Official Speculation Thread (Offseason 2015-'16) cont.

[gp123]

Strange. Seems like we're better off with Kyle at 4/16 and then trading him next year. Can anyone make sense of this?

I'm disappointed we didn't get a grizzled veteran here. He's now our third player over the age of 25. Booooo

Well if he turns out to suck, a 4million expiring contract is solid manufactured trade value when the deadline approaches.

[Howard Mass]

Here's the current depth chart

PG: Payton/Watson
SG: Oladipo/Fournier/Harvey
SF: Harris/Hezonja/Harkless/Marble
PF: Gordon/Frye/Smith/Nicholson
C: Vucevic/Dedmon

Harvey and Marble are not guaranteed or locks to make this team.

Barring a trade of Nicholson, Harkless and/or Frye, the only signing left might be a third point guard.

This roster is pretty much the one that is going to camp.

[Rick Rolled]

Here's the current depth chart

PG: Payton/Watson
SG: Oladipo/Fournier/Harvey
SF: Harris/Hezonja/Harkless/Marble
PF: Gordon/Frye/Smith/Nicholson
C: Vucevic/Dedmon

Harvey and Marble are not guaranteed or locks to make this team.

Barring a trade of Nicholson, Harkless and/or Frye, the only signing left might be a third point guard.

This roster is pretty much the one that is going to camp.

Call me hopelessly optimistic, but I'm actually OK with that depth chart. I think we'll see some nice improvement this season.

On a side note, Shams Charania is a great get for RealGM. The guy has been excellent, especially this offseason.

[T-DOT KEEZY]

That said this is still a 25-27 win team. Skiles is going to preach and chew their butts out for defense. That's great but this isn't the AFC North. In basketball the point is to outscore your opponent. That is going to be a challenge with a defensive minded coach.

Would D'Antoni have been a better hire?

Here's a Zach Lowe article from 2013 about Skiles.... Gives good insight into Skiles offensive coaching style....Basically, it's very adaptable based on his roster. He's certainly not an offensive dynamo, but I think he's a little bit underrated in that department.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/scott-skiles-was-the-least-of-the-milwaukee-bucks-problems/

I remember posting this a couple of times while on the Skiles bandwagon.

Nicely written article. It's good to see that Skiles is 1) highly adaptable to his roster and 2) adept at coach to basic level of achievement (ie getting .500 ball out of a .500 roster)

That said the article notes he is a grouchy perfectionist who screws with playing time a lot. Do you think that is a recipe for success for 5-6 young studs under the age of 25. I don't. You can see Elfrid Payton is playing with zero joy in this SL and at every opportunity Skiles has gotten to be supportive of Elfrid he has been supportive but lukewarm in body language. That's not good man. His NBATV interview the other day he was almost down right surly

[Blue_and_Whte]

Would D'Antoni have been a better hire?

Here's a Zach Lowe article from 2013 about Skiles.... Gives good insight into Skiles offensive coaching style....Basically, it's very adaptable based on his roster. He's certainly not an offensive dynamo, but I think he's a little bit underrated in that department.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/scott-skiles-was-the-least-of-the-milwaukee-bucks-problems/

I remember posting this a couple of times while on the Skiles bandwagon.

Nicely written article. It's good to see that Skiles is 1) highly adaptable to his roster and 2) adept at coach to basic level of achievement (ie getting .500 ball out of a .500 roster)

That said the article notes he is a grouchy perfectionist who screws with playing time a lot. Do you think that is a recipe for success for 5-6 young studs under the age of 25. I don't. You can see Elfrid Payton is playing with zero joy in this SL and at every opportunity Skiles has gotten to be supportive of Elfrid he has been supportive but lukewarm in body language. That's not good man. His NBATV interview the other day he was almost down right surly

I think you're making an incorrect assumption based on summer league play. I think it was critical for Gordon to show some improvement and for us to be able to see what Mario could do and I think that's been Paytons focus.

You're making something up based on conjecture. We have no idea what they're relationship is like.

[bigdogdylan5]

It's a decent signing, nothing spectacular, but is only 1 year. Wish we could've gotten someone more defensive but it's apparent Hennigan and Skiles believe Skiles system will take care of the defense, while we'll reply upon versatility amongst the players offensively.

Smith adds to that versatility. He's a 7'0 who can step out and hit the 3 pointer occasionally (15 of 42 last season, small sample size though). He'll get a few boards and get a few buckets here and there. Not sure about his defense though.

Surprised we spent that much on him though.

My god when are people gonna get it through their heads that money on a one year deal DOESNT matter! It not only can be used as an asset for trade room but delays cap room till next year just like Ben Gordon and Ridinour who were overpaid but were assets. I guarntee he would much rather pay smith 1 year 4.5 then 4 years for KOQ

[imnumberthree]

I'm not falling for any hype, just feel that Mario would be a better in the starting lineup due to his shooting ability.[/quote]

I say this because Mario is 19, played role player minutes in Europe (don't care about his coaches vendetta), and is putting up sub par shooting percentages against fringe dleagers in the summer league. I like Hezonja and I think he's a future star, but I think it's a stretch to say he's ready to start in today's NBA.

[npiper17]

It's a decent signing, nothing spectacular, but is only 1 year. Wish we could've gotten someone more defensive but it's apparent Hennigan and Skiles believe Skiles system will take care of the defense, while we'll reply upon versatility amongst the players offensively.

Smith adds to that versatility. He's a 7'0 who can step out and hit the 3 pointer occasionally (15 of 42 last season, small sample size though). He'll get a few boards and get a few buckets here and there. Not sure about his defense though.

Surprised we spent that much on him though.

My god when are people gonna get it through their heads that money on a one year deal DOESNT matter! It not only can be used as an asset for trade room but delays cap room till next year just like Ben Gordon and Ridinour who were overpaid but were assets. I guarntee he would much rather pay smith 1 year 4.5 then 4 years for KOQ

Exactly. In fact I'd rather pay $4.5m for Smith than say $2.5m (closer to what he's probably worth). Why? Because as I said in the other thread, it's very useful to have a tradable one year deal at that mid-level amount (around $4-6m). We didn't have that on our team but we do now

[SOUL]

FG% is the last thing you look at especially since they've come from missed dunks and in-and-out shots.

You look for if he can get his shot off, bad shots (he's kept to a minimum imo), if his mechanics look good, if he can drive, etc. He's shown he can. The last thing people should care about is his FG% unless it's ungodly awful like 2-13 every game comprised of terrible shots. Sort of like MCW.

[Orlwillbeback]

It's a decent signing, nothing spectacular, but is only 1 year. Wish we could've gotten someone more defensive but it's apparent Hennigan and Skiles believe Skiles system will take care of the defense, while we'll reply upon versatility amongst the players offensively.

Smith adds to that versatility. He's a 7'0 who can step out and hit the 3 pointer occasionally (15 of 42 last season, small sample size though). He'll get a few boards and get a few buckets here and there. Not sure about his defense though.

Surprised we spent that much on him though.

My god when are people gonna get it through their heads that money on a one year deal DOESNT matter! It not only can be used as an asset for trade room but delays cap room till next year just like Ben Gordon and Ridinour who were overpaid but were assets. I guarntee he would much rather pay smith 1 year 4.5 then 4 years for KOQ

This is what it comes down to. Well have maximum space for future extensions rather than paying a mediocre player like KOQ all those years and money.

[Def Swami]

A couple lacklustre summer league games from Elfrid and now we're benching him? C'mon, we saw him in the NBA. He's still a beast.

Didn't see posted anywhere else, but wonder if this is why.
[tweet]https://twitter.com/JKepnerWFTV/status/618537973114605568[/tweet]

[TDJacksonville]

Decent role player signing. Size that shoots and spaces out defenses should make elf and Vic have a little easier driving in for scoring chances

[TDJacksonville]

Trade marble or harkless plus a switch of 2nd rounders for Napier anyone?

[eyriq]

Decent role player signing. Size that shoots and spaces out defenses should make elf and Vic have a little easier driving in for scoring chances

Great point. I just don't like the ascetics of the signing. Watching him will be Willie Green painful.

[Orlwillbeback]

A couple lacklustre summer league games from Elfrid and now we're benching him? C'mon, we saw him in the NBA. He's still a beast.

