2021-22 Depth Chart/Team Needs list

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2021-22 Depth Chart/Team Needs list 

Post#1 » by loserX » Wed Aug 25, 2021 4:45 pm

Now that the offseason has settled a bit, it seems like a good time to take stock of where your team is at, what you have and don't have!

(And yes, the offseason is still ongoing, but these can be updated as events warrant :) )

Share with us your team's current depth chart as best you can, and let us know what if anything your team still needs (i.e. what they *didn't* get done since season's end). Historically, having this all in one place makes a good reference guide for future trade proposals.

Hoping to hear from all teams!

Atlanta Hawks
Boston Celtics
Brooklyn Nets
Charlotte Hornets
Chicago Bulls
Cleveland Cavaliers
Dallas Mavericks
Denver Nuggets
Detroit Pistons
Golden State Warriors
Houston Rockets
Indiana Pacers
Los Angeles Clippers
Los Angeles Lakers
Memphis Grizzlies
Miami Heat
Milwaukee Bucks
Minnesota Timberwolves
New Orleans Pelicans
New York Knicks
Oklahoma City Thunder
Orlando Magic
Philadelphia 76ers
Phoenix Suns
Portland Trailblazers
Sacramento Kings
San Antonio Spurs
Toronto Raptors
Utah Jazz
Washington Wizards
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Re: 2021-22 Depth Chart/Team Needs list 

Post#2 » by loserX » Wed Aug 25, 2021 4:45 pm

I might as well start:

UTAH JAZZ

Depth chart
Gobert/Whiteside/Azubuike
O'Neale/Paschall/Brantley
Bogdanovic/Ingles/Gay
Mitchell/Oni/Forrest/Hughes
Conley/Clarkson

(This by-position breakdown is a little bit misleading. The Jazz will often go smaller and Rudy Gay and Bogi will probably play more minutes at PF than Paschall or Brantley. More likely still: we see the starting five as above, then Gay/Ingles/Clarkson eating most of the bench minutes.)

Biggest needs
Same as it ever was: defensive harassers on the wing. It also remains to be seen whether Whiteside/Azubuike/Paschall can combine enough meaningful minutes to back up Rudy. Hopefully they can.
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Re: 2021-22 Depth Chart/Team Needs list 

Post#3 » by eminence » Wed Aug 25, 2021 5:00 pm

loserX wrote:.


I'd probably list Forrest as the 3rd PG and Gay as the 2nd PF, but mostly agreed with the above.

Here's my take for Golden State

PG: Stephen Curry/Jordan Poole/Gary Payton II
SG: Klay Thompson(when healthy)/Damion Lee/Moses Moody
SF: Andrew Wiggins/Juan Toscano-Anderson/Andre Iguodala
PF: Draymond Green/Otto Porter/Jonathan Kuminga
Cc: James Wiseman/Kevon Looney/Nemanja Bjelica

I imagine Wiggins will shift up to SG when Klay is out and one of JTA/Porter will start (maybe even Iggy?). The bench SF/PFs are really quite interchangeable. Imo GS still really needs a starting caliber C, but the FO seems unlikely to address it at this point. Past that mostly just need Klay to get healthy. Wouldn't mind a more capable 3rd string PG than Payton.
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Re: 2021-22 Depth Chart/Team Needs list 

Post#4 » by Texas Chuck » Wed Aug 25, 2021 5:16 pm

Got to say ordering this properly especially at center is tough because of the coaching change. But here goes.

KP/WCS/Powell/Boban/Gilmore
Finney-Smith/Kleber/Omoruyi(2 way)
Bullock/Green
THJ/Brown/Burke/Terry
Doncic/Brunson

Needs: secondary star still, one more playmaker, less centers. Looking over the depth chart I'm guessing KP plays half his time at PF(ugh), allowing Dorian to play some SF. With no changes here is my expected playoff rotation:

KP(36)/WCS(12)
DFS(26)/Kleber(22)
Bullock(34)/DFS(14)
THJ(38)/Brunson(10)
Luka(41)/Brunson(7)

Edit: Nate Hinton was waived from his 2-way. So once again evidence why I tell posters not to take their FO at face value all the time. Dallas told us at the draft they didn't try and acquire a pick because they viewed their 4 rookies from last season all as keepers. Bey and Hinton already gone since they told us that....
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Re: 2021-22 Depth Chart/Team Needs list 

Post#5 » by toooskies » Wed Aug 25, 2021 8:58 pm

Cavs:

Garland/Rubio
Sexton/Windler/Dotson?
Okoro/Osman/Stevens?
Mobley/Nance/Love/Wade?
Allen/Kabengele?

