The newcomers (Plumlee, EJ and Bones)

[NickP]

If Hyland is getting heavy usage this season, then we aren't doing well.

I don't know if I want to see it that way. Every team is different. Their players, coaches, coaching style etc. We don't know what kind of a fit Bones will be with us.
If the dude can shoot then he'll get many open looks. If he's even a bit more aggressive than Luke then I'll take it.

[og15]

Watch on YouTube

I was watching this a few weeks ago funny enough, with no idea that he was on the radar for the Clippers.

[KL2]

Clippers were high on him a couple years ago. One of the few who had multiple call backs for workouts. Many here thought he was the target. Even Bones himself thought he was coming here. Clippers gambled and lost him. They’ve done homework on him then and now according to Lawrence Frank.

Sometimes a change of scenery is all you need. Sometimes a fit with the right team really is the answer. Time will tell what happens here.

Read on Twitter

Clean injury report for tomorrow. They’ll make their debuts.

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[madmaxmedia]

If Hyland is getting heavy usage this season, then we aren't doing well.

I don't know if I want to see it that way. Every team is different. Their players, coaches, coaching style etc. We don't know what kind of a fit Bones will be with us.
If the dude can shoot then he'll get many open looks. If he's even a bit more aggressive than Luke then I'll take it.

Bones is only going to get heavy usage this season if he plays well (or at least shoots well), is how I see it.

The dude can shoot for sure (and does not pass up shots like Luke), the question will be how his defense and court awareness/passing are.

[madmaxmedia]

It's absolutely awesome seeing EJ in a Clipper uni again.

[esqtvd]

There’s some maturing to be had for sure but I love his swagger. His fearlessness and belief in himself. I love that he doesn’t cower against any opponent. The only other guy we have on the team like that is Boston Jr. They have this energy this team desperately needs. While everyone else is playing a paint by numbers game they’re not afraid to go outside the lines.

Will that get them in trouble and a seat at the end of the bench? Yeah. It’s a shame they’re not allowed to be themselves while still playing a team game. You’re not going to learn if you’re not allowed the minutes and opportunity to mature through the mistakes.

I’m hoping he gets a legit look at and opportunity. But I know not to hold my breath.

I agree with your assessment of Bones and thought he was great when he played with the 2nd unit or when he stepped up due to other guys being out. The problem is Bones has that swagger and won't back down from guys like PG or Leonard. Those are much stronger personalities than Jokic or Murray. It will be interesting to see if they can "set him straight". Its interesting, if you look at his stats he looks like a very promising young player, but he really struggled playing with Jokic and Murray. FYI here is another post i made:

When you look at all the Nuggets various lineups the worst lineup with significant minutes is when Murray and Hyland were on the court together, the Nuggets had a net rating of -11.9 and a terrible defensive rating of 124.1
https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/traditional?slug=traditional&GroupQuantity=2&TeamID=1610612743

Murray and Hyland never figured out how to play together.

To make matters worse - When Jokic is on the floor the Nuggets always have a favorable net rating. The Nuggets dominate with Jokic on the floor with the falling exception

Jokic/Brown/Hyland was a -7.4
Jokic/Murray/Hyland was a 2.2
Jokic/KCP/Hyland was a 3.3
https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/advanced?CF=GROUP_NAME*R*Jokic:MIN*G*100&GroupQuantity=3&TeamID=1610612743&dir=D&slug=advanced&sort=NET_RATING

The only time Jokic was ever ineffective this year was when he was trying to play with Hyland.

In Hylands defense - he plays great with the 2nd unit when he is given freedom to due his thing; however, you really don't want a player who can't play with your two leading scorers..

good stuff, man

actually bad news for Clipper fans

[Roscoe Sheed]

There’s some maturing to be had for sure but I love his swagger. His fearlessness and belief in himself. I love that he doesn’t cower against any opponent. The only other guy we have on the team like that is Boston Jr. They have this energy this team desperately needs. While everyone else is playing a paint by numbers game they’re not afraid to go outside the lines.

Will that get them in trouble and a seat at the end of the bench? Yeah. It’s a shame they’re not allowed to be themselves while still playing a team game. You’re not going to learn if you’re not allowed the minutes and opportunity to mature through the mistakes.

I’m hoping he gets a legit look at and opportunity. But I know not to hold my breath.

I agree with your assessment of Bones and thought he was great when he played with the 2nd unit or when he stepped up due to other guys being out. The problem is Bones has that swagger and won't back down from guys like PG or Leonard. Those are much stronger personalities than Jokic or Murray. It will be interesting to see if they can "set him straight". Its interesting, if you look at his stats he looks like a very promising young player, but he really struggled playing with Jokic and Murray. FYI here is another post i made:

When you look at all the Nuggets various lineups the worst lineup with significant minutes is when Murray and Hyland were on the court together, the Nuggets had a net rating of -11.9 and a terrible defensive rating of 124.1
https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/traditional?slug=traditional&GroupQuantity=2&TeamID=1610612743

Murray and Hyland never figured out how to play together.

