With Mason gone, try going big
The loss of Desmond Mason leaves a hole in the Thunder lineup, with no easy solution. The Thunder plays all kinds of minutes without Mason, but it’s mostly situational: both point guards (Russell Westbrook and Earl Watson), rookie wing man Kyle Weaver, etc.
What to do at the start of a game is not so discernible. Here’s what I would try, beginning tonight in Utah. Go back to the big lineup of early season.
Put Nenad Krstic at center, play Nick Collison at power forward, move Jeff Green to small forward and Kevin Durant to shooting guard.
I know Durant has blossomed since moving to small forward, but that move coincided with the switch in coaches. My boss, sports editor Mike Sherman, pointed out that Durant struggled at shooting guard in P.J. Carlesimo’s listless offense. Maybe it wasn’t the position; maybe it was the offense.
Any way, in this season of discovery and experimentation, no reason not to find out what Durant can do back at shooting guard in the much more efficient Scott Brooks offense.
Durant will struggle on defense against some guards, but Green always is available to defend certain opponents. It’s a mix and match process, anyway, when you have hybrid players like Green, Durant and Westbrook.
And it’s time Krstic got in the lineup, anyway, don’t you think? He’s the center of the future. Why not get him in there and get going.
Mason is the kind of player where when he’s playing, you wonder what he brings. Then when he’s gone, you go, oh my, what are we going to do without him? He’s a defense, energy, effort guy, and the Thunder will miss him.
But use Mason’s absence to find out what other players can do, and the injury could be beneficial.
Other options?
* Two-point guard lineup. I don’t like it, because that makes Watson the point, and that impedes Westbrook’s development.
* Weaver slotted into Mason’s void. This is the most seamless and, frankly, probably the best way to win the most games. Weaver is a good defender, a decent shooter and somewhat of a sparkplug. He has to take better care of the ball, but the Thunder wouldn’t miss many beats with Weaver in the lineup.
* Damien Wilkins. Wilkens started earlier in the season but just didn’t do much. He’s a defensive liability and his shooting is erratic. I don’t think he’s got a future with the Thunder, so I don’t know why you’d play him in a present going nowhere.
* Go big, but go big with Chris Wilcox or even Joe Smith, when he gets healthy. Again, why? Neither are likely to be here past this season, so what exactly is the point?
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.
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Comments
Berry. i disagree with moving durant totally. It’s true that he has really developed where he is now so moving him back to shooting guard, would be taking the thunder a step backwards. i like the idea of having westbrook, durant, green, wilcox, and kristic on the floor.
moving durant back to the 2 is one of the most asinine thing’s i’ve read. do you actually get paid to cover this team?
Yeah Berry, now that the team is playing above .500 for a month, change back to the style of play that left this team 1-12 after 13 games. Now that Kevin Durant is NBA player of the month at the small forward, move him back to shooting guard where he was a turnover machine and struggling to find his game against smaller, quicker players.
Anyone with a brain knows that Mason’s hole in the starting lineup is the easiest to fill, with Green, Smith, Weezy, Collison, and Wilkins gobbling up those minutes. No more PJ ball! Trust in Big Brooks.