Masai: "Scottie isn't a shot maker right now but that will grow. You build around him for his winning mentality"

[YogurtProducer]

I think we should start by modulating our expectations.

We aren't building a title team. Not right now. You can just wash that expectation unless you have a top-5 player in the league, or you someone manage to accumulate so much talent that you can get by with a top-10 to top-15 guy.

So what we are more honestly doing is trying to rebuild into something akin to the DDR/Lowry era. And that's approximate 50-60 wins per season (+/- 2 wins), second round appearances, the odd ECF appearance. That's competitive, it's fun, that's a good time. And that's 6, 7 seasons of that. Obviously in the actual stretch, we snagged Kawhi for a one-year rental and won a title, but that's literally a one-off opportunity, not to be expected.

I don't think anyone sane would mind another 7 years of regular appearances past the first round and winning 50+, right? So what specific talent we need does change when that becomes the goal.

And the specific Kawhi deal was a one-off, but acquiring a star isn't.

If you really want to, you can give a million assets to the next disgruntled star and hope he sticks around. The lucky part of the Kawhi deal was we did not have to mortgage our future to get him. It was not that crazy that a star was traded.

We kind of indirectly did as we traded away draft picks and youth and also got a coach who didn’t care about development. That’s what the last 5 years resulted in. It was well worth it but we have some others who don’t get why the last years went the way it did and just like to bitch about it lol.

Compared to other star trades we didnt though.

We didn't lose 7+ years of draft asset control. We lost 1 first and a 2nd IIRC

But I agree on the bitching. There are some posters here you know will complain regardless of what happens. Shameless ****.

[tsherkin]

But I agree on the bitching. There are some posters here you know will complain regardless of what happens. Shameless ****.

Hope that one wasn't about me. I was thrilled with the Kawhi trade, even knowing he would never stay.

Have said before, but:

ATL, BRK, CHO, IND, LAC, MEM, MIN, NOP, OKC (unless you count the Sonics), ORL, PHO, SAC (unless you count the 51 Rochest Royals) and UTA all do not have an NBA title. That's 40% of the league. But we do, and we've only existed for like 30 years. You HAVE to make that trade, IMHO.

[Tripod]

Scottie isn't particularly skilled as a scorer, but he also plays way too passively. A guy as big as him should be drawing way more contact. Instead, he settles for jumpers and always looks to pass first. It's frustrating watching him play sometimes. He needs to embrace his role as a PF.

Agree and this is how he can make his offense a lot more effective. We have seen him be effective in the games where he’s very clearly looking to dominate with force. This is the main reason why I’m hoping he just has a change in his mindset and becomes more aggressive a scorer.

A could have quick examples of where this could help are Cade and Banchero. Both have been terribly inefficient in their careers but they’re aggressive. Eventually certain things click and you just get more free throws to offset other parts of your inefficiency. Barnes though doesn’t have the mindset of a scorer so he is simply fine letting others score and doesn’t try to get himself going. This needs to change.

This is an issue and I don’t know how it resolves itself. Based on Barnes current skillset he’d need to radically alter the way he plays on offense to become a “good” scorer. He’d need to start bullying people in the post and midrange, he’d need to set way more screens and use his physicality to get to the rim.

Here’s the issue: how many players have radically changed their game in that way after multiple seasons of playing a different style? If Barnes wants to play the style he’s playing now he has to get much better as a shooter.

I just can’t recall any players making significant changes in their aggression level at this point in their career (even if it is still relatively early). This is why I think his shooting is so critical. He doesn’t want to play an aggressive game where he takes advantage of his size and strength. He is in some sense who he is going to be. There’s just not a lot of precedent for guys making major changes to their play style at this point in their careers.

In some sense fixing his shooting is probably a more reasonable ask than him making major play style changes.

But Barnes has have to change his playstyle many times in the 4 years.

He was more offball and inside more his first few years even playing C before adding Yak. Then was in a more onnball and creation role last year and was taking more 3's. With IQ missing essentially the 1st 40 games, he again was used more in a PG role for half the season. Now with IQ back, he was in the paint more.

