RealGM

It's just now sinking in that Skiles ran the last play for Evan at the end of the game. We also saw the infographic that he has a nice shooting percentage in the clutch. Could we use him as our triple threat closer for now?

Here are the numbers for the season. You can see Napier scores the most points for us in the clutch, but umm, yeah, I think we're good there. Evan has great percentages, though he's yet to draw a free throw.

One wrinkle that might make it interesting is playing him at the 3 spot where he was able to blow by guys earlier this season. That's what we did last night. It puts a couple sketchy shooters next to him in Elfrid and Victor so teams might be tempted to crowd the lane. But most teams are content to play iso defense in these clutch possessions. And it obviously wouldn't work against LeBron at the 3 unless there's an opportunity to make a defensive substitution during a timeout.

Anyway, it's clear we need to move away from Oladipo for now. He's just a mess mentally. Throwing him to the wolves in pressure situations isn't a good way to boost his confidence.

If you are talking strictly about last-shot situations on a short clock, then yeah, I think Fournier has to be the default option unless he has a really tough matchup or somebody else on the team is really hot.

But if you're talking about the last six minutes of the fourth quarter, then I think Vooch needs to be leading us in FGAs unless he is getting aggressively doubled.

Moving Fournier to the SF creates bad defensive matchups vs many good teams (aka playoff teams).

Taking EP out of the game and putting the ball in Oladipo's hands is also not a good thing - as he continues to be one of the lowest efficient high volume guards in the NBA. But his defense is one of the very few elite skill sets on the roster so he's definitely necessary in late game situations.

Such a tough call for Skiles. Like you said, it worked last night but only because this matchup was favorable - that's not going to be the case in the playoffs.

ezzzp wrote:Moving Fournier to the SF creates bad defensive matchups vs many good teams (aka playoff teams).

Taking EP out of the game and putting the ball in Oladipo's hands is also not a good thing - as he continues to be one of the lowest efficient high volume guards in the NBA. But his defense is one of the very few elite skill sets on the roster so he's definitely necessary in late game situations.

Such a tough call for Skiles. Like you said, it worked last night but only because this matchup was favorable - that's not going to be the case in the playoffs.

but are those bad defensive matchups bad for any team? (cleveland - Lebron, OKC- Durant, for example)

He's not a consistent enough creator. We still have to do it by committee at this point IMO.

tiderulz wrote:

ezzzp wrote:Moving Fournier to the SF creates bad defensive matchups vs many good teams (aka playoff teams).

Taking EP out of the game and putting the ball in Oladipo's hands is also not a good thing - as he continues to be one of the lowest efficient high volume guards in the NBA. But his defense is one of the very few elite skill sets on the roster so he's definitely necessary in late game situations.

Such a tough call for Skiles. Like you said, it worked last night but only because this matchup was favorable - that's not going to be the case in the playoffs.

but are those bad defensive matchups bad for any team? (cleveland - Lebron, OKC- Durant, for example)

Yes but there has to be reasonable resistance if there is any chance of winning close games - which is pretty much every playoff game scenario.

Harris is 2-3 inches taller and 30-35lbs heavier and his improvement on the defense and rebounding keeps him on the floor as well... why not him as stop gap closer?

If the playoff's started tomorrow, who would be the five guys on the floor with 6 minutes left? I guess I'd have to agree with you guys and go with best 5 players regardless of matchups: EP | Oladipo | Fournier | Harris | Vuc

I guess in the clutch a lot of teams go small, which means less problem on defense but negates the offensive advantage of playing him at the 3.

Closing by committee sounds reasonable.