Watching Austin Croshere try to fill in for Dirk against the Nuggets was pathetic. He's not a good defender, and while often said to be a good shooter, he missed all six of his shots, many of which were taken without a defender in his face. Though I don't expect any backup to be nearly as productive as Dirk, didn't we have a better backup last season?

Keith Van Horn was, by no means, my favorite player on the roster last season, but as the 7th or 8th man in the rotation, he was much better than Croshere last season. Is this a surprise? Not really.

Before this offseason, Keith Van Horn has always been regarded as the better player. Van Horn went second in the same draft, Croshere went 12th, and he has always been a signficantly better shooter. Both rebound at about the same rate, while Van Horn has statistically been the better shooter in FG% and 3P%.

Furthermore, we didn't have to give anything up to retain Van Horn, while we had to see Daniels depart for Croshere. While I didn't mind seeing Daniels depart (and he's not exactly lighting it up in Indiana), letting go of Van Horn and trading Daniels for Croshere might not have been the best move. Wouldn't we have been better served re-signing Van Horn for 2-3 years, and trading Daniels for either a draft pick or coaxing a bad gm like billy king or isiah thomas while they still have jobs.