2019 season speculation including trade ideas

[lilfishi22]

I was mainly surprised by how good Darminsky is on defense. They don't look it but they are solid according to these metrics. Also Booker being the 6th best player despite having his best season in his carer is also a surprise. I would've thought he'd be maybe 3rd, or at worst 4th.

[Dual]

Nice info, I'm not a stats guy, and watching stats like this one make more against this things.
I trust my eyes more, Kaminsky that high is just a joke tbh.
But hey, we live in a world of metrics and stats.

[bwgood77]

I was mainly surprised by how good Darminsky is on defense. They don't look it but they are solid according to these metrics. Also Booker being the 6th best player despite having his best season in his carer is also a surprise. I would've thought he'd be maybe 3rd, or at worst 4th.

He will never look good in totality until his D gets a lot better. It has gotten quite a big better but it was near the bottom of the NBA so it's still probably well below average. There are brief moments he looks really good 1 on 1 though.

[Wilber85]

I am just glad we didnt get Terry Rozier!

[lilfishi22]

I am just glad we didnt get Terry Rozier!

lol the Rozier revenge game

3p/3r/1a/1s/1blk/3to

1 for 11 from the field

MJ passed on the team favourite and the best player to ever play for the Hornets (Kemba) to outbid the Suns to sign Rozier lol

[Wilber85]

I am just glad we didnt get Terry Rozier!

lol the Rozier revenge game

3p/3r/1a/1s/1blk/3to

1 for 11 from the field

MJ passed on the team favourite and the best player to ever play for the Hornets (Kemba) to outbid the Suns to sign Rozier lol

MJ Is my favorite of all time as a player, and GM now. He saved the suns.

[bwgood77]

I'm can't find the poll where we asked everyone how many wins we would get in our first ten games, but I imagine we've already hit what the majority picked. I knew a few had 9 or 10, and not sure if those were serious, but I was thinking with the tough slate, 5 would be tough and 6 would be great. I imagine we will end up not only getting 6, but probably more. In hindsight, the way we've performed overall thus far, particularly without Ayton or Jerome, it's still been an impressive start to the season.

[Qwigglez]

I'm can't find the poll where we asked everyone how many wins we would get in our first ten games, but I imagine we've already hit what the majority picked. I knew a few had 9 or 10, and not sure if those were serious, but I was thinking with the tough slate, 5 would be tough and 6 would be great. I imagine we will end up not only getting 6, but probably more. In hindsight, the way we've performed overall thus far, particularly without Ayton or Jerome, it's still been an impressive start to the season.

Here ya go.
viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1884195&start=900

[Frank Lee]

What was once, I thought, going to be a strength of ours, appears to be almost the opposite. I figured our bench would be troublesome. Granted , Baynes moved onto the starting squad, which was a big subtraction. But the rest of that unit is just flat out lame n tame on offense. I dont blame Tyler Johnson for his efforts... for he has such little help. Carter has no business playing important minutes. Sure, he's a 'bulldog', but he just mucks up the offense. His perceived defensive dogness isnt of the lock down type. He is more of an annoyance than a stopper. Bridges has fallen off the earth offensively and is sliding into that class of may be he's not as good as we think he is ? Sure, another solid defender, but a ghost on the other end. Shank... well we all can see that dude is F-n afraid to shoot. Period. Our stretch 4-5 is afraid to pull the trigger. He only does one or two things well... and he's at least cut that in half. CamJo looks overwelmed at times. He's learning, but hes no rookie standing up to be noticed. We have yet to see what we have in Ty Jerome... but his job this year is to replace Tyler Johnson anyway. And poor Okobo. just cast aside. And lets not kid ourselves... Saric is looking more and more like a sub, but I guess someone has to start.

The sooner Jerome can play, the sooner we will see if we can work a big ticket trade. And by that time, we should know if we need to. Tyler Johnson is our salary chip. But we look to be on the pathway to competing for a playoff spot, and certainly cant afford to lose TJo if Jerome cant step in. Love will be available and will cost us TJo/Saric/1st. Griffin would run us TJo/Oubre/1st... but if Jerome cant cut it. A gaping hole opens at back up PG. I think we can overcome the loss of Oubre but can the Valley's fashion scene survive?

You dont get many chances to get high caliber players who are inked up for a few years. A pushmepullme decision. Tough it out with a rookie 2nd unit PG and get Griffin or Love...or shoot for the playoffs with an eventual departing TJo ...who, if isnt 100% in our future plans, just fades away.

