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Preseason is not to take too serius but you get an idea of what you will see! This is a very deep team with so many weapons. There are some issues with the starting 5, Dragic is a very expensive asset to be just running around and not be commanding the ball more. But the biggest issue comes from Deng, I cant figure out how is he going to fit, he is mainly there for his defense and occasionally some 3's which lately they havent been falling. I wont be surprised if Deng gets traded, He is a moveable piece. Call me crazy but a Carmelo for Deng(Chalmers, bird,etc) its very possible now more than ever. I see Green closing the games and even playing more minutes than him. Lets wait and see how things develops!

Deng, Rio and Bird for Melo?!

We could just start Green, and use Deng to backup Wade and play with the better shooting second unit.

If Green starts, we're gonna need a couple extra balls on the court to get everyone their shots

Can everybody just relax? Spo's gonna give these guys a few months to figure it out before he starts benching people.

There isn't a Deng problem.

This is the second thread suggesting Deng should be moved for a shooter. You all know how much I love shooting and that I dislike the lack of it in this year's team - but come on, who's going to play defense if we do move Deng? I'm not ready to trust a rookie Winslow to guard the likes of James, Butler, possibly even George and Melo in the playoffs.

Sure, Deng would be expendable if Winslow is 2-3 years ahead of schedule defensively, if Wade somehow regains his 2009 defense, if Green puts his game where his mouth is and becomes a defensive stopper and Hassan plays like a true DPOY - but that's a lot of fcking "ifs" if you ask me.

Three point shooting last year: K leonard 35% , Draymond Green 34% , Jimmy butler 38%, Lebron james 35% , Deng 35%

Besides Butler, Deng is on has similar three point shooting to some of the top SF in the League and we are paying much less for him than the others. There is no way we get his combination of defense and shooting for less. So i hope this stops the knee jerk reaction of saying the spacing issue is due Deng because it isn't. The two people in our starting line up that doesn't shoot the ball well from deep are Wade and Whiteside. If we continue to have spacing issues one of them have to go to the second unit. I for one thought starting McRoberts with Bosh would have been the better option given how much Wade and Dragic like to attack. Then with the second unit you come with Whiteside, Green, TJ, Chalmers, Ennis or Winslow.

smartcane wrote:Three point shooting last year: K leonard 35% , Draymond Green 34% , Jimmy butler 38%, Lebron james 35% , Deng 35%

Besides Butler, Deng is on has similar three point shooting to some of the top SF in the League and we are paying much less for him than the others. There is no way we get his combination of defense and shooting for less. So i hope this stops the knee jerk reaction of saying the spacing issue is due Deng because it isn't. The two people in our starting line up that doesn't shoot the ball well from deep are Wade and Whiteside. If we continue to have spacing issues one of them have to go to the second unit. I for one thought starting McRoberts with Bosh would have been the better option given how much Wade and Dragic like to attack. Then with the second unit you come with Whiteside, Green, TJ, Chalmers, Ennis or Winslow.

Oh definitely not. The game is played on two side of the court. Start Green ahead of Deng if things don't improve (they will improve) but never bench Whiteside. That defensive beast has to be the focal point on the other side of the court.

BBallFreak wrote:

smartcane wrote:Three point shooting last year: K leonard 35% , Draymond Green 34% , Jimmy butler 38%, Lebron james 35% , Deng 35%

Besides Butler, Deng is on has similar three point shooting to some of the top SF in the League and we are paying much less for him than the others. There is no way we get his combination of defense and shooting for less. So i hope this stops the knee jerk reaction of saying the spacing issue is due Deng because it isn't. The two people in our starting line up that doesn't shoot the ball well from deep are Wade and Whiteside. If we continue to have spacing issues one of them have to go to the second unit. I for one thought starting McRoberts with Bosh would have been the better option given how much Wade and Dragic like to attack. Then with the second unit you come with Whiteside, Green, TJ, Chalmers, Ennis or Winslow.

Oh definitely not. The game is played on two side of the court. Start Green ahead of Deng if things don't improve (they will improve) but never bench Whiteside. That defensive beast has to be the focal point on the other side of the court.

