bwgood77 wrote:Ghost of Kleine wrote:Frank Lee wrote:Foolish to look at Tyler Johnson as anything but an expiring deal. Bang for the buck ? Compare his output to Ryan Anderson. We didnt negotiate TJos deal. You want to bang for buck something, talk Oubre, Book, Rubio, Shank etc
But that's exactly my point, Tyler's merely an expiring contract for us( really no different than what Tristan Thompson would be too) with the exception that currently, at least Thompson can help improve our rebounding and frontcourt defensive issues. And again wouldn't require drastically changing our roster either. The only chande or players potentially displaced would be Tyler Johnson ( expiring for equal expiring), And Kaminsky moving to third string center mostly. And again, rotations would still be situational, and at the discretion of Monty Williams anyways.
So yes, In terms of "bang for buck" and with respect to our current frontcourt issues that have quite obviously been contributing factors to our losses, I'd much rather have a player that can rebound and play defense in the post at 18 million. Than to be paying close to 20 million for a 2nd string ball handler with a struggling perimeter game.
Also, We're obviously not likely to trade any combination of Booker, Oubre, or Rubio, So that's obviously a moot point. And "Shank" is a team option 3rd string center from what he's shown. So we simply decline his opinion if he can't get it together.
However, I like the way Diallo is playing. Do you want to reduce his playing time? Also, Ayton is back in 10 games, and Baynes sometime maybe before or right after that. At that point, Thompson is completely unnecessary, but Rubio often has injury issues and Jerome is coming off one, and even Booker often has injury issues. I just don't think our big depth will be an issue 10 games from now, and that would reduce Diallo getting any run, and we could feel depleted at the guard spot.
I don't think you'd want Tristan playing anything other than C, especially with Ayton, anyway. So that would give us 4 centers.
However, I seriously doubt we will make a trade barring something great coming available.
I don't disagree with some of your points man, as they are valid concerns. But with regards to our backcourt injury issues and potential, We still would have Okobo, Jevon Carter, and Jared Harper. But if were discussing backup level 1 and 2s' in the event of possible injuries to Rubio or Booker, Then there's obviously a lot of still serviceable options that can be signed to short term deals as insurance policies for us.
A few names that come to mind and could be had on the cheap as stop gap fillers in the back court would be:
Shelvin Mack, Isiah Briscoe, Devin Harris, Sean Livingston, Raymond Felton, Jeremy Lin, jose Calderon, Jjeryd Bayless, heck, even Jamal Crawford could handle the ball handling duties stopgap at times. And as for backups to Booker, in any event of unforeseen calamitous potential emergency apart from bridges, Jerome, and even Jalen Lecque, There's still:
J.R. Smith, Monta Ellis, Cory Brewer, Joe Johnson, Iman Shumpert, Nik Stauskus, Cory Brewer, Thabo sefolosha, really there's plenty of non preferable yet still serviceable options that are unsigned or available through small trade if necessary for our backcourt in a worst case scenario situation. But currently, our backcourt even with rubio out, hasn't been one of our greatest overall issues. It's been our lack of defense and rebounding that allowed teams to outscore us consistently. And let's be honest, The odds of all three backcourt players being injured at the same time again in this season would be remote at best. But in any event, can still be handled reasonably enough.
Now with respect to Diallo, I DO as I said love what he brings, But with any player, Your minutes would be determined by your level of production. So if he's outplaying Thompson, Then so be it, or play the hot hand. Again, playing time should be determined by their contributions. So let both he and Thompson battle it out. I'm sure their could be numerous variations that could be applied between our bigs at Monty's discretion.
Next, I wouldn't state that Thompson would be completely unecessary, even upon the return of Ayton and/or Baynes. For one, We can't be sure of the overall severity of Baynes hip flexor injury. Meaning he could possibly be out even another month, should we choose to play it safe in interest of a fuller recovery and to hopefully minimize any potential risks of reinjury, or the risk of potentially creating persistent issues in relation to that particular injury.
And whilst Ayton has proven to be a very good rebounder, He can't play the entire game, whether due to fouls or need for rest, there'll obviously be times that he'll be on the bench. And during that time, itll still be every bit as important that they be able to maintain their leads and not give up easy scores at the rim or runs. It's in that particular capacity that he could provide immense value. Depth is never truly a bad thing, especially for a young team with possible playoff aspirations, but also with a roster with potential future injury possabilities. Also, As good a rebounder as Ayton has proven to be, he's still unproven yet as a competent rim protector( apart from one lone game so far) Thompson would obviously help in that respect.
Finally. With respect to Thompson playing only center, Tristan Thompson is listed on multiple sites as a power forward/center combo player.
https://247sports.com/player/tristan-thompson-8567/https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/t/thomptr01.html. As well as was his position in college.
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/tristan-thompson-2.html.
https://youtu.be/F6U-YvjrX58.
Now he may be playing center at times. But as recently as this very season, he has been averaging around 52% on his 2pt fgs' and around 42% on his threes.
And obviously has good scoring fundamentals and post skills:
His footwork and shooting mechanics also seem good enough to endorse him possibly playing at the 4( which he's played at before). Also, I must say that I find it weird that in a time wherein everyone promotes the idea of supposed positionless basketball, that people will at times cement players with multipositional skillsets into one particular position just to potentially further their perspective and or arguments to the fact. For example, DeAndre Ayton and LaMarcus Aldridge have been consistently compared due to playing style, skillset and lack of rim protection for bigs. Also both are apparently listed at 6'11. But LaMarcus Aldridge is listed as a Power forward/center whilst Ayton is listed as onlyba center even though he shares a nearly identical skillset ( but with more athleticism and potential) and again, Ayton did play power forward in college. So I guess my point would be that it should be dependent upon respective skillset and ability rather than individual perspectives?
But all in all, I do agree with you Bgood, In that it's unlikely to happen unless something profoundly good presents itself. But it's still entertaining to ponder.
It should look like this:
