hugepatsfan wrote:bucknersrevenge wrote:hugepatsfan wrote:As of right now we have 15 NBA contracts and extended tenders to Tremont and Fall on 2 ways...
Kemba / Teague / Pritchard
Smart / Langford / Edwards
Brown / Nesmith / Green
Tatum / G Williams / Ojeleye
Theis / Thompson / R Williams
I feel pretty good about the starting 5... it's the same group as last year's playoff run, though you could swap Theis/Thompson. Either way, Theis or Thompson are legit backup 5s. Teague is a solid enough backup PG, thought it would be great if Pritchard beat him out. I thought Grant showed enough to feel alright about him as a 15ish minute bench player.
The question is wing depth. And I know on paper it looks like a question mark, but Langford and Nesmith were both lottery picks. If not even one of them is capable of logging reserve minutes on the wing then those are massive misses by Ainge. I know people rip on Ainge's draft history, but his track record of "misses" is more that he drafted a role player vs the guy who maxed out his upside. In his however many years here drafting I think James Young is only complete miss in the mid 1st round or higher. He's had some busts in the 20s obviously but which team hasn't over the last 17 years.
I understand it's a question mark on paper and as a tam trying to contend you always want some veteran options to fall back on, but if Langford/Nesmith aren't capable backup wing depth then Ainge really messed up. Hopefully Nesmith can be a day 1 reserve, which is not at all an unreasonable expectation for his draft spot. And hopefully Langford goes the route of Bradley and Rozier of barely playing in year 1 before becoming rotation piece in year 2.
What I'd REALLY like to see, is Nesmith push to start. I just like Smart better as a bench player who can come off the bench and sub in for practically anyone. Plus having him and Teague as veteran ballhandlers off the bench really soothes a lot of my agita from last season.
For Nesmith, we brought him in here to open space for the Jays and Kemba so the sooner he can get to doing that consistently, the better. It simplifies his job in a shortened rookie season by just setting him up to do what he does best and doing it playing off the players who will most benefit from it. If he can grasp the defense well enough, he should ascend to that starting 2-spot and put a stranglehold on it for the next 5 years.
100% agree that you hope for a starter. You draft a guy in the lottery, even the last pick in the lottery, and that's what you're hoping for. Smart on the bench balances your ball handlers between 1st/2nd unit too. But if Nesmith isn't a day 1 starter that's not the end of the world. If he isn't good enough to play 15 minutes a night right away, not that's kind of problematic for me. Because he isn't some massive upside guy who needs time to grow. He's king of a lower floor lower ceiling type guy by most accounts.
On paper that scares no one. Someone has to take the leap. Eastern conference got a whole lot better we didn't even upgrade we sat and waited for what was giving dropped to us. And got the scrap heap of teague and at lest we didn't over pay Thompson the only real upgrade on the roster. I'll root my heart out but this team ain't ring material.
