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Our Blog Lord hates fun. He also hates three pointers apparently.
Call me old-fashioned, but I love three pointers. Love ‘em. I want to take more of them. I want to make more of them. Now every writer here knows that Mike runs LB with an Iron Fist: Editing posts, shooting down ideas, threatening to blackball Matt from Basketball Internet, etc, etc. I, however, will not be intimidated. I'm not scared of Mike, and I'm not scared to take McDermott. I welcome him to my stable of three point shooters.
Give me and the Phoenix Suns Doug McDermott at pick #14.
Doug McDermott scored a boatload of points in college. Not POINTZZZZZ, no; but points. He finished 5th in the all-time NCAA scoring behind guys like former Sixers standout, Alphonso Ford, the "L" Train, Lionel Simmons, and Pete Maravich. McDermott scored over 3,000 points in college. He, somehow, led the NCAA in scoring last season, which is remarkable considering that ...*ahem* ... FORMER Niagara Purple Eagle, Antoine Mason, didn't pass the ball once after the calendar hit February.
Here's some Semi-Believable Dialogue from 1969:
"I really like this Maravich kid. Averaging over 44 points per game at LSU." - 1969 Me
Eh ... but what position can he cover? - 1969 Mike Levin
Of course McDermott isn't the The Pistol (Here is just a quick reminder of Pete's awesomeness). But there is so much discussion and hype leading up to the NBA Draft that players go from properly-rated to underrated to overrated, back to underrated to overrated to then, in an ideal utopian society, properly-rated by the time Draft Night rolls around. Yeah, defense matters. Of course. Know who also preached defense? Eden Hall JV Hockey Coach, Ted Orion, in Mighty Ducks 3, and that movie, and team, sucked. Gordon Bombay would take McBuckets everyday of the week, and twice on Sunday. So, are you a Duck or a cake eater?
If you want to just defend and plod your way from one end of the court to the other, go watch highlights from the Knicks/Heat playoff series in the last 90s. I think if you fast-forward to the 4:12 mark, someone even makes a jump shot. If you need Doug and me, we're going to go play the beautiful game. Push the ball, push the tempo, maybe shoot some open jumpers in transition if there's time.
But I think deep-down you guys love points, too. I know it's not an Anti-Creighton bias. We all remember the Korver Days fondly. Each and every one of us put three chubby fingers in the air after every Korver triple for The Black Shirts.
I, and MY Phoenix Suns, choose to see the Dougie Glass as half-full, not half-empty. We choose to focus on what he can do really well - the almost 45% three-point shooting, the 86% free-throw shooting, and his nearly six FTAs per game. The Suns and I are going to channel our efforts into putting this round sphere into that round basket. Playing for my favorite, Jeff Hornacek , and his up-tempo offense, McDermott should get plenty of clean looks in transition.
A great offense is our defense.