I'm willing to go even futher with that. If we can't get our offense going through the perimeter (no shooting, packed lanes, lack of chemistry), I think we should attack from inside. The defensive beast might just have to turn into an offensive beast too if we are to challenge the top teams in the league.

dancing2thabeet wrote:

BBallFreak wrote:

smartcane wrote:Three point shooting last year: K leonard 35% , Draymond Green 34% , Jimmy butler 38%, Lebron james 35% , Deng 35%

Besides Butler, Deng is on has similar three point shooting to some of the top SF in the League and we are paying much less for him than the others. There is no way we get his combination of defense and shooting for less. So i hope this stops the knee jerk reaction of saying the spacing issue is due Deng because it isn't. The two people in our starting line up that doesn't shoot the ball well from deep are Wade and Whiteside. If we continue to have spacing issues one of them have to go to the second unit. I for one thought starting McRoberts with Bosh would have been the better option given how much Wade and Dragic like to attack. Then with the second unit you come with Whiteside, Green, TJ, Chalmers, Ennis or Winslow.

Oh definitely not. The game is played on two side of the court. Start Green ahead of Deng if things don't improve (they will improve) but never bench Whiteside. That defensive beast has to be the focal point on the other side of the court.

I'm willing to go even futher with that. If we can't get our offense going through the perimeter (no shooting, packed lanes, lack of chemistry), I think we should attack from inside. The defensive beast might just have to turn into an offensive beast too if we are to challenge the top teams in the league.

That's how Memphis gets it done. They're one of the better teams in the west, and they are also not a very good 'shooting' team. They get it done because they have a strong defensive identity, along with having two of the best offensive bigs in the league.

Great shooting isn't a necessity for a team to be good, but to have success you have to play to your teams strengths. This team has a lot of talent,but I'm not so sure if Spo is going to make the right adjustments to make this team better. I hope I'm wrong though.

I think you guys are missing the point. First i just wanted to point out Deng is not the problem with our first unit. Second i never said we don't play Whiteside 30 mins or more. I just think Whiteside would have more freedom offensively in the second unit and may even have a greater defensive present with the second unit. All while allowing our first unit to play with more space so that they can reach their full potential . Just think about Wade and Mcroberts going to bench and then bring in Whiteside and Green. Less double team possible on Whiteside and greater defensive back stop for green who is a worse defender than Wade. Also this would force teams to either play their starting center longer or watch there 2nd string center or PF get destroyed by Bosh and Whiteside. Just think about what SA did with Ginobli to get an advantage. I just think we can use Whiteside in the similar way SA used Ginobli.

You don't do that with your defensive anchor. You do that with an older offensive player when you have better players around him, starting.

No way whiteside gets benched, Green is needed coming from the bench. Deng is the elephant in the middle of the room

smartcane wrote:I think you guys are missing the point. First i just wanted to point out Deng is not the problem with our first unit. Second i never said we don't play Whiteside 30 mins or more. I just think Whiteside would have more freedom offensively in the second unit and may even have a greater defensive present with the second unit. All while allowing our first unit to play with more space so that they can reach their full potential . Just think about Wade and Mcroberts going to bench and then bring in Whiteside and Green. Less double team possible on Whiteside and greater defensive back stop for green who is a worse defender than Wade. Also this would force teams to either play their starting center longer or watch there 2nd string center or PF get destroyed by Bosh and Whiteside. Just think about what SA did with Ginobli to get an advantage. I just think we can use Whiteside in the similar way SA used Ginobli.

In 2014 before Whiteside broke out we were 27th ranked in defense, 4th worst in the entire league. Then in 2015 after Whiteside started playing 25-30mpg we went from 27th ranked all the way to 11th ranked even though we lost Bosh and were injury riddled during the 2nd half of the year.

Whiteside is our most important player period. We need him to keep our starting lineup afloat defensively.

2015
McBob/Bosh tandem: 183 minutes played 109.4 offensive rating 94.9 defensive rating 38.5% three-point field goal 56.8% true shooting 46.8 rebounding rate 27.2 assist rate 19.6 turnover rate
73% Chalmers
59% Wade
56% Deng
32% Cole


Bosh/Whiteside tandem: 311 minutes played 105.9 offensive rating 105.3 defensive rating 33.6% three-point field goal 53.8% true shooting 49.7 rebounding rate 24.3 assist rate 15.4 turnover rate
69% Chalmers
55% Deng
42% Cole
26% Wade

^Those stats are meaningless the sample size is way too small.

qjz123 wrote:^Those stats are meaningless the sample size is way too small.

No sh|t sherlock, but thats all we have for now. They hold some relevance, but not a strong one.

cyclix wrote:

qjz123 wrote:^Those stats are meaningless the sample size is way too small.

No sh|t sherlock, but thats all we have for now. They hold some relevance, but not a strong one.

EscapoTHB wrote:We could just start Green, and use Deng to backup Wade and play with the better shooting second unit.

i'm fond of the idea for some here they want deng to start because of his defense.i can see why but at the same time deng is slow at times