I think if we can get one of Love or Griffin, given the even odds we lose Baynes... it seems like the right thing to do, salary and injury be damned. However, what can change it all is the return of Ayton. If I had say, he would be leading the second unit, backing up AND playing with Baynes. Heck may be he should start at PF? Ayton is not as smart as Saric (newsflash) but I think he'd be just as effective defensively as his length would be such a problem. One on one D he gets. Anyone doubt his ability to defend most PFs better than Shank ? He certainly could 'not shoot threes' like Mr Pump,Pass, and Brick..

This is a pleasing prob to have.... how to find minutes for both Baynes and Ayton, especially when they will come at the expense of Shank or Saric or CJo.

You want your best players playing most of the minutes. And when you only have 7-8 good players, you just figure it out.

Player rankings:
1) Booker
2a) Rubio
2b) Baynes
4) Ayton
5) TJohnson
6a) Oubre
6b) Bridges
8) Saric
9a,b,c,) Mr Pump,Pass, and Brick, CamJo, Carter (guys is so mediocre I cant come up with an AKA)

We dont have the talent to be playing 10 guys with some regular rotation...
17 more games.

[hollywood6964]

Oubre's better than tyler Johnson, stop Frank.

[Frank Lee]

Oubre's better than tyler Johnson, stop Frank.

Well
Arguably yes
But more valuable? Not so sure

[hollywood6964]

Oubre's better than tyler Johnson, stop Frank.

Well
Arguably yes
But more valuable? Not so sure

I don't think it's much of an argument. But I may argue starting Bridges, and bringing Oubre off the bench is not a bad idea. Bridges doesn't need to do as much in the starting lineup, might give him a confidence boost, which looks much needed, and he can be in position to shoot that slow mo 3 pt shot more often due to book n rubio creating. With Oubre, it would feel more like he's helping, than being demoted, because Bridges has not deserved to be in the starting lineup. And coming off Goran killing it with the bench, playing the Manu role, it may look like he's been given the duty of doing the same. At least until Ayton gets back, would be the message.

[Crives]

Just can’t believe Frank took a complete 180, he started off so strong and now is scared to shoot a 3....

[bwgood77]

I'm can't find the poll where we asked everyone how many wins we would get in our first ten games, but I imagine we've already hit what the majority picked. I knew a few had 9 or 10, and not sure if those were serious, but I was thinking with the tough slate, 5 would be tough and 6 would be great. I imagine we will end up not only getting 6, but probably more. In hindsight, the way we've performed overall thus far, particularly without Ayton or Jerome, it's still been an impressive start to the season.

Here ya go.
viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1884195&start=900

So it looks like the majority were tied with 3 or 4, with 5 coming in a clear second and then it drops to a few saying 6. It seems safe to say that we are doing better (or far better) than expected than most would have thought. I only say far better or better considering we are only through 8 games, so at worst, we still at least meet or beat the vast majority of expectations already.

And this is before knowing Ayton was out. I think we certainly would have had worse poll results had that been known.

Another thing I hate is that when a team vastly overachieves relative to expectations, that when things go poorly (usually coaches) but often a lot of blame is throw around when they had likely simply been overachieving relative to talent and that teams will eventually settle a bit, especially when other teams learn their style, system, can better game plan, etc.

I think we will still be quite a bit better than most expected, particularly since we will have Ayton come back which is huge.

It might also be good to have a thread strictly dedicated to past poll results so people can look back at what we were expecting relative to what happened.

[Wilber85]

What was once, I thought, going to be a strength of ours, appears to be almost the opposite. I figured our bench would be troublesome. Granted , Baynes moved onto the starting squad, which was a big subtraction. But the rest of that unit is just flat out lame n tame on offense. I dont blame Tyler Johnson for his efforts... for he has such little help. Carter has no business playing important minutes. Sure, he's a 'bulldog', but he just mucks up the offense. His perceived defensive dogness isnt of the lock down type. He is more of an annoyance than a stopper. Bridges has fallen off the earth offensively and is sliding into that class of may be he's not as good as we think he is ? Sure, another solid defender, but a ghost on the other end. Shank... well we all can see that dude is F-n afraid to shoot. Period. Our stretch 4-5 is afraid to pull the trigger. He only does one or two things well... and he's at least cut that in half. CamJo looks overwelmed at times. He's learning, but hes no rookie standing up to be noticed. We have yet to see what we have in Ty Jerome... but his job this year is to replace Tyler Johnson anyway. And poor Okobo. just cast aside. And lets not kid ourselves... Saric is looking more and more like a sub, but I guess someone has to start.

