Why do we have to trade our core?

[SOUL]

Mario doesn't need to start next year, just needs a good 25 minutes a game.

Ideal lineup with our current team: Payton/Oladipo/Mario/Gordon/Vuc

or against certain teams switch it up and play him at SF or small C. We can do a lot of things.

[thelead]

AG isn't an unknown.

I expect Gordon to start on opening night. If that is at SF or PF is a total unknown in my eyes.

..

I agree - that's the issue, bringing it back to the OP.

For the make up of the team, he needs to be a PF. That allows Mario at the 3 and VO at the 2. Is this the best fit for him?

If he's a SF, then where does Mario fit in? If Mario moves to the 2, then what about the PG? Many questions here.

I'm of the opinion that, unless you are elite at something in the nba, you must be a two-way player to be a definite starter on a quality team. By that metric, only Dipo and AG are starters IMO (with Vuc being on the bubble). For that reason, I don't think we can yet concern ourselves with positions until the picture gets clearer and these players develop a bit more.

[mhectorgato]

I expect Gordon to start on opening night. If that is at SF or PF is a total unknown in my eyes.

..

I agree - that's the issue, bringing it back to the OP.

For the make up of the team, he needs to be a PF. That allows Mario at the 3 and VO at the 2. Is this the best fit for him?

If he's a SF, then where does Mario fit in? If Mario moves to the 2, then what about the PG? Many questions here.

I'm of the opinion that, unless you are elite at something in the nba, you must be a two-way player to be a definite starter on a quality team. By that metric, only Dipo and AG are starters IMO (with Vuc being on the bubble). For that reason, I don't think we can yet concern ourselves with positions until the picture gets clearer and these players develop a bit more.

What about Payton?

I agree with you about Dipo and Vuc. I'm not sold on AG being a player you run a lot of offense sets for. He's more of an opportunistic scorer, imo.

[thelead]

I agree - that's the issue, bringing it back to the OP.

For the make up of the team, he needs to be a PF. That allows Mario at the 3 and VO at the 2. Is this the best fit for him?

If he's a SF, then where does Mario fit in? If Mario moves to the 2, then what about the PG? Many questions here.

I'm of the opinion that, unless you are elite at something in the nba, you must be a two-way player to be a definite starter on a quality team. By that metric, only Dipo and AG are starters IMO (with Vuc being on the bubble). For that reason, I don't think we can yet concern ourselves with positions until the picture gets clearer and these players develop a bit more.

What about Payton?

I agree with you about Dipo and Vuc. I'm not sold on AG being a player you run a lot of offense sets for. He's more of an opportunistic scorer, imo.

If I'm going to be honest... Payton just doesn't make the cut with the year he had last season. Not enough offense and not enough defense. I was extremely disappointed on the defensive side given what we saw from him his rookie season. Too many inconsistent moments from him this year. Don't get me wrong, he's still our 'starting' pg but that's because we don't have a better one.

As far as AG goes, I agree that he's more of an opportunistic scorer but all teams need active guys like him that will go get it himself and make things happen. You don't have to worry about drawing up plays for him and you know you'll still get 4-8 hustle points a game out of him while playing great defensive and being extremely active on the boards.

[ORL_on_FIRE]

We all know now that someone was whispering in Payton's ear talking about how they don't want him here.. For that reason I can't judge him off of his 2nd year but you can't ignore when Payton was focused he was really good. The inconsistency could've been because of Skiles.

[SOUL]

Eh... people make too big a deal out of his defense this year I think. I remember people would get mad if they just made a shot over him with good defense.. which is silly.. he just plays the percentages a bit too much sometimes where he won't respect his defender at all and they'll hit open threes because of it. While you want them to shoot bad shots, completely open shots are different since Payton himself has made people pay with those.

29/85 in DRPM, I think he could be better but he was near Delly and better than Avery Bradley as well. I'm telling you, those ankle injuries really hamper the ability to move. We saw him start off aggressive and end aggressive, just that middle part was really inconsistent. Not to mention the rules now make it so hard for a defensive PG to actually be effective on a daily basis. One screen and you're basically wiped out if the point guard has any sort of speed.

