Reality check: Gradey and RJ’s stats are inflated.

[tsherkin]

RJ overall is a better "version" of DD, again not the literal ways they play the game, but a lot of stuff that was an issue with DD (defence/3p) you can see is an improved version. RJ sucks on defence, but I can see him at least trying, DD just didn't care to defend, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

I dunno, he's still objectively better than DDR on D, so it's a limp comparison even still.

The 3p shooting, well a fair amount of blame rests on him, he's taking a lot of ATB 3's. And many of them are just pull ups, not assisted on, 16% less are assisted on compared to last year with us. I don't have the patience, nor inclination to go through the video replays for every 3 this season on NBA.com, but my memory is telling me, most of those shots are not good ones.

No argument here. I meant we need to emphasize the change in shot selection.

He plays at the elbows, so he tends to float around there a lot,

He also hits the post a surprising amount... which may not be a good thing. Watching him wing post on the left mid-block isn't my favorite thing. That's another shot type we might consider trying to clip. I think he needs more guidance and a sterner hand on WHAT exactly he's doing, focusing on more optimal looks instead of just randomly bulling around like he's on crack, for sure.

[Scase]

He also hits the post a surprising amount... which may not be a good thing. Watching him wing post on the left mid-block isn't my favorite thing. That's another shot type we might consider trying to clip. I think he needs more guidance and a sterner hand on WHAT exactly he's doing, focusing on more optimal looks instead of just randomly bulling around like he's on crack, for sure.

I noticed this too, he tends to bully in and get himself in trouble because driving from there really limits your options. Also him going left like 90% of the time isn't helping either, the Lakers were forcing his left into the baseline a bunch so he didn't have much room to adjust, and it led to bad shots and turnovers.

[tsherkin]

He also hits the post a surprising amount... which may not be a good thing. Watching him wing post on the left mid-block isn't my favorite thing. That's another shot type we might consider trying to clip. I think he needs more guidance and a sterner hand on WHAT exactly he's doing, focusing on more optimal looks instead of just randomly bulling around like he's on crack, for sure.

I noticed this too, he tends to bully in and get himself in trouble because driving from there really limits your options. Also him going left like 90% of the time isn't helping either, the Lakers were forcing his left into the baseline a bunch so he didn't have much room to adjust, and it led to bad shots and turnovers.

Indeed.

[Basketball_Jones]

Reality check they are both playing above their optimal roles due to injuries. But it begs the question, who’s second option once Scottie comes back? I’d have to imagine RJ’s shot selection reverts back once he’s no longer asked to do so much and it’s kind of ride the hot hand between him/Dick/IQ.

[Scase]

He also hits the post a surprising amount... which may not be a good thing. Watching him wing post on the left mid-block isn't my favorite thing. That's another shot type we might consider trying to clip. I think he needs more guidance and a sterner hand on WHAT exactly he's doing, focusing on more optimal looks instead of just randomly bulling around like he's on crack, for sure.

I noticed this too, he tends to bully in and get himself in trouble because driving from there really limits your options. Also him going left like 90% of the time isn't helping either, the Lakers were forcing his left into the baseline a bunch so he didn't have much room to adjust, and it led to bad shots and turnovers.

Indeed.

RJ and GD making me look like I know what I'm talking about tonight

[tsherkin]

I noticed this too, he tends to bully in and get himself in trouble because driving from there really limits your options. Also him going left like 90% of the time isn't helping either, the Lakers were forcing his left into the baseline a bunch so he didn't have much room to adjust, and it led to bad shots and turnovers.

Indeed.

RJ and GD making me look like I know what I'm talking about tonight

They certainly did!

[torsport]

Agreed with the concept. We are a 2-6 team. Any numbers put up aren't too meaningful to me if we're losing/losing minutes.

I really want to wait until we see a full squad: IQ/Scottie/KO back in the lineup. I'll reserve judgement until then re: Gradey and RJ's role and effectiveness. They aren't the centre of a core lineup, they are supporting roles at best.

I will say though, that what they've shown is promising and they haven't looked like hot garbage in elevated roles. That's been nice.

Defend this position. If they can maintain this scoring they are both better options than IQ or Barnes. I don't understand why potentially worse offensive players should get to run things when they come back. If these guys scoring is real why should they take a back seat?

Late on this. Scoring is nice, but it only means something if you win minutes. If you score 120 PPG as a team with 5 20 PPG players, but you give up 150 PPG because you can't stop anyone your offensive output isn't valuable because your defense is a negative.

Things have gotten worse since this post and we still haven't seen our full lineup play any minutes this season. It would be great to get a high draft pick, but it would be a shame if we didn't get any insight into what we have and which roles are best for which players to get back to winning.