TunaFish wrote:skywalker33 wrote:NuggetsWY wrote:Nice article - love the defensive attitude.
Will he be ready for minutes early this season? Perhaps, but Jokic, Millsap, Green will get the majority of minutes at PF & Center. Hell be competing with Whittington, Cancar, Hartenstein, Bol for the deep minutes. He'll have to really impress Malone in order to get many minutes --- but, yeah, I actually think it a possibility. He seems like such a perfect fit.
Better question is Will Malone be ready to PROVIDE HIM MINUTES ?
If he is talented enough to play, Malone will play him. Like every rookie, Malone and his staff will groom and train all the rookies, including RJ and Bol. Remember Jokic played immediately only to be benched. Malone gave him some time out of the starting lineup and then moved Nurkic to the bench around mid December moving Jokic into the starting center spot. Murray backed up Mudiay until his talent pushed him into the starting line up. MPJ who needed some time was slowly integrated into the rotation and ended up a starter in the bubble.
If Nnaji can play, Malone will find a spot, same for R.J. and same for Bol. I expect all three to get quality minutes on the bench.
LMAO, 1 thing Malone seems to like is smart, hardworking, competitive guys. While many fans of other teams think there are problems between Malone and MPJ, Malone smiled when they asked him about it in the press conference, he likes that fire and competitiveness. Most coaches would have benched him, Malone called plays for him the next game. Murray, Harris, Jokic, Craig, Barton (many forget he was an end of bench guy in Portland), Juancho, and MPJ all found ways off the bench in their 1st year under Malone. Morris was basically named the backup PG of his 1st training camp off his 2 way. Craig had earned a spot in the rotation and had to be sent to the Gleague just so they didn't break the rules his 1st year under the 2 way. Those are all guys who are contributing on good teams or starting on bad teams this year. You know who isn't?
Tyler Lydon who I don't think is signed yet. Trey Lyles is a backup PF on a non playoff team, hoping to keep his job on a rebuilding team. Thomas Welsh is still waiting for a call. We cut KBD off a non-guaranteed deal, he was a part time starter in Minnesota.
The 1 he didn't play that is showing his abilities is Beasley, but judging by his actions the last 2 years, he sure seems immature at best.
Whether anyone wants to face it or not our bench was terrible last year. The only 2 we had that were really worth a damn all season was Morris and MPJ, that is a fact. Grant was good man to man, but he was spending a lot of his time guarding guys like Trey Lyles and such, and missing a lot of rotations early in the season. You can talk all you want about Millsap and Harris's issues, about iso Barton, but they were 1 of the best lineups of the season.
Malone has shown a long history of playing talented, smart, good players when they are ready. They have to prove it though, and I think that the front office knew 2 years ago our bench was going to be a long term problem. I believe that there is an open competition for both forward positions and all the backup minutes on the roster this year. I think that the guy's who are better will get those minutes, and I expect they all know it. Campazzo wasn't only talking to us, Green and Millsap both signed really fast for being backup options, Hartenstein had other offers, Whittington reportedly had other teams looking at him as well.
These guys signed here quickly because they were promised a chance at minutes. The front office has openly talked about it being an open competition. Why wouldn't our rookies get the same opportunity?
Nnaji has some very real natural defensive talent and instincts with a decent shot. He is pretty raw, but he is developing quickly. I think depending on what Hampton has done since he got back to the states that they both have an outside chance to earn minutes this year.
