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Post by scooter on Oct 23, 2024 10:33:22 GMT -5
Markelle Fultz not being on an NBA roster is insane when unplayable guys like Pickett and Bronny are. Fultz made 4 threes last season in 910 minutes of PT, in his 7th NBA season. |
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Post by wizardofcozz on Oct 23, 2024 10:57:21 GMT -5
I get it but I don’t remember the 90s Knicks, pacers, heat, bulls, hornets, etc all worrying about 76 games. They all had 30 year old vets. In the 90s most of the perimeter players just guarded 1 on 1 in very slow, half court games. Now the game is faster paced and guys are having to chase guards on the perimeter through a billion screens every night. Wears you down. Truth. The mid 90's - early 2000's was the most iso heavy + slow pace era in NBA History. It's why I think the early 90's bulls were better then late 90's, and why I consider it easiest the worst to watch era in history. Now we may be in the inverse of this, cause I also didn't particularly enjoy watching BOS just take 60+ 3's in a game either. |
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Post by scooter on Oct 23, 2024 11:19:27 GMT -5
For good reason, fans don’t care about the cost to waive Pickett and sign a guy like Fultz or Walker. I don’t know what it would amount to, but it could be something like $6 mil to theoretically upgrade the 15th guy on the roster. I can see why management would be cool to that idea and would prefer to wait until a trade became available. It sounds like Malone is experimenting with having various players bring the ball upcourt. For those who are getting panicky about the team’s PG depth, it is worth remembering that Jokic was 2nd in the league in assists last season. Most of the time, the team just needs to get Jokic the ball and the offense will work. Obviously, they do need to defend perimeter players, but there is no rule that Watson or Strawther or Braun cannot be matched up defensively against PGs or SGs or whomever. They wouldn’t be upgrading to the “15th guy on the roster”. They would be dropping the 15th guy on the roster (say Pickett) to provide a roster space for signing someone like Fultz, who immediately becomes the 10th guy on the roster. That’s why it’s worth the several millions in tax penalties, in addition to extra minimum salary and dead cap hit, to do it. Malone has said he has only 9 real rotation guys on the roster, and Fultz would vault to #10, ahead of Cancar, Zeke, DJ, etc. It is true we are woefully short on guard depth and have two players who are very young or very old, one of whom has never played many games healthy in the NBA (Straw), and the other whose wheels could fall off at any time (Russ). When the top PG is someone like Murray who also is a major risk to miss 20+ games during the season, you absolutely need another ball handling combo or point guard to spell them. Or, during the regular season, even have in the rotation if Malone wants to go with 10 guys in rotation at various times. Can’t do that with Pickett. Can do that with someone like Fultz. Better depth, better health, and better rest would not only likely result in a better seed, but better health for the playoffs. Fultz is even a guy you could play in the playoffs if the need arises. Pickett is not. A few notes: 1) The 2nd unit depth chart right now is Westbrook, Strawther, Watson, Nnaji/Cancar (probably Nnaji), Saric. The theoretical free agent guard signing (while eating Pickett’s contract) is for a 3rd string guy. And Alexander may be able to eat some guard minutes if needed. He didn’t impress in the preseason (after a very impressive summer league) but if he’s a quick study he may be playable soon. 2) Strawther appears to be way more of an on-ball player than we expected. His ballhandling skill is better than we thought and it looks to me that he’s quickly developing into a combo guard in the mold of guys like Jamal Crawford and Jordan Clarkson. I think there is a good chance he’s the backup PG of the future. Saric is a Jokic-lite point center who played SF for many years when he was younger. Watson is also a capable ballhandler and his future may be as a point forward in the mold of guys like Scottie Barnes. In addition Aaron Gordon is a strong ballhandler and those skills can be utilized when needed. There are multiple teams in the NBA (like the current champion Celtics) who use ballhandling and playmaking by committee (Tatum was consistently operating as the PG in the playoffs) and don’t need to have a bunch of “pure PGs.” 3) I’d bet good money the FO believes it can get one or more better players through trade than it could by clearing a roster spot to add someone off the free agent scrap heap. Folks here have bitched about waiting until the trade deadline, but it’s a deadline, not a starting line. There are reasons guys like Fultz are not on an NBA roster. And in some cases, those reasons include intangibles as some guys on one year contracts can’t be kept happy without a certain amount of PT. |
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Post by GBG on Oct 23, 2024 11:42:15 GMT -5