I am looking forward to us having a more solid lineup where guys can play the position they are best at focus on wins.

If you polled everyone, most want Barnes inside banging bodies, fighting for rebounds, backing guys down...and if a double team comes...kick out to the better shooters. We should get that next year.

[YogurtProducer]

But I agree on the bitching. There are some posters here you know will complain regardless of what happens. Shameless ****.

Hope that one wasn't about me. I was thrilled with the Kawhi trade, even knowing he would never stay.

Have said before, but:

ATL, BRK, CHO, IND, LAC, MEM, MIN, NOP, OKC (unless you count the Sonics), ORL, PHO, SAC (unless you count the 51 Rochest Royals) and UTA all do not have an NBA title. That's 40% of the league. But we do, and we've only existed for like 30 years. You HAVE to make that trade, IMHO.

God no - I quite enjoy your posts even when we disagree. I appreciate the thought you put into what you post and you generally have some substance behind your opinions.

[tsherkin]

God no - I quite enjoy your posts even when we disagree. I appreciate the thought you put into what you post and you generally have some substance behind your opinions.

Thank you, I try. And likewise; even in disagreement, you force me to think and consider my opinion. And to occasionally admit that I'm wrong. Which I super don't hate at all... xD

[vini_vidi_vici]

Agree and this is how he can make his offense a lot more effective. We have seen him be effective in the games where he’s very clearly looking to dominate with force. This is the main reason why I’m hoping he just has a change in his mindset and becomes more aggressive a scorer.

A could have quick examples of where this could help are Cade and Banchero. Both have been terribly inefficient in their careers but they’re aggressive. Eventually certain things click and you just get more free throws to offset other parts of your inefficiency. Barnes though doesn’t have the mindset of a scorer so he is simply fine letting others score and doesn’t try to get himself going. This needs to change.

This is an issue and I don’t know how it resolves itself. Based on Barnes current skillset he’d need to radically alter the way he plays on offense to become a “good” scorer. He’d need to start bullying people in the post and midrange, he’d need to set way more screens and use his physicality to get to the rim.

Here’s the issue: how many players have radically changed their game in that way after multiple seasons of playing a different style? If Barnes wants to play the style he’s playing now he has to get much better as a shooter.

I just can’t recall any players making significant changes in their aggression level at this point in their career (even if it is still relatively early). This is why I think his shooting is so critical. He doesn’t want to play an aggressive game where he takes advantage of his size and strength. He is in some sense who he is going to be. There’s just not a lot of precedent for guys making major changes to their play style at this point in their careers.

In some sense fixing his shooting is probably a more reasonable ask than him making major play style changes.

But Barnes has have to change his playstyle many times in the 4 years.

He was more offball and inside more his first few years even playing C before adding Yak. Then was in a more onnball and creation role last year and was taking more 3's. With IQ missing essentially the 1st 40 games, he again was used more in a PG role for half the season. Now with IQ back, he was in the paint more.

I am looking forward to us having a more solid lineup where guys can play the position they are best at focus on wins.

If you polled everyone, most want Barnes inside banging bodies, fighting for rebounds, backing guys down...and if a double team comes...kick out to the better shooters. We should get that next year.

His USG% is up.

Look at his PnR finishes freq%. 5.6>10>16.2>21%
Look at his SpotUps freq%. 17.1>18.9>19.7>13.9%
Look at his OffScreens freq%. N/A>N/A>2.4>3.2%

His ISOs are up over last yr by 1.6%.
His PostUps are up over 2% from last yr.

Up a potential AST per game.
His DREB% is up, but OREB% down (hes not just a garbage man as much anymore).

I think we all agree his defense has seen an uptick.

I get that people are down on his shooting, primarily the above break 3/RA, the rest are up marginally, but I dont think its been a throwaway yr, just unfortunately another development yr where they are putting him in different opportunities to score with a myriad of different lineups. Im still pretty high on him, but they need to stabilize his role and hopefully with BI moving into the more alpha scorer and IQ picking up more offensive possessions by being healthy (hopefully), we could see more improvements.

