Signed By Indiana - The Jeremy Lamb Thread

[yosemiteben]

Performance doesnt matter at all under Clifford if they perceive a player as being good.

Lance and Marvin would've agreed until both got bumped to the bench.

[Braggins]

I think it will be over Frank.

Kemba/Lamb/Batum/MKG/Al

I don't expect Clifford to play the rookie big minutes, even if he's NBA ready.

Playing a rookie that much does seem unlikely, but so does starting a small lineup. Im not sure which is more likely tbh.

I think Frank will get as many minutes as a rookie Zeller did.

I honestly feel like he should be in play for starter minutes. If they were confident enough in him to take him over higher upside players than they should be confident that he can contribute right away in a bigger role, otherwise what was the point. Surely they wouldnt take a 4 year college player that high just to use him as a career backup, but idk. Our management is pretty nutty.

[yosemiteben]

Rookies rarely start right away on teams trying to make the playoffs when there is solid depth at their position unless they are transcendent talents taken at the top of the draft. He's not a project, but he's not a guaranteed starter to kick off his rookie season.

I wouldn't mind seeing him start, but I'm skeptical that it'd work out defensively. I think he can be as reliable as McRoberts though, and the Al McBob pairing worked out just fine defensively.

[Braggins]

Performance doesnt matter at all under Clifford if they perceive a player as being good.

Lance and Marvin would've agreed until both got bumped to the bench.

When you are 10-20 its hard to not make changes. I dont see anything that drastic happening and no one in our starting lineup other than Al has the potential to play as awful as Lance and Marvin did. If we are floating around .500 no one who is playing halfway decent will have their role threatened. Al and Kemba wont even if they are pkaying like complete garbage. I actually think MKG and Zeller are the most likely to have their spots threatened because they dont fit philosophically with what Clifford is trying to do, and his philosophy takes precedence over actually winning games.

[yosemiteben]

Lamb thread so I'll cut off this tangent.

[Braggins]

Rookies rarely start right away on teams trying to make the playoffs when th ere is solid depth at their position unless they are transcendent talents taken at the top of the draft. He's not a project, but he's not a guaranteed starter to kick off his rookie season.

I wouldn't mind seeing him start, but I'm skeptical that it'd work out defensively. I think he can be as reliable as McRoberts though, and the Al McBob pairing worked out just fine defensively.

He cant be as bad as Al on defense and he knows how to play winning basketball. I agree with your points about rookies rarely starting in situations like ours and it being unlikely, but i really think it would probably be for the best. Id fully support him as the starter from day one.

[Braggins]

Lamb thread so I'll cut off this tangent.

Damnit, good call.

[Mystical Apples]

Kaminsky getting run at the 4 does effect Lamb. That slides Marvin to sf for backup minutes - minutes that Batum can now dedicate to SG and keeps Lamb on the bench.

[catch20two]

Actually, now that I think about, there is no way Batum would lose his spot. He was promised a role and we gave up a lot to get him so we desperately need him to resign with us. I think our starting lineup is set in stone. Performance doesnt matter at all under Clifford if they perceive a player as being good.

Yea them guaranteeing Batum a starting gig at a position he never started at fresh off a Lance-esque season was and still is kinda dumb. And you're right, Clifford is too stubborn to make any change until we're 10 games below .500.

[Mystical Apples]

Actually, now that I think about, there is no way Batum would lose his spot. He was promised a role and we gave up a lot to get him so we desperately need him to resign with us. I think our starting lineup is set in stone. Performance doesnt matter at all under Clifford if they perceive a player as being good.

Yea them guaranteeing Batum a starting gig at a position he never started at fresh off a Lance-esque season was and still is kinda dumb. And you're right, Clifford is too stubborn to make any change until we're 10 games below .500.

Batum was dealing with some injuries the first part of the year. What he did after the all-star break was really good:

43% from 3
60% corner 3
90% from the line
6.6 boards/game which was second on the team
5 assists / 21% assist rate
60% TS
110 offensive rating

[catch20two]

Actually, now that I think about, there is no way Batum would lose his spot. He was promised a role and we gave up a lot to get him so we desperately need him to resign with us. I think our starting lineup is set in stone. Performance doesnt matter at all under Clifford if they perceive a player as being good.

Yea them guaranteeing Batum a starting gig at a position he never started at fresh off a Lance-esque season was and still is kinda dumb. And you're right, Clifford is too stubborn to make any change until we're 10 games below .500.

Batum was dealing with some injuries the first part of the year. What he did after the all-star break was really good:

43% from 3
60% corner 3
90% from the line
6.6 boards/game which was second on the team
5 assists / 21% assist rate
60% TS
110 offensive rating

Still only averaged 11ppg per 36 after ASB. He's gonna have to do more than that for us. We need scoring more than we need another facilitator but it'll help more than Hendo I guess. I'm just iffy on Batum off that bad year as a whole. I like him but always viewed him as overrated and more potential than production.

[Braggins]

I wonder why the front office always emphasizes that players have to earn their minutes here when talking about rookies, but they promise roles to players acquired via trade like political appointments. Do they really think people buy it?

[Mystical Apples]

I'm sure he'll score more. He played a ton of minutes next to Lamarcus and Lillard whose combined usage was 58%. But even when Batum isn't scoring he's creating efficient offense in other ways.

[Mystical Apples]

I wonder why the front office always emphasizes that players have to earn their minutes here when talking about rookies, but they promise roles to players acquired via trade like political appointments. Do they really think people buy it?

Batum is far from a "role player." He just happens to be above average/elite in so many different ways that measuring his performance in points misses his value

[catch20two]

I wonder why the front office always emphasizes that players have to earn their minutes here when talking about rookies, but they promise roles to players acquired via trade like political appointments. Do they really think people buy it?

Might be their best selling point but it don't make sense in Batum's case. They prolly lured Fat Al by telling him the offense (Alfense) would be built around him and that's exactly what they did.

[catch20two]

I'm sure he'll score more. He played a ton of minutes next to Lamarcus and Lillard whose combined usage was 58%. But even when Batum isn't scoring he's creating efficient offense in other ways.

Ehhh he won't score more than 14ppg. When he's one of the go-to guys on the French national teams he never score over 15ppg.

[catch20two]

I wonder why the front office always emphasizes that players have to earn their minutes here when talking about rookies, but they promise roles to players acquired via trade like political appointments. Do they really think people buy it?

Batum is far from a "role player." He just happens to be above average/elite in so many different ways that measuring his performance in points misses his value

He's a role player.

[Braggins]

I wonder why the front office always emphasizes that players have to earn their minutes here when talking about rookies, but they promise roles to players acquired via trade like political appointments. Do they really think people buy it?

Batum is far from a "role player." He just happens to be above average/elite in so many different ways that measuring his performance in points misses his value

Hes good and Im perfectly ok with him starting at SG. I think thats what would happen if we made him earn his spot. I just find it odd that we promise roles to veterans like its nothing but all our young players have super short leashes and almost cant earn bigger roles over vets.

[Mystical Apples]

During Batum's tenure in Portland he always played with high usage/high efficiency guys: Matthews, Lamarcus, Lillard.
Or with Roy when McMillan was coaching. McMillan was not a creative offensive coach and ran isos and picks all day with Roy and Aldridge.

With Charlotte Batum immediately becomes their most efficient player and best playmaker

[LofJ]

http://youtu.be/ncg2yxDQ1CM

If Jeremy Lamb can do this, play great defense, and facilitate on offense he'll have a chance to eat into Batum/MKG's minutes. They will definitely be easier said than done. He's easily our 3rd wing though so he's going to get plenty of opportunity. I'm really excited to see what he can do.