Chocolate City Jordanaire wrote:
The last three players I mentioned are all young relative to Beal. Each one is conceivably headed for a break out season.
That is what is interesting about this method of team-building to me. Distinct from GMEG who would assemble rosters of players in their contract year, and bank on them giving major effort trying to earn their next contract, Tommy seems like he is trying to get sneaky good value on players that he has scouted extensively who he thinks has hidden upside. He is buying low on players that are young enough that they may be maturing into their breakout years. Many players come into the league with a ton of talent and struggle to put it together, whether due to maturity issues, or learning curve, or roster construction. Many of them break out on their 2nd contract or with their next team. Tommy looks like he is trying to make our team that Next Team. The one that steals guys who break out.
I recall hunting for diamonds in the rough by looking for players who have shown upside in their by-the-minutes numbers but who are playing out of position or behind an all-star.
Check Kyle Kuzma.
Line-ups. Sort by points. Notice, the lines he scores better are when playing with Antonio Davis out of the game. Makes sense, Davis an all-star, is going to soak up a ton of possessions. But waitaminute, these are per100 numbers. They are measuring the +/- of the team vs the opponent, not Kuzma's on/off numbers or whether he scores better or worse depending on personnel. In line-ups where Kuzma was on court with only one other forward, he played well, and the team played well, even when LeBJ was off the court. (I especially like that his best 3 man line-ups are all next to Montrezl).
If you look at his personal numbers, when Davis was added, Kuzma's overall numbers took a hit, but after a wobble they look to be trending back up, and his production #'s take a jump when he is playing at the position he knows, at PF. Good thing too, as his numbers took a hit offensively, he began playing better defense over the years. His rebounding numbers were pretty solid last year.
Gafford. Holiday. Hutchinson though he is gone. Dinwiddie has value that naturally is not as good as Harden or Kyrie, but still, solid if he is healthy. All of our team is pretty much either at their prime and the same age as Beal (KCP, Bertans, Dwiddie, Neto, Gil, Trez, all are ~28) or younger with upside, entering those breakout years.
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