[Scase]

Scottie is not a first option by any means. He has a fundamental flaw on his shooting and is not exactly good at shooting off the dribble either. Derozan had a similar issue on his earlier years but he ended up becoming one of the best if not the best mid range shooters in the league, he was elite at fading and having a high release which Scottie doesn't have.

Actually, Scottie's release on the fade out of the 10-foot pull-up on the left mid-block is pretty decent. He isn't getting stuffed regularly, it has reasonable arc. It looks fine. That's why he's hitting it well. Where he's having trouble is when he's forced to create before that spot, or when he's forced to go right, as much as anything else. Even deep in the paint on the right side, he struggles, but he's pretty reliable when he can get to the left side. He likes going right to left a lot more than going to his strong-hand side.

One of the few places I have a lot of faith in him, which is odd cause it's not a "great" shot, but he has an oddly high success rate. We need to work on him being elite getting to that spot, you aren't stopping a fade away short mid range from a 6'7 guy.

[vini_vidi_vici]

Hes taking an extra shot+ a game and hitting the MR at a +5% clip vs last yr.

Hes basically a league average MR shooter, which for him is a good development. Hes pretty close to LA at every spot except above the break 3s and above the FT line below average(not the MR sides), and hes above average on the right block. I just thought by now he would be above average at more spots.

To be fair, we have awful spacing for him inside with Jak, and not enough shooters to give him room.

[tsherkin]

One of the few places I have a lot of faith in him, which is odd cause it's not a "great" shot, but he has an oddly high success rate. We need to work on him being elite getting to that spot, you aren't stopping a fade away short mid range from a 6'7 guy.

He gets there pretty reliably already. What he needs work on is finishing when he goes right and gets into the paint, as well as his baseline fade and his pull-up at the nail.

[ConSarnit]

Agree and this is how he can make his offense a lot more effective. We have seen him be effective in the games where he’s very clearly looking to dominate with force. This is the main reason why I’m hoping he just has a change in his mindset and becomes more aggressive a scorer.

A could have quick examples of where this could help are Cade and Banchero. Both have been terribly inefficient in their careers but they’re aggressive. Eventually certain things click and you just get more free throws to offset other parts of your inefficiency. Barnes though doesn’t have the mindset of a scorer so he is simply fine letting others score and doesn’t try to get himself going. This needs to change.

This is an issue and I don’t know how it resolves itself. Based on Barnes current skillset he’d need to radically alter the way he plays on offense to become a “good” scorer. He’d need to start bullying people in the post and midrange, he’d need to set way more screens and use his physicality to get to the rim.

Here’s the issue: how many players have radically changed their game in that way after multiple seasons of playing a different style? If Barnes wants to play the style he’s playing now he has to get much better as a shooter.

I just can’t recall any players making significant changes in their aggression level at this point in their career (even if it is still relatively early). This is why I think his shooting is so critical. He doesn’t want to play an aggressive game where he takes advantage of his size and strength. He is in some sense who he is going to be. There’s just not a lot of precedent for guys making major changes to their play style at this point in their careers.

In some sense fixing his shooting is probably a more reasonable ask than him making major play style changes.

But Barnes has have to change his playstyle many times in the 4 years.

He was more offball and inside more his first few years even playing C before adding Yak. Then was in a more onnball and creation role last year and was taking more 3's. With IQ missing essentially the 1st 40 games, he again was used more in a PG role for half the season. Now with IQ back, he was in the paint more.

I am looking forward to us having a more solid lineup where guys can play the position they are best at focus on wins.

If you polled everyone, most want Barnes inside banging bodies, fighting for rebounds, backing guys down...and if a double team comes...kick out to the better shooters. We should get that next year.

Most of his play type frequencies have marginally changed over the years (outside of pnr ball handler). If the idea is “we’ll just shift him to more post-ups” well, I have some bad news: he’s been really bad at posting up. His Oreb rate has never been anything to write home about.