To make matters worse - When Jokic is on the floor the Nuggets always have a favorable net rating. The Nuggets dominate with Jokic on the floor with the falling exception

Jokic/Brown/Hyland was a -7.4
Jokic/Murray/Hyland was a 2.2
Jokic/KCP/Hyland was a 3.3
https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/advanced?CF=GROUP_NAME*R*Jokic:MIN*G*100&GroupQuantity=3&TeamID=1610612743&dir=D&slug=advanced&sort=NET_RATING

The only time Jokic was ever ineffective this year was when he was trying to play with Hyland.

In Hylands defense - he plays great with the 2nd unit when he is given freedom to due his thing; however, you really don't want a player who can't play with your two leading scorers..

good stuff, man

actually bad news for Clipper fans

I wonder what makes Hyland a bad defender- he seems to have decent athleticism.

Hopefully being on the court with other solid defenders will help him. Outside of KCP and Gordon, Denver doesn't have very good defensive players

[og15]

I agree with your assessment of Bones and thought he was great when he played with the 2nd unit or when he stepped up due to other guys being out. The problem is Bones has that swagger and won't back down from guys like PG or Leonard. Those are much stronger personalities than Jokic or Murray. It will be interesting to see if they can "set him straight". Its interesting, if you look at his stats he looks like a very promising young player, but he really struggled playing with Jokic and Murray. FYI here is another post i made:

When you look at all the Nuggets various lineups the worst lineup with significant minutes is when Murray and Hyland were on the court together, the Nuggets had a net rating of -11.9 and a terrible defensive rating of 124.1
https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/traditional?slug=traditional&GroupQuantity=2&TeamID=1610612743

Murray and Hyland never figured out how to play together.

To make matters worse - When Jokic is on the floor the Nuggets always have a favorable net rating. The Nuggets dominate with Jokic on the floor with the falling exception

Jokic/Brown/Hyland was a -7.4
Jokic/Murray/Hyland was a 2.2
Jokic/KCP/Hyland was a 3.3
https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/advanced?CF=GROUP_NAME*R*Jokic:MIN*G*100&GroupQuantity=3&TeamID=1610612743&dir=D&slug=advanced&sort=NET_RATING

The only time Jokic was ever ineffective this year was when he was trying to play with Hyland.

In Hylands defense - he plays great with the 2nd unit when he is given freedom to due his thing; however, you really don't want a player who can't play with your two leading scorers..

good stuff, man

actually bad news for Clipper fans

I wonder what makes Hyland a bad defender- he seems to have decent athleticism.

Hopefully being on the court with other solid defenders will help him. Outside of KCP and Gordon, Denver doesn't have very good defensive players

Bones is literally as his nickname implies, bones. He'll get destroyed on switches against any bigger perimeter player, he likely gets muscled out of the way even when he can keep up on drives, and I don't know if his strength limits him in navigating screens, but it might.

You add up all those possible things and that can easily make a player not so good on defense.

[ejftw]

It's absolutely awesome seeing EJ in a Clipper uni again.

Agreed, so glad I never changed my screen name

[TucsonClip]

Absolutely loved the closing lineup of EJ, Norm, PG, Kawhi, Zu.

Don't think Norm holds up on defense, but that's a ton of firepower, down hill attacks, ball handling, and pretty solid passing.

[nickhx2]

it's funny because i was saying to myself: man i'm gonna be mad watching lue splinter this lineup only to bring morris back in

which he didn't.

i agree in that normal's the weak link now there but if he's the only one? you take it.

not sure if something's going on with batum health-wise but i'm kinda expecting that our true best defensive lineups are gonna swap powell out for batum.

[Roscoe Sheed]

good stuff, man

actually bad news for Clipper fans

I wonder what makes Hyland a bad defender- he seems to have decent athleticism.

Hopefully being on the court with other solid defenders will help him. Outside of KCP and Gordon, Denver doesn't have very good defensive players

Bones is literally as his nickname implies, bones. He'll get destroyed on switches against any bigger perimeter player, he likely gets muscled out of the way even when he can keep up on drives, and I don't know if his strength limits him in navigating screens, but it might.

You add up all those possible things and that can easily make a player not so good on defense.

after watching the game today- I see exactly what you are saying. Looks like he weighs 150 pounds!

