THE CRUCIFIX: Cato: Wood isn't thrilled w/ his role...Will depart in the summer

[mvossman]

Id take slightly lesser defensive player with similar size that can catch passes, doesnt make lazy passes or horrible passes that get stolen, can do basic dribbling and has a basic feel for the game(doesnt airball layups or throw ball over the backboard when trying to give someone an alli-oop).

I get what your saying...but, imo, you need better all around bball players on the court to be really competitive in the NBA.  People dog on Goberts skills and only being defense...dude is way better at everything than Maxi.  You have to be able to at least dribble to score on blow-bys or make a decent pass to another teammate after your blow-by.  You have to have basic bball skills or your leaving lots of points on the court that other teams finish at a normal clip.  IMO, last two years Luka has been surrounded by guys like that other than Brunson.

Gobert just got traded for 5 firsts and is making 46 mil a year.  I have no idea why we are comparing Maxi to him.

For a team centered around Luka and a limited number of defensive players, defense is at a premium.  A plus defensive player that can space the floor on offense is the most efficient (cap cost) player you can pair with Luka.  Iztok did an article recently that showed how Luka did in the playoffs with 1, 2 or 3 3&D players (he only considered DFS, Maxi and Bullock in that category).  It was glaring.  The more 3&D guys he played with, the better the net rating (like -10, 0, +7).

I don't think the issue is that our 3&D guys don't do a lot of basketball things on the offensive side, I think the real issues is that our high dollar offensive players (Timmy, Bertans, Powell) are too one dimensional offensively and don't create for themselves or others.

If actually did manage to get our hands on this mythical player you describe that can guard both the rim and the perimeter while being able to space the floor and do other bbal things, I would want that guy in addition to Maxi, not instead of.