He hasn’t shown he is capable of being effective in other play styles. The scoring numbers have either been bad or on very low volume. There is no real basis for the thought process that he will be able to shift his role successfully. And if the idea is to take him off-ball then what utility is he providing there? He doesn’t space the floor and he’s sub par as a screener.

What everyone wants for Barnes is not something he’s shown he is able to do on any type of consistent basis. That’s the issue. Whether on-ball or more “banger” type role he’s not really shown he can do either. When he has been in the role we hope for him the results have still been subpar.

The major issue is this: whether on-ball or off ball, very few of Barnes play types produce efficient scoring. The 2 playtype areas where he has been above average in efficiency are pnr roll man and cutting. His current frequency on those types of plays is around 6% total. This is what I’m talking about when I say he’ll need to radically shift his mindset if his shooting doesn’t come around. That major of a shift seems unlikely.

[YogurtProducer]

This is an issue and I don’t know how it resolves itself. Based on Barnes current skillset he’d need to radically alter the way he plays on offense to become a “good” scorer. He’d need to start bullying people in the post and midrange, he’d need to set way more screens and use his physicality to get to the rim.

Here’s the issue: how many players have radically changed their game in that way after multiple seasons of playing a different style? If Barnes wants to play the style he’s playing now he has to get much better as a shooter.

I just can’t recall any players making significant changes in their aggression level at this point in their career (even if it is still relatively early). This is why I think his shooting is so critical. He doesn’t want to play an aggressive game where he takes advantage of his size and strength. He is in some sense who he is going to be. There’s just not a lot of precedent for guys making major changes to their play style at this point in their careers.

In some sense fixing his shooting is probably a more reasonable ask than him making major play style changes.

But Barnes has have to change his playstyle many times in the 4 years.

He was more offball and inside more his first few years even playing C before adding Yak. Then was in a more onnball and creation role last year and was taking more 3's. With IQ missing essentially the 1st 40 games, he again was used more in a PG role for half the season. Now with IQ back, he was in the paint more.

I am looking forward to us having a more solid lineup where guys can play the position they are best at focus on wins.

If you polled everyone, most want Barnes inside banging bodies, fighting for rebounds, backing guys down...and if a double team comes...kick out to the better shooters. We should get that next year.

His USG% is up.

Look at his PnR finishes freq%. 5.6>10>16.2>21%
Look at his SpotUps freq%. 17.1>18.9>19.7>13.9%
Look at his OffScreens freq%. N/A>N/A>2.4>3.2%

His ISOs are up over last yr by 1.6%.
His PostUps are up over 2% from last yr.

Up a potential AST per game.
His DREB% is up, but OREB% down (hes not just a garbage man as much anymore).

I think we all agree his defense has seen an uptick.

I get that people are down on his shooting, primarily the above break 3/RA, the rest are up marginally, but I dont think its been a throwaway yr, just unfortunately another development yr where they are putting him in different opportunities to score with a myriad of different lineups. Im still pretty high on him, but they need to stabilize his role and hopefully with BI moving into the more alpha scorer and IQ picking up more offensive possessions by being healthy (hopefully), we could see more improvements.

Him being in a more comfortable role will be big for him.

[ConSarnit]

Hes taking an extra shot+ a game and hitting the MR at a +5% clip vs last yr.

Hes basically a league average MR shooter, which for him is a good development. Hes pretty close to LA at every spot except above the break 3s and above the FT line below average(not the MR sides), and hes above average on the right block. I just thought by now he would be above average at more spots.

To be fair, we have awful spacing for him inside with Jak, and not enough shooters to give him room.

If we are committed to Barnes and his shooting doesn’t come around we’re going to need to find a better fit than Poeltl (this is not a criticism of Poeltl). Opening things up at the rim for Barnes would be an easier way to increase his efficiency. It’s untenable to play 2 non-shooting bigs and hope to have any real high level success. Barnes has shown flashes of being able to protect the rim so if he can continue to build on that then we should have more optionality on a spacing 5 (as spacing 5’s who can defend are hard to come by). If Barnes can handle rim protection we can compromise a little on the defense we get from our 5.

