HoopsFanAZ wrote:BlazersBroncos wrote:GEE wrote:We are definitely paying a healthy price for GP2's services, as our 3rd PG. I really like him as a player, and can obviously see why Chauncey would want him.
My feeling is that this signing, and use of valuable F/A money on a guard versus a PF, doesn't make much sense to me at all... unless Dame were to be on the move. Then, the signing of GP2 makes a ton of sense.
Hart is going to start at SF and GP2 isnt a PG so we will be fine.
G - Damian Lillard (34) / Anfernee Simons (14)
G - Anfernee Simons (18) / Gary Payton II (20) / Shadeon Sharpe (10)
F - Josh Hart (28) / Nas Little (20)
IMHO, you’re spot on with every point. Josh Hart should be sharing the guard minutes with Simons at SG … Simons at PG as well. With no deal completed for a starter at SF and no ready-made draftee and Little off of injury and needing to prove that he’s a starter … Hart has to play SF. He can. He has. And probably a better fit than Norman Powell. It’s not disastrous or even BAD as Hart plays a needed role.
That’s no ringing endorsement, but Hart will step up. Payton will step up. Grant gets a big role on a better team (at least better than Detroit) with Dame. There’s some legit reasons for hope this year … but it will take another year to be in the mix.
Exactly. These guys may be comparable talents but they are not sleepwalkers like RoCo or Norm. They will all fight even if we are not a contender - the latter 2 stopped caring far too quickly for my liking.
I would have loved to find a true SF, but given what we were working with that just wasnt in the cards. I have said it a few times, but there is a market defecit for archetypical sized SF who can defend and shoot (And those are the traits we are aiming for at SF).
Hart is better than the other options. He plays every possession hard, he rebounds, mixes it up, can shoot the 3, knows when to move the ball. If he was 6'7 w/ a 6'11 WS rather than 6'5 w/ 6'9 we wouldnt be looking at the best SF since Batum, but a better SF than Batum.
We didnt get to see Josh play when the games meant anything, but I think everyone quickly forgets how well he played (Mostly at SF) during the tank - and he was playing hard, like the games counted, and posting some absurd stat lines in the process.
There is no reason Hart cant be a 15/5/3 on 50/35-38/75 w/ plus rating in nearly all advanced metrics and a better FTr than CJ or Ant. That is an ideal 4th option. In fact this team has 2 ideal 4th options in Nurkic and Hart. The main issue is top tier talent, as I dont think Dame is a true #1 - and if he is counted on you need a better #2 than Ant.
The bickering about losing out on guys like Warren is nonsense, and due to literally no big name movement we cant really argue that we lost out on a real needle mover like we did w/ Butler and PG13. There hasnt been any real needle movement so far this offseason, maybe Gobert but that cost was outlandish (And the twin tower wont work). We didnt lose out on much given the realities of the league right now. We did well in many respects, turning CJ into Hart and Grant and using the TP MLE on a guy that just averaged 20mpg as the best defender in the Finals.
Its been a fine offseason. Anyone that expected much more wasnt taking money, availability and reality into account. We were never going to become a contender overnight. We did well.
