Post#140 » by The Rebel » Mon Nov 23, 2020 12:13 am
While I know many are disappointed, I am actually okay with our offseason so far, it fits perfectly with what the front office has been good at. I remember when we traded Afflalo for Barton and a pick, and a lot of people were pissed, but the end of the season I think most of us were happy with the results.
I am not the least big upset to see Craig or Plumlee go, if you are go read through old game threads to remind you of why you shouldn't be upset. Grant was the perfect fit skill wise, but he is not worth $20 million per and I hate to say it, but for the role needed we got an upgrade in Green.
The interesting thing about Green is that he is a better big man defender and almost as good at shooting spot up 3s as Grant, but Green is a guy who likes to play physical and rough, which we have needed for seemingly decades. He is also a guy who came into the league as a physically gifted project who developed into a good role player despite injuries taking a lot of those physical gifts.
This team has a history of finding young and unproven talent, we have done it since Ujiri was here, than the unproven talent battles for the bench minutes and the talent rises to the top. With the guys who get minutes working their ass off to keep their job. We drafted Jokic and Nurkic when we had Mozgov and a young Joffrey Lauvergne. We drafted Mudiay with Lawson on the roster, than drafted Murray with Mudiay and Nelson on the roster. Harris was drafted while we had Fournier and Foye. I look at what the team has done over the last week and all I can say is that we have loaded up on unproven talent.
Murray/ Morris/ Compazzo/ Howard
Harris/ Dozier/ Hampton
MPJ/BArton/Cancar/ Whittington
Millsap/Green/ Bol
Jokic/ Hartenstein/ Nnaji
Murray, Morris, and Harris are likely going to get at least 75 minutes at guard, the question is who will get the other 23 minutes? Compazzo looks good, Dozier was great in limited minutes during the playoffs, Barton of course can get some of those minutes, and Hampton and Howard do not look ready for minutes yet. There is some big competition for limited minutes, and a lot of unproven talent to compete for those minutes. I am thrilled as each guy brings something different, so I am sure we will find someone to take those limited minutes.
At forward you have MPJ, Barton, and Millsap likely to get more minutes every night, but do the rest of those minutes go to Green, Cancar, or Bol? Worst case it is Green, and we know he can bring exactly what we need at PF, but what if Bol or Cancar take those minutes? None of us are upset by that I don't think.
While Green is undersized he can also be the primary backup Center when we go small, so if Bol, Hartenstein, or Nnaji do not take those minutes that we have a suitable big that can.
Our 2 way deals I think are great. I was reminded yesterday how Morris and Craig were our 1st two way guys and how we drafted MOrris knowing he had to fix his shot and brought in Craig hoping he could be a defender. Now we got Whittington and Howard, who both have a chance to be long term contributors when developed.
Whittington was a Georgetown recruit that had injury and academic issues, and still had some predraft workouts. He is a good shooter, great rebounder, and from what I read an above average defender. He has the chance to be a great fit at SF behind MPJ, as you still get the shooting and rebounding that we will be depending on from MPJ. I doubt he gets a lot of minutes this year, but in case of injury or for next year he is the perfect fit at backup SF.
If the new guys are better than expected than you can always trade Barton, Morris, Cancar, and even Harris and get picks or upgrades where needed down the line. While I am not going to pretend I did not want to see a better backup C, or a trade for Beal, for what we needed going into this offseason and the limited cap room, I am excited to see what this team can do next season.