Is Trey Burke The 6th Man? If Not, Then Who Is?

[Heezzi]

I think with KP out you have to start Burke. He improved defensively, he can provide spacing and take a ton of focus off of Luka with his playmaking. The opening day lineup should be

Burke
Doncic
Richardson
Finney-Smith
Kleber

That team isn't better than what they had.

Why would it be? The only "new" player that's likely to get any mins on the team is Josh Richardson. So why would the starting line up vary much from the bubble?

The starting lineup they ran with in the bubble is the reason they lost to the Clippers. Statistically it was the worse the entire season due to lack of scoring.
They aren't bringing THJ off the bench.

[Da ThRONe]

That team isn't better than what they had.

Why would it be? The only "new" player that's likely to get any mins on the team is Josh Richardson. So why would the starting line up vary much from the bubble?

The starting lineup they ran with in the bubble is the reason they lost to the Clippers. Statistically it was the worse the entire season due to lack of scoring.
They aren't bringing THJ off the bench.

They lost because they were the inferior team. Then you take away KP and the talent gap was even more so noticeable. There's a reason why Dallas was the 7th seed. What major upgrades did the team make in the off season that you think will make significant changes to the starting lineup?

[Teffer10]

Why would it be? The only "new" player that's likely to get any mins on the team is Josh Richardson. So why would the starting line up vary much from the bubble?

The starting lineup they ran with in the bubble is the reason they lost to the Clippers. Statistically it was the worse the entire season due to lack of scoring.
They aren't bringing THJ off the bench.

They lost because they were the inferior team. Then you take away KP and the talent gap was even more so noticeable. There's a reason why Dallas was the 7th seed. What major upgrades did the team make in the off season that you think will make significant changes to the starting lineup?

Richardson is a two-way player we desperately needed to add to our SL. I think he could become a huge upgrade.
I don't think either DFS or Maxi are starter material on a championship caliber team but my guess is they will both be the 5th starter this season depending on matchup.
Powell probably moves into the SL in KP's absence and WCS moves into the FC rotation.

Having said all of that, if Powell proves to be completely healthy I could see a SL of Luka/THJ/JRich/Powell/KP when KP returns with a bench of Brunson/Burke/DFS/Maxi/WCS which isn't too shabby imo.

[Heezzi]

The starting lineup they ran with in the bubble is the reason they lost to the Clippers. Statistically it was the worse the entire season due to lack of scoring.
They aren't bringing THJ off the bench.

They lost because they were the inferior team. Then you take away KP and the talent gap was even more so noticeable. There's a reason why Dallas was the 7th seed. What major upgrades did the team make in the off season that you think will make significant changes to the starting lineup?

Richardson is a two-way player we desperately needed to add to our SL. I think he could become a huge upgrade.
I don't think either DFS or Maxi are starter material on a championship caliber team but my guess is they will both be the 5th starter this season depending on matchup.
Powell probably moves into the SL in KP's absence and WCS moves into the FC rotation.

Having said all of that, if Powell proves to be completely healthy I could see a SL of Luka/THJ/JRich/Powell/KP when KP returns with a bench of Brunson/Burke/DFS/Maxi/WCS which isn't too shabby imo.

Miami couldn't win with him, they traded him.
Philly couldn't win with him, they traded him and pick to get rid of him. Philly's spacing was trash with him.

[itsgotime]

Miami couldn't win with him, they traded him.

So being the central piece to getting Jimmy Butler had nothing to do with him being traded...huh, interesting.

Philly couldn't win with him, they traded him and pick to get rid of him. Philly's spacing was trash with him.

Philly couldn't win with Simmons, Embiid and Horford and their horrible spacing was in large part due to 2 of those 3. JRich didn't have a great time in Phil, but neither did anyone else. That team is dysfunctional. Hard to blame the role player for the star's deficiencies. They traded him and a pick to get some better outside shooting than him for sure and probably didn't want to pay him what he will command in the open market after this year, so sure, they traded him to get what they desperately needed. The pick was a showing of how desperate they were.

JRich will start on this team regardless of what you want or think should happen. This season will not hinge him, it will hinge on Luka taking another step forward and KP being healthy long enough to put work in. JRich is a starter, moreso than any other player we have on this team. He is not a 3rd best player on a championship team (well, we'll see because if he can take a step forward from his Miami play and continues to rise from there, then it is a very real possibility), he's a 4th-5th best who can guard the best opposing player 1-3 which has been an achilles heal on this team.

[SOUNDCHASER]

PG Luka and a bunch of other guys who fight for leftover minutes and who may play a lot at the 2 if they can guard the other teams water bugs and hit 3's. Barea is back but is he really? Burke looked very good in the Clippers series, Brunson is coming off of injury and rookie sharp shooter Terry (31st pick) is a threat to everyone not named Luka, if he can get off the bench and show something special with his shooting.

