After early look, what's your plan for rest of season?

[_Und3r][D4wg_]

Speaking of our young guns' development, how much do you guys value the contribution of confidence-building wins as an adjunct to guaranteed-&-significant playing time in their development? Is it better to just force-feed near-40mins in playing time to all-youth lineups every game, with the vets just spelling them occasionally for a few minutes?

Do we let the kids get shellacked by playoff contenders night-in & night-out, and trust that they indeed learn from getting 'schooled' by superior opponents? Is there value in going for some morale-boosting wins with a couple of vets at end-games, or swallow the loss but let a vet or two take the heat for said losses? Were demoralizing early seasons with doormat teams a factor why some first-rounders of years past took a while before they finally came good?

Guys like Hayes and Sekou clearly need to be comfortable on the floor -- with no worries from Casey's menacing stares or barks, and with only token attention from the opponent's defense... Ergo, their other teammates on the floor should commmand more defensive attention to allow them to fly under the radar. OTOH, Bey, Stewart, Jackson & Grant are pretty much consistent with the energy & purpose they bring to the floor everytime (although results may sometimes vary from game-to-game).

And no, we haven't forgotten about positioning ourselves for a fair haul in the next draft. Just wanted to hear your thoughts on where you think the balance should be... Or should we just go for bottom-of-the-barrel and hope the kids come out OK, abandon trying to increase the vets' trade value (bench or relegate them to the injured list) and just give them away for a bag of peanuts (or buy them out)?

[Manocad]

I expect Coaching 101. Young players should be playing the minutes they need to play to properly develop as long as they aren’t floundering on the floor and losing confidence. The vets need to play the minutes warranted for their stature and position; you can’t just leave Blake on the bench because you’re convinced he has no value until he’s an expiring contract, for example. And nobody should be force fed 40 minutes because wins aren’t important.

And let whatever happens happen. At this point I don’t think that using Rose and Blake more actually leads to more wins or a better chance for a win against better teams anyway. Stick to the proper plan and if the team gets shellacked by playoff teams night in and night out, so be it. But I think this team has already showed that their defense is good enough that they’re not going to get shellacked night in and night out by anyone. Ultimately the goal should be proper player/team development. Don’t press too hard to get wins, and don’t kill morale by intentionally trying to lose. Obviously if this team playing under a proper development schedule manages to go .500 in the first year of a rebuild that’s not a bad thing. At that point they’re already a key free agent and a big time star away from competing; you don’t want to squash their spirit by forcing them to lose games they clearly shouldn’t lose just for a better draft pick.

[Laimbeer]

We should do what develops the kids best, but that's not playing them big minutes every game regardless. Force fed playing time can be a detriment.

[zeebneeb]

Winning is important in creating a culture of winning. A team is no different from any other workplace. If the workplace is filled with incompetent people, and the business is always on the verge of going out of business, it creates a culture of malcontents. Now if the business is a startup, losing money is no problem because future success is right around the corner.

This is how this team needs to be treated, and sold to the younger guys.

This team has also been competitive in every single game, and a few breaks here and there and this team is actually .500 or better. I chalk that up to intentionally tanking. I thought this team would be terrible before the seasons start, but after having seen Grant starting to evolve, Bey and Stewart really balling, and the defense this team plays, I am seriously starting to doubt this team landing a top 5 pick minimum.

It's good that this team is better then I thought, but also bad as I'm unsure about landing that top flight prospect.

[bstein14]

We should do what develops the kids best, but that's not playing them big minutes every game regardless. Force fed playing time can be a detriment.

Part of me things Hayes really could use some D League play to get his confidence up a bit.... but since we don't have a D League team perhaps what we should consider is giving him a week off and have him work with our coaching staff every day on his shot, on his skillsets, breaking down film from games he's play showing him things to look for, etc..... Maybe just give him 2 or 3 games off and work on some of the stuff that would have been able to be worked on with a regular training camp and preseason.

Then he'd be in a position to go back in after putting in the work and hopefully see some better results.

Once you get into the grind of the season it can really be hard to work on improving things because you're constantly the repettiive cycle of playing, resting, shoot around, practices, preparing for specific teams, etc. Working on individual skillset can seemingly get lost for players that are playing every night.