[ATLTimekeeper]

Most of his play type frequencies have marginally changed over the years (outside of pnr ball handler). If the idea is “we’ll just shift him to more post-ups” well, I have some bad news: he’s been really bad at posting up. His Oreb rate has never been anything to write home about.

He hasn’t shown he is capable of being effective in other play styles. The scoring numbers have either been bad or on very low volume. There is no real basis for the thought process that he will be able to shift his role successfully. And if the idea is to take him off-ball then what utility is he providing there? He doesn’t space the floor and he’s sub par as a screener.

What everyone wants for Barnes is not something he’s shown he is able to do on any type of consistent basis. That’s the issue. Whether on-ball or more “banger” type role he’s not really shown he can do either. When he has been in the role we hope for him the results have still been subpar.

The major issue is this: whether on-ball or off ball, very few of Barnes play types produce efficient scoring. The 2 playtype areas where he has been above average in efficiency are pnr roll man and cutting. His current frequency on those types of plays is around 6% total. This is what I’m talking about when I say he’ll need to radically shift his mindset if his shooting doesn’t come around. That major of a shift seems unlikely.

imo the camp that is still in the 'use him like this' mentality are ****ing way behind the curve. The value is in his versatility, even if it's inefficient. Use him all those ways, still, but rely on him LESS. He can be like SJax, Iggy, Rasheed Wallace, etc. Versions of good players that don't have any bread and any butter in their offensive game, but can just play ball and win games.

Honestly if management actually supported RJ and promoted him for the all-star game this year I think they would have given the fans a sense that they are actually building something, or confidence that they know what they're doing. Or if they had said Brandon Ingram is a steal and we're going to win a lot of games with him. This interview is Masai basically saying "All I got is Scottie, and I know that because he gets the right rebounds." These guys get prepped for interviews like this.

[ConSarnit]

But Barnes has have to change his playstyle many times in the 4 years.

He was more offball and inside more his first few years even playing C before adding Yak. Then was in a more onnball and creation role last year and was taking more 3's. With IQ missing essentially the 1st 40 games, he again was used more in a PG role for half the season. Now with IQ back, he was in the paint more.

I am looking forward to us having a more solid lineup where guys can play the position they are best at focus on wins.

If you polled everyone, most want Barnes inside banging bodies, fighting for rebounds, backing guys down...and if a double team comes...kick out to the better shooters. We should get that next year.

His USG% is up.

Look at his PnR finishes freq%. 5.6>10>16.2>21%
Look at his SpotUps freq%. 17.1>18.9>19.7>13.9%
Look at his OffScreens freq%. N/A>N/A>2.4>3.2%

His ISOs are up over last yr by 1.6%.
His PostUps are up over 2% from last yr.

Up a potential AST per game.
His DREB% is up, but OREB% down (hes not just a garbage man as much anymore).

I think we all agree his defense has seen an uptick.

I get that people are down on his shooting, primarily the above break 3/RA, the rest are up marginally, but I dont think its been a throwaway yr, just unfortunately another development yr where they are putting him in different opportunities to score with a myriad of different lineups. Im still pretty high on him, but they need to stabilize his role and hopefully with BI moving into the more alpha scorer and IQ picking up more offensive possessions by being healthy (hopefully), we could see more improvements.

Him being in a more comfortable role will be big for him.

I think the one thing that can give us hope (and breathing room) is that if Barnes can continue his defensive development then we can deal with the offensive growing pains and/or a reduced role for him on that side of the ball. If Barnes can become a consistent all-defense level player it mitigates some of his offensive weaknesses and allows him to remain a high level contributor.

[PushDaRock]

Scottie is not a first option by any means. He has a fundamental flaw on his shooting and is not exactly good at shooting off the dribble either. Derozan had a similar issue on his earlier years but he ended up becoming one of the best if not the best mid range shooters in the league, he was elite at fading and having a high release which Scottie doesn't have.

