Predict the new starting line-up

[Von Bismarck]

Why did Hennigan draft Mario anyways when they're not even trying to find his offensive spot? Why don't they send him to D-League if Skilles won't play him?

He needs to play. He already lost a season in Barcelona, another lost season could be dangerous for him.

[seeingstars]

He plays roughly 14 mpg. Hezonja will find his spots. I hate when he hesitates open 3s. then again if a defender slacks even just a little, with Mario's height and athleticism he can get his shot off just as easy. I seeml them falling sooner then later. Then the league takes notice, then he starts blowing by people then we get electrifying dunks and passes

[OrlandoNed]

He plays roughly 14 mpg. Hezonja will find his spots. I hate when he hesitates open 3s. then again if a defender slacks even just a little, with Mario's height and athleticism he can get his shot off just as easy. I seeml them falling sooner then later. Then the league takes notice, then he starts blowing by people then we get electrifying dunks and passes

I've noticed the occasional hesitation from Hezonja when he has room to shoot and I know he shouldn't hesitate, but it shows a positive. I think that hesitation shows that he is being aware enough not to just throw up the ball as soon as he touches it and to be a better teammate to find a better shot for a teammate or to drive and then to score on a higher percentage shot or pass to an open teammate with a better one. It shows he's thinking and not trying to be a selfish chucker.

[NBlue]

Why did Hennigan draft Mario anyways when they're not even trying to find his offensive spot? Why don't they send him to D-League if Skilles won't play him?

He needs to play. He already lost a season in Barcelona, another lost season could be dangerous for him.

I completely disagree. He is not ready to play -- way too many mistakes. The 12 minutes per game he gets now may even be a bit much. I would compare his situation to that of JJ's first couple of years and how that situation was managed. I would also like to note that just because he is not ready now doesn't mean he won't be very valuable in the future. However, if we are wanting to win today Mario simply makes too many mistakes to get big minutes.

[MagicStarwipe]

Frye/Vucevic front court again.



Welcome to the paint New York. It will open up room for EP... if we actually start letting him create.

[Von Bismarck]

Why did Hennigan draft Mario anyways when they're not even trying to find his offensive spot? Why don't they send him to D-League if Skilles won't play him?

He needs to play. He already lost a season in Barcelona, another lost season could be dangerous for him.

I completely disagree. He is not ready to play -- way too many mistakes. The 12 minutes per game he gets now may even be a bit much. I would compare his situation to that of JJ's first couple of years and how that situation was managed. I would also like to note that just because he is not ready now doesn't mean he won't be very valuable in the future. However, if we are wanting to win today Mario simply makes too many mistakes to get big minutes.

If he's not ready to play, then it's logical to send him to development league. He needs to play, even if it's d-league. Nobody became a player by sitting on the bench.

btw, I disagree he's not ready. If you'd give him 10 shots per game in next 5 games, I'm sure he'd average 10 points with no doubt about that.

Have you seen that last quarter vs Cavs? Have you seen Napier completely ignoring the whole team in like 7-8 consecutive attacks? If Mario had done that, Skilles would've benched him for a few games after that. But I guess Napier who was dumped by the Heat can do that and your lottery can't, it's so logical, ain't it?

[PaulGaston]

As an outsider, the most logical line-up to me seems to be:

PG - Elfrid Peyton
SG - Evan Fournier
SF - Tobias harris
PF - Aaron Gordon
C - Nikola Vucevic

... With Hedzonja and Oladipo driving the second unit with energy.

I don't understand why you guys aren't starting Gordon yet.

[NBlue]

Why did Hennigan draft Mario anyways when they're not even trying to find his offensive spot? Why don't they send him to D-League if Skilles won't play him?

He needs to play. He already lost a season in Barcelona, another lost season could be dangerous for him.

I completely disagree. He is not ready to play -- way too many mistakes. The 12 minutes per game he gets now may even be a bit much. I would compare his situation to that of JJ's first couple of years and how that situation was managed. I would also like to note that just because he is not ready now doesn't mean he won't be very valuable in the future. However, if we are wanting to win today Mario simply makes too many mistakes to get big minutes.

If he's not ready to play, then it's logical to send him to development league. He needs to play, even if it's d-league. Nobody became a player by sitting on the bench.

btw, I disagree he's not ready. If you'd give him 10 shots per game in next 5 games, I'm sure he'd average 10 points with no doubt about that.

Have you seen that last quarter vs Cavs? Have you seen Napier completely ignoring the whole team in like 7-8 consecutive attacks? If Mario had done that, Skilles would've benched him for a few games after that. But I guess Napier who was dumped by the Heat can do that and your lottery can't, it's so logical, ain't it?

I would have to respectfully disagree with you. JJ learned a lot and became a player hardly played at all in games in his first two years in the league and he is but one example of many. Mario does not appear to be a chucker -- poor shot selection is usually not his problem at all. Instead its his indecision, poor understanding of defensive team concepts, poor individual defense and turnovers that keep him off the court. Those are all things that are worked on in practice and film study. It takes time and, certainly, playing is helpful to development but what is most needed is time and coaching. Thing is, if we actually want to "win now" playing him big minutes in games is not conducive to that.

[EasternMagic]

For those wondering why Gordon did not get the nod tonight:

As stated earlier, Fournier, Frye, and Harris have been our best offensive three man combo, and they haven't been horrible on defense either.

Our least efficient offensive three man? Fournier, Elfrid, and Aaron Gordon.

We know Elfrid and Fournier are not getting pulled. Fry, even if he doesn't add much statistically, changes the game so much for us.

[SOUL]

I feel like sample size is way too small to justify any of these changes, but a change needed to be made regardless so logically we're going to go with the one that looked the best so far.

[EasternMagic]

I feel like sample size is way too small to justify any of these changes, but a change needed to be made regardless so logically we're going to go with the one that looked the best so far.

This is true. They haven't played a ton of minutes together, and the lineups that they faced probably were not the oposing teams best. But Skiles mentioned that they looked at the statistics to make this decision.

[Def Swami]

As an outsider, the most logical line-up to me seems to be:

PG - Elfrid Peyton
SG - Evan Fournier
SF - Tobias harris
PF - Aaron Gordon
C - Nikola Vucevic

... With Hedzonja and Oladipo driving the second unit with energy.

I don't understand why you guys aren't starting Gordon yet.

Agreed. It's the underutilization of Gordon is testing my patience with Skiles.

[pinoynurse]

Why did Hennigan draft Mario anyways when they're not even trying to find his offensive spot? Why don't they send him to D-League if Skilles won't play him?

He needs to play. He already lost a season in Barcelona, another lost season could be dangerous for him.

I completely disagree. He is not ready to play -- way too many mistakes. The 12 minutes per game he gets now may even be a bit much. I would compare his situation to that of JJ's first couple of years and how that situation was managed. I would also like to note that just because he is not ready now doesn't mean he won't be very valuable in the future. However, if we are wanting to win today Mario simply makes too many mistakes to get big minutes.

If he's not ready to play, then it's logical to send him to development league. He needs to play, even if it's d-league. Nobody became a player by sitting on the bench.

btw, I disagree he's not ready. If you'd give him 10 shots per game in next 5 games, I'm sure he'd average 10 points with no doubt about that.

Have you seen that last quarter vs Cavs? Have you seen Napier completely ignoring the whole team in like 7-8 consecutive attacks? If Mario had done that, Skilles would've benched him for a few games after that. But I guess Napier who was dumped by the Heat can do that and your lottery can't, it's so logical, ain't it?

As much as i want hezonja to get minutes, he looks lost defensively. I agree with the redick comparison. Redick did not get a lot of minutes in his rookie year but it made him work even harder to the point that he became a fan favorite. I cant see this happening to hezonaja

[Blue_and_Whte]

Makes sense considering how good we are offensively with Frye, Fournier, and Harris

[gumbyr24]

I'm not comfortable starting Frye or Drew with Vuc. We'll allow the other team to get into an offensive groove way to early, and I don't see us winning many high scoring shootouts. It also discourages our perimeter defenders, because they know there is literally no help behind them.

[Skin]

I'm not comfortable starting Frye or Drew with Vuc. We'll allow the other team to get into an offensive groove way to early, and I don't see us winning many high scoring shootouts. It also discourages our perimeter defenders, because they know there is literally no help behind them.

It's the same problem with Harris and Vuc.

Vuc... Vuc... Vuc... c'mon Skiles, turn him into Bogut already. haha

[seeingstars]

He plays roughly 14 mpg. Hezonja will find his spots. I hate when he hesitates open 3s. then again if a defender slacks even just a little, with Mario's height and athleticism he can get his shot off just as easy. I seeml them falling sooner then later. Then the league takes notice, then he starts blowing by people then we get electrifying dunks and passes

I've noticed the occasional hesitation from Hezonja when he has room to shoot and I know he shouldn't hesitate, but it shows a positive. I think that hesitation shows that he is being aware enough not to just throw up the ball as soon as he touches it and to be a better teammate to find a better shot for a teammate or to drive and then to score on a higher percentage shot or pass to an open teammate with a better one. It shows he's thinking and not trying to be a selfish chucker.

Thanks, I didn't see that at first but you're right. Where's all the "Hezonja has a horrible attitude" people?

[seeingstars]

I completely disagree. He is not ready to play -- way too many mistakes. The 12 minutes per game he gets now may even be a bit much. I would compare his situation to that of JJ's first couple of years and how that situation was managed. I would also like to note that just because he is not ready now doesn't mean he won't be very valuable in the future. However, if we are wanting to win today Mario simply makes too many mistakes to get big minutes.

If he's not ready to play, then it's logical to send him to development league. He needs to play, even if it's d-league. Nobody became a player by sitting on the bench.

btw, I disagree he's not ready. If you'd give him 10 shots per game in next 5 games, I'm sure he'd average 10 points with no doubt about that.

Have you seen that last quarter vs Cavs? Have you seen Napier completely ignoring the whole team in like 7-8 consecutive attacks? If Mario had done that, Skilles would've benched him for a few games after that. But I guess Napier who was dumped by the Heat can do that and your lottery can't, it's so logical, ain't it?

As much as i want hezonja to get minutes, he looks lost defensively. I agree with the redick comparison. Redick did not get a lot of minutes in his rookie year but it made him work even harder to the point that he became a fan favorite. I cant see this happening to hezonaja

Call me crazy, but I've gotten the feeling Napier was freezing Mario out at times. I get it if he doesn't trust him but Napier's just a second year pro and freezing folks out should be a vet move.