Hal14 wrote:After watching that basketball breakdown vid, here's what I'm thinking:
-Going from Smart to KP is a BIG upgrade for this team
-Tatum at the 4 and Brown at the 3 is good.
-Add 1 more guy with the TPMLE who can play the 2 or the 3, is smaller than JB (so more mins with JB at the 3 and Tatum at the 4) but can also play in the back court if Brogdon is hurt. But also has decent size (6'5" or taller) and can handle the ball a little bit, defend, shoot but also create his own shot.
Who is that guy?
Josh Richardson. Sign him to TPMLE. He already has familiarity with our system, our guys. He enjoyed his time here and everyone in the organization speaks fondly of him.
Run it back with the rest of the team. Resign Grant. Keep Brogdon. Keep Pritchard. Let Pritchard know he won't get a ton of mins but he will get some mins here and there. Tell Pritchard that he'll contribute a little bit here and there, he'll win a championship and then next summer he can go sign with whoever he wants.
Try to play KP at the 5 as much as possible (with tatum at the 4).
We still have Rob and Al who can play the 5.
Sometimes here and there we can play rob or Al alongside KP (or rob and al together a little bit too).
Going with less double big, more Tatum at the 4 means we won't really have much of a need for a 4th big. Just run it back with Kornet and Griffin. Keep the 2 of them on for emergency depth bigs. And keep them on for the vibesThey both offer different things, too. Griffin is smaller but is the energy/toughness/hustle guy. Kornet is bigger, can block shots and catch lobs. So they offer different things, add depth and good for vibes.
Keep Grant. Keep his role SIMPLE. Hit corner 3's, space the floor, don't try to do too much, keep the ball moving on offense. Bring toughness and defensive versatility.
Keep Hauser. Give him a shot to earn some mins as an 8th/9th man to space the floor, hit shots, hold his own on on defense.
Walsh and Davison. We won't need them much, probably just garbage time. But both should be ready if we're REALLY in a pinch to contribute a little bit - especially if it's later in the season - they'll be more ready at that point.
Tatum
Brown
KP
White at PG
Either rob or al as the 5th starter
Keep Brogdon as 6th man since he's injury prone and not great defensively. But definitely give him some good mins as 6th man
7th man is rob or al, which ever one doesn't start
8th man J-Rich
9th man Grant
10th Man Hauser
11th man Pritchard
12th/13 = Kornet/Griffin
14th/15th = Walsh/Davison
Championship.
This is the video I'm referring to, in case you haven't seen it.
Yes, we would probably go over 2nd apron with this roster (hopefully Grant signs team friendly deal) but:
a) it looks like the penalties for doing so aren't *that* bad. It's not stopping the suns..
b) Brad said today that he's been given the green light to spend in order to build a winner
Essentially, we've simply taken last season's roster, flipped Smart for Porzingis (big upgrade), turned Champagnie into J-Rich (big upgrade) and then taken Muscala and Gallo (Gallo didn't play a single game for us, Muscala barely played for us) and turned them into JD and Walsh. Your 14/15th guys are pretty much never gonna play anyways - but now we have 2 guys in those spots whoa re very young and show a ton of potential to contribute down the road (and perhaps a little bit this season) but will likely get most of their mins in Maine
Small ball is for offense, double big is for defense imo. I liked that video, thought it was useful - kind of like watching the back half of an old DX video or the new box and one vids. Where you just see all the bad plays and it looks awful.
Obviously smart made a bunch of great passes but on the whole seems like it made the ball stick too much, play too slow, and wasn’t effective enough on offense. I knew White’s +/- was better but a few of the details from earlier were a pretty stark contrast.
I think there’s a shot the offense plays much faster and better, and being able to go big regularly without killing the offense with low volume scoring bigs will mitigate the loss there.
Long story short I think the starting five is going to be really really good on this team just need a few tweaks on the bench.