All the ?s are on non-guaranteed contracts. Wade is the only one the team should want to keep around.

The PF/C depth is yet to be made clear--is Mobley starting at PF or backing up at C?-- but I'd expect ~30 minutes each out of Mobley and Allen each night with ~20 each from Nance and Love. Finding out who works together will be an experiment. Nance might steal a few minutes at the 3.

Biggest needs (if intending to win, which is its own question):
- A rotation/starting SF that can shoot and defend. Okoro and Osman were two of the worst players in the NBA last year-- Okoro's offensive game was nonexistent and Osman had his worst year as a pro, particularly shooting. Okoro is probably a more natural SG, and a capable 3 lets him slide over to get minutes at the 2, where Windler is unproven due to injury and Dotson didn't prove anything positively last year, either.

- Depth everywhere except PF is a problem. If any of Garland/Rubio/Sexton/Okoro/Allen get hurt, the team will have to play guys out-of-position or give significant minutes to replacement-level players. That's fine if the Cavs are still in development mode and not win-now mode, but it will lose the team some games throughout the year in the average case and tank the season if just a couple of guys go down for significant time.

- Getting off of Love's salary would be a nice-to-have but probably not at the expense of taking on more money. The Cavs can't seem to attract MLE-level guys as-is, so what is cap space going to do?
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Re: 2021-22 Depth Chart/Team Needs list 

Post#6 » by ChettheJet » Wed Aug 25, 2021 9:49 pm

Chicago Bulls

1 Lonzo Ball Alex Caruso Javonte Green Devon Dotson (two way?)
2 Zach Lavine Coby White Ayo Dosunmo
3 Demar DeRozan Troy Brown jr maybe a new guy
4 Patrick Williams probably 2 new guys Marko Simonovic
5 Nikola Vucevic Tony Bradley somebody


The needs are 2 backup PFs likely one that is a 4-5 type
if they get a 4-5 type they don't need a third center
if they get two contributing PFs they don''t need the 3rd SF as Williams covers that position
Caruso can get minutes at the SG, White can get minutes at the PG, Brown could play SG
Brown and Green are good defenders
Simonovic is an unknown
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Re: 2021-22 Depth Chart/Team Needs list 

Post#7 » by Bornstellar » Wed Aug 25, 2021 9:52 pm

San Antonio Spurs

*Note I have no idea who Pop plans on starting aside from probably Jak and Murray. Spurs also have too many players on the roster so there will definitely be changes prior to the season. But as of now:

Poeltl/Eubanks/Landale
McDermott/T. Young/Samanic/Aminu
K. Johnson/Vassell
White/Walker/Forbes/Primo
Murray/T. Jones

My guess is Spurs will run a lot of 3 or 4 guard lineups and play a lot of smallball this year. I would hope without Mills to play backup PG now that Pop learns how to staggers Murray and White so that one of them is always out there running the offense.

Biggest needs

1. Legit #1 option/star player
2. 3&D SFs or really any legit big wing players
3. Stretch big(s) that can play defense
4. Shooters in general
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Re: 2021-22 Depth Chart/Team Needs list 

Post#8 » by DWhiteMamba » Wed Aug 25, 2021 10:37 pm

Bornstellar wrote:San Antonio Spurs

*Note I have no idea who Pop plans on starting aside from probably Jak and Murray. Spurs also have too many players on the roster so there will definitely be changes prior to the season. But as of now:

Poeltl/Eubanks/Landale
McDermott/T. Young/Samanic/Aminu
K. Johnson/Vassell
White/Walker/Forbes/Primo
Murray/T. Jones

My guess is Spurs will run a lot of 3 or 4 guard lineups and play a lot of smallball this year. I would hope without Mills to play backup PG now that Pop learns how to staggers Murray and White so that one of them is always out there running the offense.

Biggest needs

1. Legit #1 option/star player
2. 3&D SFs or really any legit big wing players
3. Stretch big(s) that can play defense
4. Shooters in general


Ok so I'm going to disagree right off the bat. I think our depth chart will be as follows:

Keldon/Thad/Eubanks
Vassell/McDermott/Samanic
Poeltl/Z.Collins/Jock
White/Walker/Primo
Murray/Forbes/Tre

Of course alot of those guys will move between positions; Thad will play small ball 5, McD will play small-ball 4, Eubanks will be functionally a 5 most times he gets on the court, but in terms of thinking about who gets minutes this is a more useful representation of our depth. I mean you have Forbes as the 3rd shooting guard dude. We didn't just pay him a decent chunk of change to be a 3rd stringer. He's filling the Patty role off the bench, which is fine because Walker/whoever will be the creator when he's the nominal point guard.