[nickhx2]

given tonight's game i wonder what the team is thinking with westbrook. my own gross speculation here but:

i'm kinda thinking westbrook would rather sign with the clippers
i'm also kinda thinking it'd be all but settled by now if the FO felt the same way.
seems plausible to me that they wanted to see how the new additions would fit before going down that path.

and i know it's one game with the new guys but i think the results looked pretty good. schematically, we have better ballhandlers and passers, and the offense looks wide open compared to before. and if westbrook was supposed to be the one to take the reins and give us that to begin with, what need do we have of him now if these guys are THE pieces?

i suppose if the team thinks bones just isn't ready at all or going to be any sort of contributor, perhaps i could see it, and it's not like his first game was remarkable, but i thought he certainly factored into some of the positive changes to our offense.

like always, guess we'll see. second game will be something significant.

[LamarWho]

Getting Russ means less mins for T-Mann, Bones and probably EJ. Bones will probably take the biggest hit. I know it's only one game, but our offense tonight looked a lot less stagnant. I will be praying everyday Russ doesn't come here.

[Dynamix]

All I know is that seeing Russ & Mook on the court in the 4th won't end well for my TV.

[Clemenza]

I highly doubt Russ is coming after this game from our newcomers. I was actually kind of open to the ideal myself but after tonight's display, why would we need Russ when we have EJ? He compliments PG and will make the closing minutes much easier for him with added ball handling and defense. Him alone should end the rumors of him coming to us let alone the addition of Bones as well.

[nickhx2]

more speculation on my part but i can almost imagine gordon being in the crunch time lineup being lue's version of "ok i know you think you want that one particular dish but try this one out first"

obviously with solid results. i think simply throwing a player (or two) in there to relieve paul george of his "playmaking" duties in a way that improved everything for all involved is all the players really needed to see - which coulda worked with mann except lue still doesn't trust him, and of course wasn't working with reggie because of obvious reggie reasons. but eric gordon's a respected player with actual skills and experience, and bones really made it a point (IMO) to show off he CAN play the point and that he wants to BE the point. with those guys in the loop, i'm hoping the changes are tangible enough for the westbrook guys to back off and say "hmm, ya, think we might just be good now?"

[clipperlover]

One thing is for certain. In no way shape or form, do I want to see Bones, Gordon and Powell on the court together for extended minutes.

We should have some combination of the following on the court at all times:
Kawhi/PG
Zu/Plumlee
Powell/Gordon

Put the other pieces around those combinations. No reason for PG and kawhi to be sitting at the same time. Especially, when our only sub 6'4" are on the court together. Hayland couldn't stop anyone defensively, so we can't give up size and D.

[ejftw]

One thing is for certain. In no way shape or form, do I want to see Bones, Gordon and Powell on the court together for extended minutes.

We should have some combination of the following on the court at all times:
Kawhi/PG
Zu/Plumlee
Powell/Gordon

Put the other pieces around those combinations. No reason for PG and kawhi to be sitting at the same time. Especially, when our only sub 6'4" are on the court together. Hayland couldn't stop anyone defensively, so we can't give up size and D.

Agreed with staggering Kawhi/PG and Zu/Plumlee, don't need any time with Nico/RoCo/Mook trying to cover the 5 and being burned.

EJ and Powell together isn't something I'd mind too much, however.

I'm just wondering if Lue uses a nine man playoff rotation of EJ, Norm, Nico and Plumlee, or if one of EJ/Norm gets the short end of the stick

[clipperlover]

One thing is for certain. In no way shape or form, do I want to see Bones, Gordon and Powell on the court together for extended minutes.

We should have some combination of the following on the court at all times:
Kawhi/PG
Zu/Plumlee
Powell/Gordon

Put the other pieces around those combinations. No reason for PG and kawhi to be sitting at the same time. Especially, when our only sub 6'4" are on the court together. Hayland couldn't stop anyone defensively, so we can't give up size and D.

Agreed with staggering Kawhi/PG and Zu/Plumlee, don't need any time with Nico/RoCo/Mook trying to cover the 5 and being burned.

EJ and Powell together isn't something I'd mind too much, however.

I'm just wondering if Lue uses a nine man playoff rotation of EJ, Norm, Nico and Plumlee, or if one of EJ/Norm gets the short end of the stick

Batum at this stage isn't an every day player. He might be effective in 3 out of a 7 game series with extended minutes. Lue should be rotating Batum, Morris and RoCo for one position. Keep all fresh and engaged. Not sure what exactly Morris provides in extended minutes that RoCo couldn't with those minutes. Roco would improve rbs, asts, stls and blocks. He wouldn't be that much of a drop in scoring either. We know Morris is good for an untimely T in a playoff game though.