Who is our Starting Point Guard?

[smauss]

Okay, but Luke played 20 mpg last year, started 5 games and has lower numbers that Ramon in nearly every category.

I already made entire thread about reasons for Luke's fall in regard of playing time and his roll for Sonics. Short version: With scoring wings and run and gun offense Ridnour was perfect PG for Sonics. When Allen/Lewis had problems with injuries and then when they were traded Sonics wanted more scoring from PG position and gave starting spot to Watson. Then Sonics made team full of rookies and young players who don't know how to play without ball and therefore made Ridnour bad choise for PG. And Sonics as organisation was such a mess which make them perfect trade partner to steal player like Ridnour from them.

Ridnour is pure PG and in that regard he is among top 5 in NBA without any doubt. The guy run his team. That's what he does. He doesn't care about personal stats and it is posible that he is not even aware of his own presence when he play. He is definition of unselfish. You want to know what he does better than Sessions? Ok here is the list:

-find right players at right time at right place
-make smart decisions
-make quick decisions
-make his teamates better
-push the ball

That's all I ever asked from my PG.

Now, your guy Sessions can become as good in all of that. And that is the main reason why I love our PG situation. If Sessions really prove that he can do above things better than Ridnour than I will be happy to see him start. No problemos. But untill we see that Ridnour is the guy because he already proved that.

Great post Ilhan!

[Sigra]

Thank you my friend

[Nebula1]

Okay, but Luke played 20 mpg last year, started 5 games and has lower numbers that Ramon in nearly every category.

You want to know what he does better than Sessions? Ok here is the list:

-find right players at right time at right place
-make smart decisions
-make quick decisions
-make his teamates better
-push the ball

That's all I ever asked from my PG.

Now, your guy Sessions can become as good in all of that. And that is the main reason why I love our PG situation. If Sessions really prove that he can do above things better than Ridnour than I will be happy to see him start. No problemos. But untill we see that Ridnour is the guy because he already proved that.

That list Ramon does better than Luke. Not sure how much you've watched him play. All he has on Ramon is experience. He's certainly not a better player.

And I'm not concerned about why Luke's time fell off. Fact is, it did. And to Earl Watson of all people. I think it's not wise to look at what a guy did years ago over what he's done recently.

All in all, I'm not concerned about it as I think Ramon will take the spot. Luke will have a very difficult time getting Ramon off the court. I just think it's unfair to Ramon to give the starting spot to a guy you traded for. Hopefully it won't take long for Skiles to see who the better player is. I think as a one-two punch, it's not a bad combo, but they just have the order wrong as of now.

[WEFFPIM]

Didn't know this was still a debate.

[Sigra]

We will agree to disagree Nebs. Soon enough we will find out what Skiles thinks about this topic and he is most important person in that regard.

[icat2000]

All in all, I'm not concerned about it as I think Ramon will take the spot. Luke will have a very difficult time getting Ramon off the court. I just think it's unfair to Ramon to give the starting spot to a guy you traded for. Hopefully it won't take long for Skiles to see who the better player is. I think as a one-two punch, it's not a bad combo, but they just have the order wrong as of now.

A little unfair? Come on. Your reaching here. Ramon has what ... started a handful of games in the dying stages of last season.

I'm sure Ramon will get his opportunities.

[unklchuk]

I was going to quote Sigra's explanation post on Ridnour. But someone already did (smauss) and called it a great post. It was indeed.

I'd call it communication on a high level. Showing respect for the person on the other side by thinking clearly and taking the time to phrase with feeling but no rancor. If our political candidates could disagree as well as Sigra, we'd have a better democracy.

[magpies]

Ridnour starts but having Sessions and Lue means having competition for our starting PG and for minutes this adds up to a better team.
I believe that Ridnour will hold it down for the season ahead but only playing slightly more minutes then Sessions.

[old skool]

What has Ridnour proven? He couldn't beat Earl Watson.

And Sessions could not beat out Royal Ivey.

oLd sKool

[BDUB_30]

i think were collectivly sleeping on ridnour a little bit . I wouldnt say hes a great pg , but we didnt really give up a great pg to aquire him . I think what he is though is a pg that fits well with our roster .. The idea of mredd popping out on the wings and jefferson filling the lane is going to be a nice mix for ridnour to choose from . If we can see gadzuric get some conistant burn , watching him beat his man down the floor by at least 10 feet every damn time is going to make milwaukee a decent team on the break ..