McDermott could start, but I think it'll be Vassell. Vassell might only get 24 minutes a game, with McD getting about the same, but Vassell's defense makes more sense in the starting line-up. It's the same reason you start Poeltl. Defensive players have the biggest impact when they're guarding the other teams best offensive players. Offensive players have an impact whenever you play them. It's part of the reason DeLoser should have been coming off the bench last year. Our first 5 guys will probably be White, Keldon, Poeltl, Murray and Vassell, in that order of importance. First 4 off the bench, also in order of importance, will be Thad, McD, Walker and Forbes. If Zach Collins gets back to where he was and is healthy, I could see him starting over Vassell, or at least getting big bench minutes. He was starting in Portland and doing well there, and that would let us put Keldon at the 3 without sacrificing D in the starting unit.

Jock, Eubanks, Tre and Samanic will probably get minutes when guys are out, on back to backs, etc. Primo will be in Austin lighting it up. Tre might start to steal the back-up 1 minutes from Forbes before long.

With that in mind, the Spurs don't need depth pieces. They need star power. I don't see how they'd add rotation pieces who would upgrade over what we have, because why is the other team trading you said piece? The guy also hasn't been through training camp, and guys on our team play best when they've had a chance to learn the system etc, it's one reason we rarely make midseason trades.
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Re: 2021-22 Depth Chart/Team Needs list 

Post#9 » by HornetJail » Wed Aug 25, 2021 11:26 pm

Charlotte

Roster:
Mason Plumlee/Kai Jones/Vernon Carey/Nick Richards
Miles Bridges/PJ Washington/JT Thor/Arnoldas Kulboka*
Gordon Hayward/Kelly Oubre/Jalen McDaniels
Terry Rozier/James Bouknight/Cody Martin
LaMelo Ball/Ish Smith/Scottie Lewis*

Projected Rotation:
Mason Plumlee (24) / PJ Washington (12) / one of the 3 backup Cs (12)
Miles Bridges (30) / PJ Washington (18)
Gordon Hayward (30) / Kelly Oubre (18)
Terry Rozier (30) / James Bouknight (12) / Kelly Oubre (6)
LaMelo Ball (30) / Ish Smith (18)

Team Needs:
Upgraded starting C (yet again........)
Upgraded backup or third string PG
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Re: 2021-22 Depth Chart/Team Needs list 

Post#10 » by basketbob » Wed Sep 1, 2021 7:37 am

Denver

1 Murray (inj) - Morris - Campazzo - Howard (2way)
2 Barton - Rivers - Hyland
3 Gordon - Dozier - Cancar
4 Porter Jr - Jamychal Green - Nnaji
5 Jokic - Jeff Green - Bol

Listed by defensive position. There's some difference on offense.
Denver hoping to see any of their youngest talents (Hyland, Nnaji and Bol) surpass the vet backup in front of him.
If past be prologue, they'll patiently wait for Murray's return.
They can't trade a first IIRC and have very few seconds.
Most of their tradable salary-matching contracts can't be dealt until January. Add it up and it seems unlikely they'll deal much before the trade deadline.
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Re: 2021-22 Depth Chart/Team Needs list 

Post#11 » by ejftw » Thu Sep 2, 2021 6:12 am

My take on the Clips:

CE: Serge Ibaka | Ivica Zubac
PF: Marcus Morris | Nicolas Batum | Justise Winslow
SF: Paul George | Terance Mann | Keon Johnson | Kawhi Leonard-
SG: Luke Kennard | BJ Boston | Jay Scrubb*
PG: Eric Bledsoe | Reggie Jackson | Jay Preston

-IR
*Two-Way

Still have the restricted rights to Amir Coffey (SF/SG/PF) and don't recall if Yogi Ferrall was cut as he is non-guaranteed, but I would expect he will be, if not yet.

I'd like to see the Clippers add an emergency big with the two way, someone like Marques Bolden, Devin Robinson, Sam Shittu, Skal or Giles, although, I doubt the latter two would accept as such. If using a full slot, it would mean Coffey would be gone, and I'd take Jordan Bell over both DeMarcus Cousins and the speculation of DeAndre Jordan.
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Re: 2021-22 Depth Chart/Team Needs list 

Post#12 » by BelgradeNugget » Thu Sep 2, 2021 6:55 am

basketbob wrote:Denver

1 Murray (inj) - Morris - Campazzo - Howard (2way)
2 Barton - Rivers - Hyland
3 Gordon - Dozier - Cancar
4 Porter Jr - