SirKaiser wrote:I'm just arguing against the alternative of letting a rookie/soph roster of 20 year old guys run wild is a better vision. I won't argue, however, that this matters on an individual level. Guys like Allen and Pierce are legends, and they were part of a successful organization as a whole. At the very least it needs to be someone who adds toward a better team culture going forward. This team and organization has been garbage but Demar stood out as a good mentor and locker room guy, but unfortunately his skill set on the court contrasted with the style we wanted. It actually makes me wonder if his absence can be a reason for PWill'd horrible season. It would be silly of course, but he has personally credited Demar as being a good mentor.
For me, it comes down to Lavine and Ball (depending on whether he will sign some kind of team-friendly deal). Lavine is debatable, but his talen is unquestionable. When not injured, he has been the best sports star in the city for a while now. And whatever the reason is, he's been a good sport amidst trade talks, unlike Jimmy. If only his value wasn't lower than it should be.
For clarification, I'm not arguing that we should put a ton of guys in with garbage culture that don't know what they're doing with a head coach that offers no accountability.
I'm only saying that people often conflate a lot of different things together. You can be bad and still be well coaches. You can not have enough talent on the roster and still develop individually. I think DeMar was a great mentor based on all the commentary in the league, but I don't think he raised anyone's game any.
My belief is improvement is almost exclusively on the player themselves, outside of that, they have so many support tools around them that you get pretty far down the list before you get to having the right teammates, but there are lots of guys who can be the right teammates too.
To me, I don't see a reason to think Vuc/Zach are specifically the right guys. I would prioritize Lonzo as that person if I was going to look at that, because he calls out the defense, tells people where to go, is excellent at running an organized offense. That is the type of guy more likely to teach people to do the right things and keep things moving the right way.
This isn't to say you can't keep Vuc/Zach and they will destroy things, but you're multiple years from doing anything. You know almost for sure that Vuc isn't part of your next playoff team. Zach could be, but probably unlikely. So if those guys can yield something now, I'd take it.
I'm less worried about Zach, if he finishes off this year well, I think the offers for him in the summer are going to be just as good or better than what you can do at the deadline. I think Vuc is going to fall apart and be dead salary by next year.
