This is stealing from another post, but I loved it and want to repeat it.
My "Travis Hatred" generally consists of the thought I have that he isn't the most complete player, or specifically that I think that he (up until the last 12 games) didn't really pass well, or keep his head in the game enough to be relied on to make decisions in crunch time, or play defense against a starting 3. I didn't like that (up until 12 games ago) his range on the 3 was limited to the corner, and that he was the master at taking 21-foot jumpers. I didn't think he cared much about going for rebounds, or for passing. This year, admittedly, he's been better, but some of the same concerns are still there from time to time.
So I was talking to someone today about Travis' "uniqueness". It got me thinking...what if I didn't look at Travis as a SF, or PF, or even "6th Man", but the Basketball equivalent to the Designated Hitter? A guy you bring in to be a safety valve and open jump shooter on offense, to run the wings on the break, and to play on-the-ball defense on guys that don't run around without the ball. Then, would I have any problems with it?
Nope, not at all. So here's my dilemma...you can't just put a DH out there on the floor without taking out someone. So who do you take out, and how long? I think most in here would agree that Travis isn't going to play start at PG, SG or C. I don't think he'll beat out LMA as the starting 4, and I think Nate likes him coming off the bench. So that means that either Batum or Webs is going to start. I think Rudy and Joel have their White Team minutes locked up. I'm trying to reserve judgment on whether Batum or Webster should start until I can see what Webster can do, though my gut feeling is that he should come in with Rudy and Sergio on the White Unit and let Batum start. But how many minutes do you give to a DH? And does it matter where he plays? At the 3 or 4? With Webs or with Frye? Can he be taught to cut and attack the basket (like he did on the dunk last night) and to not take the contested 21-footer? I think now that he can, and I think we should keep him.
That means, then, that Frye and Diogu are basically not getting minutes, right? So they're on the way out, right? A 4/5 rotation of Greg, LMA, Joel and Outlaw? What does Raef, Frye, Diogu and Blake/Sergio/Bayless (though I'd hope it's Blake instead of the other 2) get us? For one thing, that's 22M of expiring contract, 2 young bigs, and a solid PG.
The only problems I see with that are that Travis has said in the Quick Summer article that he wants to be a starter, and that he wants a green light when he's on the floor. Can he overcome that if we're winning? Was he joking?