Actually, Scottie's release on the fade out of the 10-foot pull-up on the left mid-block is pretty decent. He isn't getting stuffed regularly, it has reasonable arc. It looks fine. That's why he's hitting it well. Where he's having trouble is when he's forced to create before that spot, or when he's forced to go right, as much as anything else. Even deep in the paint on the right side, he struggles, but he's pretty reliable when he can get to the left side. He likes going right to left a lot more than going to his strong-hand side.

One of the few places I have a lot of faith in him, which is odd cause it's not a "great" shot, but he has an oddly high success rate. We need to work on him being elite getting to that spot, you aren't stopping a fade away short mid range from a 6'7 guy.

It doesn't really matter if nobody can stop it, defenses aren't going to double a guy taking fadeaway jumpers as their primary option. Go ahead and keep taking them, even if you can make them at 55% which only a couple guys in the league are capable of doing, that's still a below average shot when the average TS% is 57.5.

You can't build your offensive game around just that, it needs to be paired with something else done at an elite level like 3 point shooting, rim pressure, FTR. If you can't do any of those other things well, your "elite" midrange game is not all that useful.

[tsherkin]

imo the camp that is still in the 'use him like this' mentality are ****ing way behind the curve. The value is in his versatility, even if it's inefficient. Use him all those ways, still, but rely on him LESS. He can be like SJax, Iggy, Rasheed Wallace, etc. Versions of good players that don't have any bread and any butter in their offensive game, but can just play ball and win games.

TBF, Rasheed Wallace was a 19 ppg guy on 104-108 TS+ at his peak in his last few years with Portland. He was, at least era-relative, actually pretty efficient. He is a poor example whereis Scottie concerned.

The point about Barnes' is versatility is relevant, though, and has been discussed: the more we reduce his on-ball action, the less leverage we get from his playmaking, which is actually his ENTIRE utility on offense. So there's SOME juggling to be done, and there will have to be some acceptance that we need to let him be not that efficient at times in order to keep gaining value from his passing. That said, we do need him to shoot less, and we do need to try and get him into a few other sets where he can score more efficiently. BI being a handler will help with that, when he's around.

[ConSarnit]

Most of his play type frequencies have marginally changed over the years (outside of pnr ball handler). If the idea is “we’ll just shift him to more post-ups” well, I have some bad news: he’s been really bad at posting up. His Oreb rate has never been anything to write home about.

He hasn’t shown he is capable of being effective in other play styles. The scoring numbers have either been bad or on very low volume. There is no real basis for the thought process that he will be able to shift his role successfully. And if the idea is to take him off-ball then what utility is he providing there? He doesn’t space the floor and he’s sub par as a screener.

What everyone wants for Barnes is not something he’s shown he is able to do on any type of consistent basis. That’s the issue. Whether on-ball or more “banger” type role he’s not really shown he can do either. When he has been in the role we hope for him the results have still been subpar.

The major issue is this: whether on-ball or off ball, very few of Barnes play types produce efficient scoring. The 2 playtype areas where he has been above average in efficiency are pnr roll man and cutting. His current frequency on those types of plays is around 6% total. This is what I’m talking about when I say he’ll need to radically shift his mindset if his shooting doesn’t come around. That major of a shift seems unlikely.

imo the camp that is still in the 'use him like this' mentality are ****ing way behind the curve. The value is in his versatility, even if it's inefficient. Use him all those ways, still, but rely on him LESS. He can be like SJax, Iggy, Rasheed Wallace, etc. Versions of good players that don't have any bread and any butter in their offensive game, but can just play ball and win games.

Honestly if management actually supported RJ and promoted him for the all-star game this year I think they would have given the fans a sense that they are actually building something, or confidence that they know what they're doing. Or if they had said Brandon Ingram is a steal and we're going to win a lot of games with him. This interview is Masai basically saying "All I got is Scottie, and I know that because he gets the right rebounds." These guys get prepped for interviews like this.