Didn't see posted anywhere else, but wonder if this is why.
[tweet]https://twitter.com/JKepnerWFTV/status/618537973114605568[/tweet]

That and its **** summer league and its not important

[OrlandO]

A couple lacklustre summer league games from Elfrid and now we're benching him? C'mon, we saw him in the NBA. He's still a beast.

Didn't see posted anywhere else, but wonder if this is why.
[tweet]https://twitter.com/JKepnerWFTV/status/618537973114605568[/tweet]

That and its **** summer league and its not important

Yeah dipo only played 3 games last summer.

[94_MagicFan]

jason smith is a magic killer

[UCFJayBird]

It's a decent signing, nothing spectacular, but is only 1 year. Wish we could've gotten someone more defensive but it's apparent Hennigan and Skiles believe Skiles system will take care of the defense, while we'll reply upon versatility amongst the players offensively.

Smith adds to that versatility. He's a 7'0 who can step out and hit the 3 pointer occasionally (15 of 42 last season, small sample size though). He'll get a few boards and get a few buckets here and there. Not sure about his defense though.

Surprised we spent that much on him though.

My god when are people gonna get it through their heads that money on a one year deal DOESNT matter! It not only can be used as an asset for trade room but delays cap room till next year just like Ben Gordon and Ridinour who were overpaid but were assets. I guarntee he would much rather pay smith 1 year 4.5 then 4 years for KOQ

Sorry if I wasn't clear? I think the fact that it's a one year deal is a GOOD thing. For all the reasons you mentioned I'm glad it's only a one year deal, i'd be disappointed if we locked up someone like Jason Smith long term.

[T-DOT KEEZY]

I remember posting this a couple of times while on the Skiles bandwagon.

Nicely written article. It's good to see that Skiles is 1) highly adaptable to his roster and 2) adept at coach to basic level of achievement (ie getting .500 ball out of a .500 roster)

That said the article notes he is a grouchy perfectionist who screws with playing time a lot. Do you think that is a recipe for success for 5-6 young studs under the age of 25. I don't. You can see Elfrid Payton is playing with zero joy in this SL and at every opportunity Skiles has gotten to be supportive of Elfrid he has been supportive but lukewarm in body language. That's not good man. His NBATV interview the other day he was almost down right surly

I think you're making an incorrect assumption based on summer league play. I think it was critical for Gordon to show some improvement and for us to be able to see what Mario could do and I think that's been Paytons focus.

You're making something up based on conjecture. We have no idea what they're relationship is like.

John Denton asked Scott on the first day of summer league practice overall how things are with Elfrid and said "you have to be impressed with Elfrid right?" Scott said that " Elfrid is a developing guard but shrugged it off and said he scored 9 pts a game on a 25 win team so he has to get better." That's not what you want your coach saying publicly man...

[tooler]

Nicely written article. It's good to see that Skiles is 1) highly adaptable to his roster and 2) adept at coach to basic level of achievement (ie getting .500 ball out of a .500 roster)

That said the article notes he is a grouchy perfectionist who screws with playing time a lot. Do you think that is a recipe for success for 5-6 young studs under the age of 25. I don't. You can see Elfrid Payton is playing with zero joy in this SL and at every opportunity Skiles has gotten to be supportive of Elfrid he has been supportive but lukewarm in body language. That's not good man. His NBATV interview the other day he was almost down right surly

I think you're making an incorrect assumption based on summer league play. I think it was critical for Gordon to show some improvement and for us to be able to see what Mario could do and I think that's been Paytons focus.

You're making something up based on conjecture. We have no idea what they're relationship is like.

John Denton asked Scott on the first day of summer league practice overall how things are with Elfrid and said "you have to be impressed with Elfrid right?" Scott said that " Elfrid is a developing guard but shrugged it off and said he scored 9 pts a game on a 25 win team so he has to get better." That's not what you want your coach saying publicly man...

He said there's room for improvement. I think a professional can handle that kind of criticism.

We don't know yet what kind of motivation Elfrid needs. Maybe Jacque's mind games, maybe Skiles's tough love. But he needs to unlock his aggressiveness for 82 games a year.