I dont have many judgements with Sessions , i dont think weve had enough sample size to really draw any conclusions about his game . Alot of the games ive watched sessions play in were low competitve / low intensity matches . I cant really draw much from that other then the fact that its clear he is a pass first pg with somewhat of a gnack to finish and to play a draw and kick game ... Im not so sure that milwaukee is going to want a draw and kick pg starting for them .


Either way , i trust w/e decision is made and i like the potential for both guys , and if sessions is really as good as some beleive thats great .. I also like having lue on this team to give that defensive precense when milwaukee needs to change the tempo of the game . Its nice to put in some scrappy defenders to really make guys out there work while your offensive oriented players are getting some rest .. A lineup with Lue , Bell , RJ , Allen , Bogut is a fine defensive 5 ..and if Moute is as good as advertised ( and IMO he performed the most consitantly of any buck in SL ) he could get in there for rj and youre talking about a VERY solid 5 defensivly .


Karl use to do this and it worked . He would have an all defensive lineup and he would plug it in at awkward times of the game .. One of the few nba coaches ive ever seen to pull 4-5 guys off the floor at once and insert an entire new lineup ...When guys are taken out of their offensive rythem , often times that has a carry over effect even when your more poor defenders are back on the floor ..The idea is when you make a guy miss 2-3 shots , or you get a few key turnovers , or even if you just make them work their ass off for everything you get .. Offensivly they start to question themself , confidence drops a little , lose rythem , second guess decisions .. and it often times can last an entire game for people . Basicaly when you field an all defensive lineup , you can take people out of their game .. Karl knew this , and thats exactally how he disguised milwaukees big 3 . People were starting to give props to milwaukee saying " theyve goten better on defense " .. it wasnt our big 3 getting better ..it was coaching and GK putting in his defensive lineup and changing the tempo of the game and trying to get opponets out of rythem ... GK is an amazing coach , not sure if skiles uses this method .. but i hope he does .


Bdub realgm rant # 30842094 ... sorry guys , just cant waitttt for some bucks basketball ...

[Hardaway 10]

That list Ramon does better than Luke. Not sure how much you've watched him play. All he has on Ramon is experience. He's certainly not a better player.

And I'm not concerned about why Luke's time fell off. Fact is, it did. And to Earl Watson of all people. I think it's not wise to look at what a guy did years ago over what he's done recently.

All in all, I'm not concerned about it as I think Ramon will take the spot. Luke will have a very difficult time getting Ramon off the court. I just think it's unfair to Ramon to give the starting spot to a guy you traded for. Hopefully it won't take long for Skiles to see who the better player is. I think as a one-two punch, it's not a bad combo, but they just have the order wrong as of now.

Earl took his starting job by default due to injury. Watson hardly outplayed him. Luke was never healthy last year to challenge him. And to fully understand his play last year, you have to understand how PJ Carleisimo ran that team. Luke started the year breaking his nose and then injured his quad. PJ was intending to start Luke last year but wasn't going to do so until he was fully healthy. That never happened. Regardless, players like Chris Wilcox called for Luke to start b/c he knew how to run an offense and get players the ball. Watson never "ran" the offense and essentially deferred to Durant to do whatever he wanted.

As for PJ's system, he knew the team wasn't going to win and was full of young players, with the core being the two 1st round studs, Durant and Jeff Green. PJ had decided that last season was going to be an evaluation year whereby he would find who could play in what roles and who could play with whom effectively. To do this, he started players for blocks of games to evaluate them in different roles. Luke was never healthy enough to start consistently and play effective minutes.

As for Luke, he was the starting PG for a playoff team out west. Playing with legitimate talent and knockdown shooters, he led his team to a 50 win season.

As for Skiles, if you don't know his prefences, you're in for a rude awakening. He doesn't necessarily take to young players and he won't play them extensively. He also sees alot of his style in Ridnour and feels Ridnour can be a Skiles-like PG on the floor.