The sooner Jerome can play, the sooner we will see if we can work a big ticket trade. And by that time, we should know if we need to. Tyler Johnson is our salary chip. But we look to be on the pathway to competing for a playoff spot, and certainly cant afford to lose TJo if Jerome cant step in. Love will be available and will cost us TJo/Saric/1st. Griffin would run us TJo/Oubre/1st... but if Jerome cant cut it. A gaping hole opens at back up PG. I think we can overcome the loss of Oubre but can the Valley's fashion scene survive?

You dont get many chances to get high caliber players who are inked up for a few years. A pushmepullme decision. Tough it out with a rookie 2nd unit PG and get Griffin or Love...or shoot for the playoffs with an eventual departing TJo ...who, if isnt 100% in our future plans, just fades away.

I think if we can get one of Love or Griffin, given the even odds we lose Baynes... it seems like the right thing to do, salary and injury be damned. However, what can change it all is the return of Ayton. If I had say, he would be leading the second unit, backing up AND playing with Baynes. Heck may be he should start at PF? Ayton is not as smart as Saric (newsflash) but I think he'd be just as effective defensively as his length would be such a problem. One on one D he gets. Anyone doubt his ability to defend most PFs better than Shank ? He certainly could 'not shoot threes' like Mr Pump,Pass, and Brick..

This is a pleasing prob to have.... how to find minutes for both Baynes and Ayton, especially when they will come at the expense of Shank or Saric or CJo.

You want your best players playing most of the minutes. And when you only have 7-8 good players, you just figure it out.

Player rankings:
1) Booker
2a) Rubio
2b) Baynes
4) Ayton
5) TJohnson
6a) Oubre
6b) Bridges
8) Saric
9a,b,c,) Mr Pump,Pass, and Brick, CamJo, Carter (guys is so mediocre I cant come up with an AKA)

We dont have the talent to be playing 10 guys with some regular rotation...
17 more games.

I tend to agree with you but Oubre has been a stud! He is not 6a.

Player rankings:
1) Booker
2a) Rubio
2b) Ayton
4) Oubre
5) Baynes
6a) Tjohnson
6b) Bridges
8) Saric

[Wilber85]

Oubre's better than tyler Johnson, stop Frank.

Well
Arguably yes
But more valuable? Not so sure

I don't think it's much of an argument. But I may argue starting Bridges, and bringing Oubre off the bench is not a bad idea. Bridges doesn't need to do as much in the starting lineup, might give him a confidence boost, which looks much needed, and he can be in position to shoot that slow mo 3 pt shot more often due to book n rubio creating. With Oubre, it would feel more like he's helping, than being demoted, because Bridges has not deserved to be in the starting lineup. And coming off Goran killing it with the bench, playing the Manu role, it may look like he's been given the duty of doing the same. At least until Ayton gets back, would be the message.

Oubre has been better just as good on defense as Bridges. He can score too, unlike bridges.

[KLEON]

When is Ty coming back?

[bwoolf2]

Well
Arguably yes
But more valuable? Not so sure

I don't think it's much of an argument. But I may argue starting Bridges, and bringing Oubre off the bench is not a bad idea. Bridges doesn't need to do as much in the starting lineup, might give him a confidence boost, which looks much needed, and he can be in position to shoot that slow mo 3 pt shot more often due to book n rubio creating. With Oubre, it would feel more like he's helping, than being demoted, because Bridges has not deserved to be in the starting lineup. And coming off Goran killing it with the bench, playing the Manu role, it may look like he's been given the duty of doing the same. At least until Ayton gets back, would be the message.

Oubre has been better just as good on defense as Bridges. He can score too, unlike bridges.

Agreed Oubre has been much better, would like to see him rebound better tho. Also I would give Carters minutes to Okobo we need his offense on that second unit more than we need Carters defensive pressure. Okobo is also biger, people cant shoot over the top of him as easy as they can Carter.

[bwgood77]

We are still 4th in SRS among the west by quite a long shot, and only 3 eastern teams are above up. All of these teams above us are very good teams as well.

[Blonde]

I don’t think it’s too early to talk playoffs, not because I’m confident we can play at this level all year, but because of what else has happened around the conference. Going in to the season the only teams I felt good about being better than were Memphis and Minnesota. Now I feel pretty good about us being better than Sacramento, Golden State, New Orleans, Memphis, OKC, and Minnesota. Portland has had some crucial injuries and haven’t looked great either. Some of those teams could turn it around, but all of them are playing worse than I expected. That puts us in the playoff mix, at least for now, in my eyes.