What we haveHARDEN: focusing on playmaking. He’s keeping the small 12 involved. Particularly the bigs and Joe/Jeff shooting. His scoring style hasn’t changed. Just the volume. High free throw and three point rates.
KYRIE: fantastic scorer on all 3 levels. his Cavs runs are forgotten. he outperformed Curry in 2016. offensively on par with 2001 Kobe to Lebrons Shaq.
DURANT KD is KD. like Kyrie they are both catch and shoot capable. Spot up or on the move. They are scoring capable from 3pt line to rim. Both are capable passers and willing defenders. But we have 3 high level playmakers on this team.
JOE: would be a normal third scorer on most teams. his three point shooting is fantastic. His off ball play keeps him highly valuable. But he has shown the ability to score off of screens. He is also proving to have some pull up ability. But even if he was only spot up capable(like most shooters) he has something most shooters don’t have; hustle.
JORDAN he isn’t a big minutes center anymore. however his use has become understated. If we look up back up centers he would be in contention of elite backup. He and the defense looks great when they scheme towards his strengths.
Here’s a great video showing exactly the sort of defense we need to play.
JEFF he’s been a fantastic glue guy. Since the Harden trade hes’s been 12/4 on 43% from three. 30mpg is too much for him and certainly 30 minutes of small ball. But at the four spot he’s perfect for the team.
What we need30mpg PAINT PROTECTORBetween this player and DJ, as long as we play to their paint protection strengths, we will have our top 10 defense during the playoffs. It would be a full 48 minutes of paint protection. All of stars have been on fantastic defensive teams with varying degrees of defensive help. Kyrie was with Lebron but also stone feet love and their designated defenders were just Thompson/JR/Shump. Harden was Clint/Trevor/Luc/Tucker/Paul. Durant was with the best defensive personnel but they still lacked stellar paint protectors. Long as we focus on paint protection with our length from the main rotation we will be more than fine, not to mention the offensive efficiency would will make the opponents stumble trying to keep up.
3&D FORWARD: Someone who can start or come in for Jeff but bring at least what he does. Spacing and willingness to guard the small or power forward.
Either position is worth Spencer’s contract. Who has to be moved due to need and the possibility of losing out on our last core contract.
Not necessarily a need but we can’t have both Brown and Shamet. If they were combined it wouldn’t be as bad but for a team that maybe inclined to go small we can’t have small backcourts with small front courts. We already have the necessary offensive firepower. Theirs no benefit to have more “skill” on the floor with guards. We give up far too much on size with Kyrie and multiple 6’4 and under players. Not to mention Brown, who has been positive, could walk for nothing or be more expensive than necessary.
