From: tamada@cheshire.oxy.edu (Michael K. Tamada)
Subject: Duckworth vs Benjamin (was Re: Eddie Johnson and Benoit Benjamin) 
Organization: Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA 90041 USA.
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 04:34:19 GMT

In article <1iqdt8INNbne@shelley.u.washington.edu> neuharth@shelley.u.washington.edu (John Neuharth) writes:

>In article <1993Jan10.233647.24126@cheshire.oxy.edu> tamada@cheshire.oxy.edu (Michael K. Tamada) writes:

>>     One difference though between Portland and Seattle is that Portland
>>doesn't have a lot of choice in playing Duckworth.  Cliff Robinson and I
>>imagine Buck Wiliams see some time at center, but even between the two
>>of them the Blazers need someone else to play some major minutes at center.
>>So they play Duckworth.  The Sonics have the luxury of having Cage and 
>>Kemp around to play the middle, even though neither of them are true 
>>centers they can do the job; and the Sonics still have McKey, EJ, and
>>Askew to man the forward positions.
>
>I honestly don't see your point.  I would say that Portland and Seattle are
>in very similar situations, actually.  Robinson and Williams see a lot of time
>at center, and so I'm not sure what the difference is.  I'd say that the 
>Blazers and Sonics have similar depth around the hoop.

     Okay, I didn't explain it clearly; here's what I meant to say:
for big men, Portland basically goes with the following players:  Duckworth, 
Robinson, and Williams.  Bryant gets a few minutes too.  Williams gives
them 30+ minutes at the power forward slot, or center if necessary.  
Robinson gives them 30+ minutes at any frontcourt position.  
     Now the Blazers need 48 minutes of power forward play and 48 
minutes of center play:  who's going to provide it?  Bryant plays 
only about 15 minutes a game;  that still leaves 20 plus minutes 
of big man play that has to be played by somebody -- voila!  
Duckworth has to get over 20 minutes of play at center.
     Who else can Portland put out there?  If they use a combination
of Robinson and Williams at center, say they split it with 24
minutes each, then who's going to play power forward?  Robinson and
Williams would be able to provide only a very few minutes at power 
forward. Bryant isn't going to fill that gap, neither can Kersey 
for more than a few minutes a game.   
     In contrast, if Karl decides not to use Benjamin at all, which
he pretty much has, the Sonics can still fully fill out the frontcourt
slots.  Cage can play center almost 30 minutes a game; the other 18-20
minutes can be filled by Kemp.  This means Kemp can only play maybe
12-16 minutes at power forward -- but McKey can fill that power forward
gap.  But then who plays small forward?  Eddie Johnson and Vincent Askew!
And Nate McMillan if necessary.
     The Blazers have good depth and versaility in the frontcourt; I
think the Sonics have more.  In particular, the Blazer go with 3 1/2
big men:  Duckworth, Williams, Robinson, and Bryant.  If they tried 
to do what Seattle has done, and reduce their center's minutes to
near 0, they'd either have to radically increase Bryant's minutes or
go with some tiny lineups with Kersey playing a lot of power forward.
Duckworth would have to play really horrible ball to make that a
more desirable alternative than giving him his 20-30 minutes at center.
     In contrast, Seattle has 4 big men:  Benjamin, Cage, Kemp, 
and McKey.  If George Karl decides to bench Benjamin, the Sonics
big trio can fully man the 2 power positions.
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  | W			   Mike Tamada
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