year are off due to the fact that he only started the last 30 games of the season. During that time he averaged over 11 a game and even had a handful of 15+rebound games. Even better, he averaged 3 offensive rebounds a game. He's strong and really fights for position on every possession. One of the big advantages to that which I noticed during his time with the Pistons is that by him fighting with the other teams opposing big man, he inadvertantly helped stop a lot of fast break outlet passes. Watch him when Duncan goes to work in the paint. He'll immediately start working his way under the other side of the basket. He keeps them honest and helps turn the opposing teams into half court offenses. You hear a lot about his knees and how he's lost a lot of his explosivness. This is true but you're talking about a guy who had a 47 inch verticle. Him having lost a little means he only jumps as high as normal players now. Trust me, he can still get up there.
Scoring. The man can shoot. Take one full step from the three point line inward and draw yourself a mental line. From anywhere inside there he's deadly. He's a career 50% plus field goal average. He doesn't play in the post as much anymore but I think it's because unless he gets hot, he doesn't call for the ball. For the Pistons, he only took 5 to 8 shots a game. When the Pistons would get into a scoring drought, he was the guy who would end it. The best part is, his shots are created easily and because the players guarding him are usually centers and big forwards, they tend to leave him open on the perimeter. And best of all he doesn't care about touches-he's happy as long as the team is winning and has no ego.
Passing. He's no J. Kidd but with the Pistons he shined when firing creative passes to cutters in the lane from the top of the key. I think he'll truelly enjoy playing with guys like Manu, Parker, and Jefferson.
Defense. He's solid but not what you'd call dominant. He's strong enough to hold position on a lot of guys and blocks a lot of his shots playing one-on-one D. He's also pretty good at blocking at the rim. He hasn't done as much in the past as the team couldn't afford to have him in foul trouble. With solid back-ups, he'll be able to be more agressive. The only players he really has trouble with are guys with above average speed on the block.
Another way I feel like he'll fit in well is his screens. He was easily Detroit's number one guy for setting screens and he does it well. Tony, Manu, and Jefferson are going to have a lot of big solid screens set for them with both Tim and Dice on the floor. Plus after the screen McDyess is open for the pick and pop.
Hustle and heart. It's hard to find many guys in the league who have more than Dice. He'll give his all every game-diving for loose balls and leaping into the stands trying to save a rebound. He'll do whatever his team asks him to do night in and night out.
sorry if I'm boring anyone or if this comes off like a fanboy's overrated veiw. I'm ready for the season to start and can't wait for McDyess to show a lot of you just how great a pick-up he is for this team.
Win Dice a RING!
Thanks for the insight.
Classy post!
I think that everyone is starry eyed over Jefferson and Blair the animal and are missing that the Dice signing may be just as important in the long run.
Sure, those guys will post some stats and win us some more games but I think that Dice will prove to be more of a glue guy that fights night in and night out and never half asses it.
I think these next two years will be something special.
I hope all of you, like me, savor every little bit of it. Pop, RC and Holtcat are making sure that the Duncan era ends in style.
thank you, thank you.
i can't wait to watch Mcdyess this season!
Thanks Dice-real cool of you to give us your insight. Really appreciate it and welcome to the board.
I wouldn't look at career numbers with Dice because he is nowhere near the player he was with Denver. Sadly that knee injury destroyed what was a great basketball player and a promising career. It's been nice to seem him persevere and reinvent himself to still be a good player. That said he's still a good pickup for the spurs and I wish him a good season, just not against the Lakeshow.
Piston fan classy as always. Thanks Dice, nice overview. McDyess does seem like a great fit for us. I hope he gets his ring.
Thanks for the insight. I like McDyess and I think he will be an upgrade from Thomas.
For all the talk of youth, the Spurs could very well play 4 veterans most of the minutes at the C/PF position: Duncan, McDyess, Bonner and Ratliff. If the Spurs are going to beat the Lakers in a 7 game series, someone will have to play some defense on Gasol. I really see him as the key to that team. Kobe is a given, and Bynum is so far not really that good, but when Gasol joined the team they became one of the top 2-3 teams in the league. The question is which Spurs can do the best job defending Gasol? Can McDyess play decent defense on him?
Thanks Dice and welcome aboard. Hope the ride goes all the way to a riverwalk parade. McDyess, Duncan, Ratleff and Blair give the Spurs a formidable set of bigs.
Check out the rebounding stats on 82games. com http://www.82games.com/0809/RESORT16.HTM add Blair and it's going to be fun watching other teams get worked.
He did take less money. He took $3 million less than Rasheed got over the course of a 3 year contract so the Spurs could give Blair a better (longer) contract.
The goal of ALL athletes is to win a championship WHILE making millions of dollars. They go hand in hand.
Hey Phila I once heard by an oldschool reporter that if Chamberlain had 20,000 women then West had 40,000.
McDyess is one of my all time favorite players. He was explosively awesome when he entered the league and inspirationally awesome in his comeback from career-ending injury. If he can do for our team what he did for the Pistons, we'll be in good shape.
He's also another in a long line of cool dudes the Spurs have attracted to their roster. It's good to be a Spurs fan when all of our players are likable. (no, not lickable).
Nice post Dice.
Thank you so much.
dice deserves his ring...thanks for such gr8 post
yeah, decent post..
I've been a fan of dice since the nuggets days, the only concern i have with him now is Mileage... and the fact that we're trying to play him as a 'Center'.
Nice post, Dice. Thx!
I honestly think Dice is going to be "that guy" that pushes this team over the top. Not necessaraly with his play, but with his heart. The guy WANTS a ring. He will push the whole team.
I hope we can get him one, and I feel confident that we can before his 3rd year with us.
I think that mcdyess was the most important acquisition this offseason because it means that Bonner is not longer our starting center (i hope)
He is gona be a beast !!!
Im thinking double double..
U SAW IT HERE FIRST!
Nice post! Thanks!
i expect dice to average a double double in san antonio. he has a high basketball iq, so i think he could blend easily with his team mates.
i wish he would became likes horry，he can provide score rebound and defense when spurs needed.I remember horry is 34th when he was joined spurs，also dice was.
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