Versatility doesn’t mean a whole lot anymore when you’re paying a guy the max. Sheed could perform as a C of PF. He was a big who could space the floor and post up. Iggy and SJax made way less as a % of the cap when they were in their “contributing” primes. When Iggy was making the max his teams were winning 37 games per year.

We’re paying Barnes 25% of the cap. If he’s a 4th option jack of all trades then he’s a bad contract. We need more from him.

[Scase]

Actually, Scottie's release on the fade out of the 10-foot pull-up on the left mid-block is pretty decent. He isn't getting stuffed regularly, it has reasonable arc. It looks fine. That's why he's hitting it well. Where he's having trouble is when he's forced to create before that spot, or when he's forced to go right, as much as anything else. Even deep in the paint on the right side, he struggles, but he's pretty reliable when he can get to the left side. He likes going right to left a lot more than going to his strong-hand side.

One of the few places I have a lot of faith in him, which is odd cause it's not a "great" shot, but he has an oddly high success rate. We need to work on him being elite getting to that spot, you aren't stopping a fade away short mid range from a 6'7 guy.

It doesn't really matter if nobody can stop it, defenses aren't going to double a guy taking fadeaway jumpers as their primary option. Go ahead and keep taking them, even if you can make them at 55% which only a couple guys in the league are capable of doing, that's still a below average shot when the average TS% is 57.5.

You can't build your offensive game around just that, it needs to be paired with something else done at an elite level like 3 point shooting, rim pressure, FTR. If you can't do any of those other things well, your "elite" midrange game is not all that useful.

I wasn't advocating for him as a primary option though, just stating that is one part of his offence I have faith in.

[Jadoogar]

But I agree on the bitching. There are some posters here you know will complain regardless of what happens. Shameless ****.

Hope that one wasn't about me. I was thrilled with the Kawhi trade, even knowing he would never stay.

Have said before, but:

ATL, BRK, CHO, IND, LAC, MEM, MIN, NOP, OKC (unless you count the Sonics), ORL, PHO, SAC (unless you count the 51 Rochest Royals) and UTA all do not have an NBA title. That's 40% of the league. But we do, and we've only existed for like 30 years. You HAVE to make that trade, IMHO.

even if you told me that we would lose in the second round against philly, i would do that trade 10/10 times. Demar/Lowry had run it's course so we need a change. Poeltl (at best a decent starting center) and 1 late frp is a very small price to pay for a chance at a title run.

We lost nothing in that trade. It was the definition of a no-lose situation. Worst case, we get bounced in the second round, Kawhi leaves and we get to start the rebuild without Demar's contract.

[tsherkin]

One of the few places I have a lot of faith in him, which is odd cause it's not a "great" shot, but he has an oddly high success rate. We need to work on him being elite getting to that spot, you aren't stopping a fade away short mid range from a 6'7 guy.

It doesn't really matter if nobody can stop it, defenses aren't going to double a guy taking fadeaway jumpers as their primary option. Go ahead and keep taking them, even if you can make them at 55% which only a couple guys in the league are capable of doing, that's still a below average shot when the average TS% is 57.5.

You can't build your offensive game around just that, it needs to be paired with something else done at an elite level like 3 point shooting, rim pressure, FTR. If you can't do any of those other things well, your "elite" midrange game is not all that useful.

I wasn't advocating for him as a primary option though, just stating that is one part of his offence I have faith in.

TO this point, there are always going to be times (and even more of them with a focal guy) where you need to get off a shot with a decent chance of going in that may not be the most efficient. Efficiency is an average, not a per-possession demand, right? So if Scottie can get to the spot and hit it as a reasonable percentage, that will have an impact. Then he needs to be able to capitalize on that impact and do other things, including finding a few more possessions per game where he does efficient things, and then we're in a little more reasonable shape.

We really just need him to be around league-average and on a little bit lower usage. That's a humble goal, but at least ostensibly less arduous for him than being actually efficient. We need him to not be a horrible dumpster fire as a scoring threat, primarily.