Other PG's: Lillard was 81st, Kyrie 83rd, Teague 56th. Brandon Knight 75th.

[thelead]

Eh... people make too big a deal out of his defense this year I think. I remember people would get mad if they just made a shot over him with good defense.. which is silly.. he just plays the percentages a bit too much sometimes where he won't respect his defender at all and they'll hit open threes because of it. While you want them to shoot bad shots, completely open shots are different since Payton himself has made people pay with those.

29/85 in DRPM, I think he could be better but he was near Delly and better than Avery Bradley as well. I'm telling you, those ankle injuries really hamper the ability to move. We saw him start off aggressive and end aggressive, just that middle part was really inconsistent. Not to mention the rules now make it so hard for a defensive PG to actually be effective on a daily basis. One screen and you're basically wiped out if the point guard has any sort of speed.

Other PG's: Lillard was 81st, Kyrie 83rd, Teague 56th. Brandon Knight 75th.

I'm still hoping for the best but Elf isn't an elite scorer like the guys you just listed. He's going to need to be a top 10 defensive PG with his offensive game if he wants to be a starter on a quality team. Here's the thing though, I actually think he can be a top 10 defensive PG, he just needs to do it consistently.

[mhectorgato]

Eh... people make too big a deal out of his defense this year I think. I remember people would get mad if they just made a shot over him with good defense.. which is silly.. he just plays the percentages a bit too much sometimes where he won't respect his defender at all and they'll hit open threes because of it. While you want them to shoot bad shots, completely open shots are different since Payton himself has made people pay with those.

29/85 in DRPM, I think he could be better but he was near Delly and better than Avery Bradley as well. I'm telling you, those ankle injuries really hamper the ability to move. We saw him start off aggressive and end aggressive, just that middle part was really inconsistent. Not to mention the rules now make it so hard for a defensive PG to actually be effective on a daily basis. One screen and you're basically wiped out if the point guard has any sort of speed.

Other PG's: Lillard was 81st, Kyrie 83rd, Teague 56th. Brandon Knight 75th.

I'm still hoping for the best but Elf isn't an elite scorer like the guys you just listed. He's going to need to be a top 10 defensive PG with his offensive game if he wants to be a starter on a quality team. Here's the thing though, I actually think he can be a top 10 defensive PG, he just needs to do it consistently.

He does create offense better for others than we've seen for a while in Orlando. While I want his shot making confidence to improve to keep defenses honest and create more spacing, that's not his biggest contribution to offense -- like it is for most others on our team.

Whether the others (primarily VO and lesser AG) were more hero shot guys was a personality or scheme will become more evident with new coach.

[thelead]

Eh... people make too big a deal out of his defense this year I think. I remember people would get mad if they just made a shot over him with good defense.. which is silly.. he just plays the percentages a bit too much sometimes where he won't respect his defender at all and they'll hit open threes because of it. While you want them to shoot bad shots, completely open shots are different since Payton himself has made people pay with those.

29/85 in DRPM, I think he could be better but he was near Delly and better than Avery Bradley as well. I'm telling you, those ankle injuries really hamper the ability to move. We saw him start off aggressive and end aggressive, just that middle part was really inconsistent. Not to mention the rules now make it so hard for a defensive PG to actually be effective on a daily basis. One screen and you're basically wiped out if the point guard has any sort of speed.

Other PG's: Lillard was 81st, Kyrie 83rd, Teague 56th. Brandon Knight 75th.

I'm still hoping for the best but Elf isn't an elite scorer like the guys you just listed. He's going to need to be a top 10 defensive PG with his offensive game if he wants to be a starter on a quality team. Here's the thing though, I actually think he can be a top 10 defensive PG, he just needs to do it consistently.

He does create offense better for others than we've seen for a while in Orlando. While I want his shot making confidence to improve to keep defenses honest and create more spacing, that's not his biggest contribution to offense -- like it is for most others on our team.

Whether the others (primarily VO and lesser AG) were more hero shot guys was a personality or scheme will become more evident with new coach.

Agreed. A new coach/scheme will start to complete the picture.