i agree with you on some of that, but there are a lot of issues i just don't see the way you do.
first, i don't see jack as a 2 unless it's just spot minutes, and roko has so much to prove before i'd consider giving him anything but garbage minutes. jose at 30 minutes and jack at 18 at the pg + another 5-8 at the sg is about perfect, imo.
while d is definitely the biggest problem, i am quite happy we didn;t keep marion. he didn't want to be in toronto, for starters. also, he's the kind of guy that will get worse as he gets older, and, imo, that will happen soon. his first step and his quick hops have both started to deteriorate already, and that's the stuff that fades fast, b/c hedo doesn't rely on that stuff he's more of a guy that we can lock into for a longer term. in 3 years i'd still be happy with hedo, but i think marion will be terrible. that gives us only 1 year with a questionable turkoglu before he becomes a valuable $12 or so expiring contract. i'm fine with that. it's so hard to imagine what the team will look like 4 years from now anyways.
the help that turk provides on offense is not so much about scoring per se... in that, i mean that it's not about how many touches we have to spread around. it's more about the ability to create when it comes down to those clutch touches. no more cb iso's on 5 defenders. if bosh touches the ball in teh clutch, it's only after hedo/jose have already broken down the d. that is a major difference from last year, and probably the most important thing we needed to fix.
also, i think, at this stage of his career, marion is an overrated defender, and turk is a underrated one. that is not to say that hedo is a better defender than marion - far from it - but more that hedo can do what it takes in a good team defensive scheme, and marion is not such a stopper that independent of a good scheme he's a real difference maker.
we will lose some of our fast break ability and our quick offensive rebounding, but i think we'll go back to being a solid half court team, which i prefer for the playoffs anyways. the media keeps talking about us as a fast break team, but i just don't see it. we don't have any real fast break guys remaining, except maybe dd, which is perfect for the kind of role he'll play.
so, d will be key, but marion didn't make such a difference that we wouldn't need a complete team defensive commitment anyways.
i agree that 4-6 is probable. top 3 is possible, but the team will really need to gel and bosh will have to emerge as an A type player. i think he can do that with the right supporting cast. frankly, i think that most people that see him as a B think that because they expect him to do things that no pf is ever expected to do, like create game winning plays all by himself. with a good team behind him, even at 4 out of 5 positions, i think the d is less focused on him and i think he can operate more within a realistic framework for his skill set and his position. he will certainly have to improve, but if he does, look out. we'll be tough.
that last sentence you wrote is spot on. size will be a big deal, deep bench will make a huge difference over last year, and the ability to rest starters and keep scoring starters on the floor will be invaluable. as i said, i'm optimistic. this is a great combination of players, and considering what my expectations were going into the offseason, i couldn't be happier. i think getting rid of marion allows us to build a team around bosh. keeping him would have just been a matter of adding a couple of guys around a team that only won 33 games. it's time for a new identity. i'm happy we went for a near complete makeover while keeping the main core intact. that's not easy to do from the financial position we had.
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Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. If the comments start getting ridiculous for any reason I'll just delete them.
