Let's be honest. Will Kevin Love or Al Jefferson ever fit an uptempo offense?

In fact, I’ll be very sad to see one or both of them go. Unfortunately, this team’s ceiling right now is the Utah Jazz: a great PG (Williams=Rubio), 2 great but undersized PFs (Boozer, Milsap=Jefferson, Love), decent, but undersized center play (Okur=Pekovic), and serviceable wings.

I too, like the idea of Rubio throwing ally-oops to Favors all day, and Favors seems the obvious choice at 3 or 4. Hopefully we get the 2nd pick and this point is moot

Both of our special big men are fantastic players, capable of being top quality players on a team. But apparently not our team.

The problem isn’t either of them at all. It’s Rambis trying to jam a square peg into a round hole. Come on, man. I know you’ve been school by one of the triangle offenses premier minds (Phil Jackson). But seriously, how could you look at this team and see a triangle offense at all.

Up-tempo big men? Nope. Pass-first PG? Nada. Supremely gifted SG? Not. Even. Close.

Ya, sure sounds like some great potential for the triangle offense to me.

Good luck, loser.

because of his outlet passing and rebounding. you have to get rebounds to start the break and you have to pass the ball up the court immediately. Al Jeff is not as good of a rebounder and is a much much worse passer. So if the sole decision was who helps the fast break, you keep Love.

Now, if you want to have a half-court scoring option for when the break does not work, you may want to keep Al, although he will also be one of the reasons that the break didn’t work and you need a half-court scoring option.

I like versatility. You gotta have multiple possible strategies if you not only want to win games but also want to win a championship.

I think Love will definitly fit in a fast breaking team.

but we don’t really run a significant “Fast Break” Offense. Last year from what I could find, we scored 15.1 ppg on the Fast Break. Which leaves us in a tie for 8-11th place in the league. Here’s the link.

I’m not too concerned about how much or how little Al Jefferson or Kevin Love can fit into a fast break offense. It’s not as if literally every player on the team needs to be running down court on the break.

Far more concerning to me is Kurt Rambis’ ability to design a fast breaking offense. I’ve seen very little evidence of it thus far.

For all intents and purposes, the Showtime Lakers are the template offensively because they pushed at every opportunity without forcing it, which is what separates that offense from the SSOL Suns or the Paul Westhead-type of play. Having one big who can run does help, like A.C. Green or Jamaal Wilkes, but those guys were more trailers on the break than anything and they weren’t always on the floor. This isn’t even mentioning how effective Love could be as a spot-up 3-pt shooter trailing the break.The most important aspect is getting stops and having perimeter players who can fill a lane and/or spot up. Love and Jefferson would both need to improve their D more than anything else for them to be capable uptempo bigs.

As for system, I’d rather have them find guys who fit into a good system than worry about tweaking the system too much to fit certain players. They obviously need to make adjustments for their personnel, but if it significantly compromises the system, then it’s the player that has to go. For example, if Tony Parker’s below-average defense was costing the Spurs chances at the title, then he would’ve had to be moved.

As for the triangle, it’s not more rigid than any other offense, and there’s no evidence to suggest that it’s mutually exclusive with an uptempo team (Phil Jackson’s Bulls teams played slow but his Lakers teams have played fast). Phil Jackson structured the triangle around his best players and then used the other positions on physical and/or smart players in order to have a offense that combined ball movement with attacking the rim and a defense that could shut teams down and not be overpowered. A scoring perimeter threat is mandatory for any team, not just a triangle team, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be a SG (the 93-94 Bulls won over 50 games with Pete Myers at that position). Not only that, but if MJ was Reggie Miller, the offense wouldn’t have worked as well because MJ’s ability to attack the rim provided the inside/outside balance necessary in any offense (not just the triangle). The Wolves’ offense sucked more because it lacked scoring balance and talent than because its players didn’t fit the offense. The issue had more to do with trading away Foye and Miller than with implementing the triangle.

they need a PF along the lines of a KG type player, for sure not a Jefferson. Love may work, need to see more. I’d definitely be in favor of trading Jefferson for a leaner, faster, outside shooting PF, especially if the FO is convinced Rubio will be here in a year or two.

I think with better wings, steadier PG play, and a better game plan, Jefferson and Love fit great on offense. It is pretty rare for the big man to fill the lane on the break. Let the big rebound the ball and get the PG and both wings running.

What will require the breakup of the Jefferson/Love tandem (IMO) is their inability to do much of anything on D. Neither can guard athletic or perimeter-oriented 4s. Neither can guard tall skilled 5s. There is a relatively small set of bigs in general that either guy can guard. Not sure how you can plan to hide both big men in your defense schemes. Teams already have to often hide their PG as there are very few effective defenders at that spot.