In spite of the 82games.com stats, the two don't have similar games. At least not that I see with the naked eye.

These stats are just as telling:

West: 8.9 RPG, 1.3 BPG
Deng: 6.3 RPG, 0.5 BPG

They talked before the season about Deng doing more postups, but he's not been very good at it. Only on occaision where he had a serious mismatch in his favor.

If Deng guarded West, he'd be posted up and posterized play after play.

I don't think it's a matter of him posting Deng up because West isn't a guy that posts up much. Nor do I think the rebounding or block numbers mean a lot because we'd expect a guy playing the four- playing closer to the basket and developing his body with that expectation - to collect more rebounds and blocks.

That is, a lot of the differences we see are based on how they've been developed and how they've been played.

Deng came into the league as a guy who played college ball pretty similarly to how West played, and physically similar.

What's happened is that Deng has been developed and used with the goal of being a 2/3 and West with the goal of being a 4.

Deng has pretty consistently been targeted by the Bulls as a G-F. Perhaps Deng sees himself that way as well. The idea has been to push him out on the perimeter one way or another, and this has led to a developmental focus on his ball-handling skills and his quickness rather than his strength.

Deng is still listed at 220lbs, and that looks about right to me. He obviously hasn't put on a lot of muscle or anything in his four seasons in the league.

West has been targeted by the Hornets as a 4, and has put on a pretty fair amount of muscle as far as my eyes can see, and he's listed at 240lbs now, up a fair amount from when he entered the league.

My point is simply to imagine what Deng would be like with another 15lbs of muscle. He wouldn't be any quicker, but he'd still be fairly quick compared to most 4s. At the same time, he'd gain the strength he needs to play closer to the basket. From what I've seen, he's a very good natural rebounder to start with.

So when I add everything up, I think (and I've said so pretty much every off-season) the best goal for Deng would be to evolve into a stronger guy that could do battle inside while maintaining a relative edge in quickness than to try and get as quick and skinny as possible but still be only below average in terms of perimeter abilities.

In short, he's been developed in exactly the opposite from how he should have been developed. Whether that's due to his preference, the Bulls or both is maybe worth discussing, but by and large I'm pretty confident that he'd be better as a 3/4 than as a 2/3.

I think you're confusing physical attributes with what kind of player he is.

Barkley had the stature of a shooting guard, but was clearly a PF. It's just the way he was wired.

Garnett is really tall, but he's been a SF most of his career.

Wes Unseld wasn't much bigger than Barkley and was a real force at C.

Magic had the body of a PF but the game of the (arguably) best all-time PG.

The Bulls tried to play Chandler at the PF position, but he's wired as a C. Look at the results when he's played there full-time, vs. when he played a lot of PF.

There's a reason Deng was seen as a 2-3 coming into the league. It's how he's wired. It was a real stretch that he'd play at the 2 very much - he's a solid SF.

I think this only underscores my point.



He was as tall as the average SG, but he had the build and game of a PF.

Imagine what would have happened if the team that got Barkley said, "Hey, you're only 6'4" and you're slow and fat. What you really need to do is keep all the weight off you can and we'll just have to live with your slowness on the perimeter".



I agree it was a real stretch, I wasn't in favor of it. What do you mean by "wiring" here? Because remember that I wasn't just comparing physical attributes between West and Deng. I was comparing the way they score their points. West scores his points just like Deng does: he's got a good mid-range game and moves well without the ball in his hands. Like Deng he scores inside, but this isn't because he's good at posting guys up or driving past people one-on-one with the ball in his hands.

That's exactly what I think of when I think of "wiring". Deng's skill set and West's skill set are pretty much the same. Deng's body and West's body entered the league pretty much the same.

The difference is what's been done with it. With West, they said, "OK, you ain't gonna get any quicker, but put on some muscle and you won't get knocked around as much. Defensively you'll be a little small but you'll be quicker than the guys who guard you.

In essence, that's the same thing as with Barkley.

With Deng, it's like we got Barkley and told him to become as quick as possible by losing all the weight he could. That would have been bad... he still wouldn't be quick, but you'd take away a lot of his effectiveness in matching up with other guys inside.

I don't see West's and Deng's games as similar. Add 25 lbs and Deng still isn't going to grab 8.9 boards/game at PF.

The Barkley discussion is apt. It does seem to me that you would argue that Barkley is 6'4" so he should be playing a different position - you're arguing that Deng should be playing a different position because of his physical stature.

Why not suggest he put on 40 lbs and play C?

Hakkim Warrick is about the same size as Deng. They're games aren't that similar, though the per 48 stats might be. Warrick is what Deng might become if he played PF, IMO.

Why not? He get 6.5 boards playing further from the basket and not being very strong. I think it's pretty reasonable to assume that if he actually played closer to the basket defensively and gained some strength his numbers would go up a bit.

I think he gets his 6.5 boards by being as aggressive as he's going to be, regardless of whether you call him a 3 or a 4.

You do understand, don't you, that 3s and 4s are generally not at the same proximity to the basket?

I do know that a 3 can crash the boards or not.

I don't think there was some conspiracy to keep Deng as a 3 when he should have been a 4. They played Nocioni a lot at the 4, which is an indication that they were willing to play a 3 at the 4 (by definition).

Our coaches may not have been ultimately successful, but they're still decently smart basketball guys. They just didn't see Deng as a 4 - even less so than Noc.

...

Hey,

Deng is pretty close to magic johnson's size. Play him at PG!