SG we need defense to help us get stops and it would help if they can also hit 3's. We have a lot of options to try but J Rich is the best option here. Other options include THJ who hits 3's at a very good rate, Josh Green our top pick in the draft (18) and a very promising rookie sharpshooter that can defend, Iwundo a free agent from OLR, and Hinton are also possibilities and Hinton is a 2 way player and another impressive rook like Bey the other 2 way contract is Frisco bound.

SF DFS is the starter and the best option for defensive purposes. James Johnson is an excellent option with starting ability, Bey is the impressive rook we took at 36 who can block and defend at a high level. What happens is Johnson could be here to give us an expiring salary for the purpose of getting another stud in free agency next year. That being said developing Bey is very important if that is the case. Gillespie is a 6'9" defensive player who played at the 5 for Baylor and he has a 7'6" wingspan so basically a project for Frisco.

PF KP and while he is out Kleber and Powell maybe Johnson gets a shot but Kleber will start in KP's absence. If we want a more impressive backup that can be the starter at the 4/5 in situations when KP is on the bench or injured then I would be looking to add a free agent at the 5 who can play that position with KP next to him.

C WCS is bigger and can rebound at a higher rate than Powell or Kleber and so he can defend bigger players and I see him as the starter and he can hit 3's from what I am seeing him do in practice so he may get the green light in there at the 5.

Starters:

Luka
WCS
Kleber
DFS
J Rich

bench:

Burke/Brunson / Terry
THJ/ Green / Iwundo
Johnson / Bey / Gillespie
Powell
Boban

When KP comes back Kleber or WCS goes to the bench depending on matchups WCS could be called on to start next to KP and that may depend on who is doing better.

If the rookies show abilities to perform well enough then they will be integrated into the teams minutes but we are going into win now mode and so coach may run them out to play a little but getting them acclimated by next year is the plan so there is no rush on getting them developed to become rotation ready this season. Still if coach can see they are keepers they could be fast tracked for us to see what we have and demonstrate our drafting skills and asset development capability to show that off to any free agents that we are targeting during the season. Asset development is another reason for developing them so we can package off players to obtain veterans that are more appropriate for a win now team if the rookies do not set the world on fire with obvious star level contributions

Top free agents we are targeting from next years crop of free agents: Giannis, Gobert.

[wolfram]

I think THJ will start. Your starting lineup too bad offensively.

[SOUNDCHASER]

This team has to learn to do well without the weapons that may not get resigned and we know that KP and Luka is enough offense with a better defender that can score. Richardson is the two way SG that replaces THJ and he is almost as good at offence.

DFS is the best SF option with more size and his 3 pointer continues to improve so who knows what it might look like this year. If it continues to improve I would start DFS over a lot of starters in the league.

They should maybe alternate starting THJ in place of J Rich some but in the end we need better defense and to see who is a better option so lots of mad scientist time is coming. Rookies may get the needed playing time as well because we need to know who is real.

[HairyGOATee]

I think starting lineup to begin the season will be Luka, THJ, Richardson, DFS, Powell. However, when KP is healthy, then I think DFS moves to the bench and the others stay put. Of course Carlisle will use a variety of lineups, but I think at full health, we'll see a lineup of Luka, THJ, Richardson, KP, Powell. If not, then it'll be Luka, JRich, DFS, KP, Powell. Of course there will be nights where Kleber gets the start, and there may be nights where they run with a lineup of Luka, THJ, JRich, DFS, KP.

With that said, I think the 6th man to start the season is Kleber, and the most often used 6th man during the season will be DFS.

[Heezzi]

Miami couldn't win with him, they traded him.

So being the central piece to getting Jimmy Butler had nothing to do with him being traded...huh, interesting.

Philly couldn't win with him, they traded him and pick to get rid of him. Philly's spacing was trash with him.

Philly couldn't win with Simmons, Embiid and Horford and their horrible spacing was in large part due to 2 of those 3. JRich didn't have a great time in Phil, but neither did anyone else. That team is dysfunctional. Hard to blame the role player for the star's deficiencies. They traded him and a pick to get some better outside shooting than him for sure and probably didn't want to pay him what he will command in the open market after this year, so sure, they traded him to get what they desperately needed. The pick was a showing of how desperate they were.

JRich will start on this team regardless of what you want or think should happen. This season will not hinge him, it will hinge on Luka taking another step forward and KP being healthy long enough to put work in. JRich is a starter, moreso than any other player we have on this team. He is not a 3rd best player on a championship team (well, we'll see because if he can take a step forward from his Miami play and continues to rise from there, then it is a very real possibility), he's a 4th-5th best who can guard the best opposing player 1-3 which has been an achilles heal on this team.

If Hortford was the sole reason they lost, they would've kept JRich.