THE J0KER wrote:The Rebel wrote:
Green is not a backup Sf, he spent most of the last few years playing backup Center, he cannot even start to guard undersized Sfs on the perimeter. Harris is too small to guard guys like Lebron, and Dozier is very unproven. That is why I keep harping on needing a guy who can guard combo forwards, Green struggles with them even.
I am not worried about a 4th star, it has no long term benefit. 1 team in the history of the league has won with 4 stars in their prime, and that team had 4 stars happy to put their stats aside for the good of the team.
3 star teams win all the time, but without the proper role players they don't win either.
You still have yet to answer who you are cutting. YOu have yet to answer where the minutes for your guys come from. All this brings up another question, how are you going to package a bunch of guys that cannot get minutes for a superstar? YOu bring up Juancho and Beasley, their trade value was so low due to lack of minutes, so how do 9 guards build value for a superstar trade.
You also did not answer
Who to cut is an overrated question. There is no team with 15 "must stay" players. For example, if we waive Cancar or send Hampton to G-League (Malone will not use him except in garbage time of blowouts anyway this season), I don't think it will be the end of the world. I didn't say Green should play SF if we trade Barton for a player who is not SF, but that he (and Bol, Harris, Dozier) can play on SF some minutes when MPJ is on the bench. BTW, I guess you noted that I agreed that Kyle Anderson for Barton would be a good trade, and this was the only plan-B scenario for a similar deal with Bucks involved.
The best ring-winning formula is a way more interesting question. BIG3 (all three all-stars) with several useful role players is a classic scheme, but If you take look more closely at all 21st-century cases, there are arguably three other often-used patterns too. One is TWO SUPERSTARS who are both TOP5 players (not literally, for example, today almost 10 players can be called TOP5 level). And another winning pattern is BIG4 where one must be a superstar and not all 4 necessary of all-star level (as I pointed already before we need some non-center of Jrue Holiday level, which means TOP40 or at least TOP50 player). GSW superteam is the only exception because they have two TOP5 superstars and BIG4 too at the same time, actually, Miami was also an exception when they have 2-superstars but also BIG3. The 4th pattern was Batman-Robin with depth with one superstar, one all-star, and a couple of notable players.
2-superstars champions (two TOP5 level players):2020 James-Davis Lakers
2018 2017 Durant-Curry Warriors
2012 James-Wade Heat
2002 2001 Shaq-Kobe Lakers
Batman and Robin with a couple of notable teammates:2013 James-Wade Heat (Wade is not TOP5 anymore, Bosh all-star level neither, while 37y old Ray Allen was still notable)
2010 2009 Kobe-Gasol Lakers (Gasol flirted with TOP5 status, but that was
Kobe's Lakers, while Odom, Bynum, Artest are notable)
2006 Wade-Shaq Heat (Shaq was not TOP5 anymore, while Walker, J-Will, and 35+ veterans Mourning and Payton was notable)
2003 Duncan-Parker Spurs (Ginobili was notable but still no breakthrough into a star, Stephen Jackson and 37y Robinson was notable too)
2000 Shaq-Kobe Lakers (21y all-star Kobe's breakthrough into TOP5 happens very next season)
BIG3 with depth:2016 James-Irving-Love Cavs
2015 Curry-Klay-Green Warriors
2012 James-Wade-Bosh Heat
2007 2005 Duncan-Parker-Ginobili Spurs
BIG4 including superstar:2019 Kawhi+Siakam-Lowry-M.Gasol (thanks to defense Marc Gasol was arguably still TOP50 player that season)
2018 2017 Durant+Curry+Klay-Green Warriors
2014 Duncan+Kawhi-Ginobili-Parker (young Kawhi was still not TOP5 player that year)
2011 Nowitzki+Kidd-Marion-Terry Mavs (they are BIG5 that season, but injured Butler missed playoff so I call it BIG4 case)
2008 Garnett+Pierce-Allen-Rondo Celtics (it was called BIG3 era in Celtics by media, but thanks to Rondo it was clearly BIG4 case)
2004 Billups-B.Wallace-R.Wallace-Hamilton (despite no big superstar, it is safe to call it as special BIG4 case)
Denver Nuggets if win the title in near future can do it using any of these 4 scenarios:
- 2 TOP5 superstars if they use Murray/Porter to get TOP5 player (Harden for example), or even if Murray or Porter rises into TOP5
- Batman&Robin with Jokic and Murray if MPJ never reaches all-star level and Nuggets stay one of deepest teams despite future cap problem
- BIG3 with depth with Jokic, Murray, and Porter as all-three all-stars at the same time
- BIG4 with MPJ improving into (near) all-star and we get another TOP40 player (via trade?, Harris back to TS%60%?, Bol's breakthrough?)
I advocate the BIG4 scenario with the arrival TOP40/TOP50 player with a long-term contract to already locked Jokic-Murray-Porter trio because trying to have several good role players with BIG3 is actually harder. We can't compete with desperate lottery teams or other with better cap case, so we lost Grant, Bucks lost Brogdon, Celtics lost Hayward... etc...
2021 contenders profiles:2-superstars: Lakers
Betman&Robin: Nets, Clippers, Heat, Mavs, Blazers
BIG3: Sixers, Raptors
BIG4: Bucks, Celtics, Jazz (Tatum and Mitchell still must prove they are close superstars, while B.Lopez, Smart, Bogdanovic, and Conley that they are TOP50)