They wouldn’t be upgrading to the “15th guy on the roster”. They would be dropping the 15th guy on the roster (say Pickett) to provide a roster space for signing someone like Fultz, who immediately becomes the 10th guy on the roster. That’s why it’s worth the several millions in tax penalties, in addition to extra minimum salary and dead cap hit, to do it. Malone has said he has only 9 real rotation guys on the roster, and Fultz would vault to #10, ahead of Cancar, Zeke, DJ, etc. It is true we are woefully short on guard depth and have two players who are very young or very old, one of whom has never played many games healthy in the NBA (Straw), and the other whose wheels could fall off at any time (Russ). When the top PG is someone like Murray who also is a major risk to miss 20+ games during the season, you absolutely need another ball handling combo or point guard to spell them. Or, during the regular season, even have in the rotation if Malone wants to go with 10 guys in rotation at various times. Can’t do that with Pickett. Can do that with someone like Fultz. Better depth, better health, and better rest would not only likely result in a better seed, but better health for the playoffs. Fultz is even a guy you could play in the playoffs if the need arises. Pickett is not. A few notes: 1) The 2nd unit depth chart right now is Westbrook, Strawther, Watson, Nnaji/Cancar (probably Nnaji), Saric. The theoretical free agent guard signing (while eating Pickett’s contract) is for a 3rd string guy. And Alexander may be able to eat some guard minutes if needed. He didn’t impress in the preseason (after a very impressive summer league) but if he’s a quick study he may be playable soon. 2) Strawther appears to be way more of an on-ball player than we expected. His ballhandling skill is better than we thought and it looks to me that he’s quickly developing into a combo guard in the mold of guys like Jamal Crawford and Jordan Clarkson. I think there is a good chance he’s the backup PG of the future. Saric is a Jokic-lite point center who played SF for many years when he was younger. Watson is also a capable ballhandler and his future may be as a point forward in the mold of guys like Scottie Barnes. In addition Aaron Gordon is a strong ballhandler and those skills can be utilized when needed. There are multiple teams in the NBA (like the current champion Celtics) who use ballhandling and playmaking by committee (Tatum was consistently operating as the PG in the playoffs) and don’t need to have a bunch of “pure PGs.” 3) I’d bet good money the FO believes it can get one or more better players through trade than it could by clearing a roster spot to add someone off the free agent scrap heap. Folks here have bitched about waiting until the trade deadline, but it’s a deadline, not a starting line. There are reasons guys like Fultz are not on an NBA roster. And in some cases, those reasons include intangibles as some guys on one year contracts can’t be kept happy without a certain amount of PT. I think we should address our weaknesses sooner than later. Waiting until deadline makes it harder to incorporate new guys into our system. I think it’s folly to make any assumptions on Strawther until we’ve seen him in rotation for 20 or 25 games. It’s irrelevant to current issues that he could be future backup PG. I think many legitimately playable free agents remain out there, for various reasons. Not just Fultz or DSJ. |
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Post by scooter on Oct 23, 2024 22:46:01 GMT -5
IMO, the main area of need is shooting. It would be helpful to have Holiday or Bullock. Beverly might be helpful in theory.
The list of free agents who are “good” NBA shooters is short.
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Post by rock on Oct 24, 2024 14:03:41 GMT -5
IMO, the main area of need is shooting. It would be helpful to have Holiday or Bullock. Beverly might be helpful in theory. The list of free agents who are “good” NBA shooters is short. agreed, Im not too worried about being last in 3 point attempts. I am worried about our 3 point percentage. Last year we were surprisingly 10th. This year we need to stay in at least the top 15-18. 3fg% is a very real indicator of team success. Look at the bottom 12 teams from last season: portland, memphis, toronto, pistons, spurs, wizards, magic, houston, utah, charlotte, chicago, nets basically the absolute worst teams (except magic who were decent) |
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Post by AbdulJabber on Oct 24, 2024 19:17:11 GMT -5
3 point shooting is my biggest concern for now. The good news is that we should know pretty quick if it's going to be a major issue. I'd say within 20 games or so.
On the positive side, I'd like to see a jump in FTA's. Been a bottom team in that category for a while. And hopefully we'll see some more fast break opportunities. We really need to speed the game up when Jokic isn't in. We need to start winning some of the non-Jokic minutes this season.
Last year we were 17th in fastbreak points and 29th in FTA's. Lets hope both areas see some improvement.
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Post by famicommander on Oct 24, 2024 20:01:13 GMT -5
Russ should produce plenty of FTAs.
And then hit 68% of them.
He'll fit in great here.
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Post by famicommander on Oct 25, 2024 14:30:33 GMT -5
G-League training camp starts after this weekend.
Hopefully we send Trey, Hall, Jones, Pickett, and Tyson down and leave them there for a long stretch. We only need 12 guys on our NBA bench while everyone is healthy.
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