[Sort]

Thoughtful posts. Weaver doesn't look as clueless as he did at the beginning of the season. I've only seen Killian play in these games, but you have to believe there is more to his game waiting to take stage. Other than the Cleveland game I think it was where Casey rode the vets hard for way too long even when they weren't producing, I actually think there has been a reasonable balance. All the rookies by game five have embedded themselves in the rotation.

The question I have is what to do with Blake and Grant. They don't work together as a pairing in the starting line up. You can play them together, but for limited stretches, not for the starting six minutes of each half. Bey and Jackson can work with either Grant or Blake, and you get so much better balance and a versatile lineup.

[ByeByeDre]

Boston has a $28.5 million trade exception. I would continue to showcase Grant and see if Troy can turn him into a bunch of picks.

Beyond that - play the youth, write Blake off as a sunk cost. Trade DRose ASAP.

One thing about Hayes - I would start Wright at point and let Hayes battle against second string point guards for now. The problem is.... that’s Rose’s spot.

[edmunder_prc]

Boston has a $28.5 million trade exception. I would continue to showcase Grant and see if Troy can turn him into a bunch of picks.

Beyond that - play the youth, write Blake off as a sunk cost. Trade DRose ASAP.

One thing about Hayes - I would start Wright at point and let Hayes battle against second string point guards for now. The problem is.... that’s Rose’s spot.

Not a bad idea with Boston.

Smart
Brown
Tatum
Grant
Thiess/Thompson

To give up Grant there would need to be many picks, because that puts Boston into Championship mode. Their picks wouldnt be valuable.

They had three 2020 picks, but thats all over with now.

Maybe not a good option. They dont have anything interesting to give, no stash of picks at least.


EDIT

Maybe trade Grant to Boston for Nesmith (15th pick) and Pritchard (late first round pick, the white PG on Killian last night). Boston's 1st round pick too?

[davidvolumes]

Going forward I'd like to what Isaiah Stewart looks like as a PF. If so ideally he could split his time between Center and power forward. I would love to see him reduce Blake Griffin's time to 15 minutes of game or less.

[ByeByeDre]

Boston has a $28.5 million trade exception. I would continue to showcase Grant and see if Troy can turn him into a bunch of picks.

Beyond that - play the youth, write Blake off as a sunk cost. Trade DRose ASAP.

One thing about Hayes - I would start Wright at point and let Hayes battle against second string point guards for now. The problem is.... that’s Rose’s spot.

Not a bad idea with Boston.

Smart
Brown
Tatum
Grant
Thiess/Thompson

To give up Grant there would need to be many picks, because that puts Boston into Championship mode. Their picks wouldnt be valuable.

They had three 2020 picks, but thats all over with now.

Maybe not a good option. They dont have anything interesting to give, no stash of picks at least.


EDIT

Maybe trade Grant to Boston for Nesmith (15th pick) and Pritchard (late first round pick, the white PG on Killian last night). Boston's 1st round pick too?

OKC has a bunch of exceptions too, so you can trade most of Detroit’s players somewhere simply by including the Thunder. I do think Boston will be hot to use theirs by the trade deadline. They’re a piece or two away, and Ainge knows it. Walker returning will help, but they need more.

[edmunder_prc]

Going forward I'd like to what Isaiah Stewart looks like as a PF. If so ideally he could split his time between Center and power forward. I would love to see him reduce Blake Griffin's time to 15 minutes of game or less.

Stewart at PF is an odd fit. It would be amazing if Stewart at a mid-range jump shot or a 3-point shot. Give him a Duncan bank shot and he would be incredible. We can hope.

If he had a Baynes type 3-pointer, then pick and pop works on offense. Defense he still is under the basket. If he has to defend a wing, then he is away from the basket and his best asset, getting offensive rebounds, is reduced.

[davidvolumes]

We don't know if Stewart can shoot a jump shot just yet. on defense he could play the center position and on offense he could play a PF position. He is the best defensive center we have and that would maximize defense at the center position and allow Plumlee or Oakafor to guard a wing.

[tmorgan]

Okafor to guard a wing. Lolololololololllllllzzzzz.

[_Und3r][D4wg_]

Good to hear everyone's thoughts, as well as some calm & measured expectations for the rest of the season.

It can get confusing at times in the game threads to see how... unsettled(?) a few can become from one game to the next (or one quarter to the next?) after having stated reasonable preseason expectations based on likely scenarios for this 'new' team moving forward. Then again, I suppose that a franchise that's been "raggedy as hell" (thanks, LaVar ) for the past decade can do that to anyone, so everyone gets a pass.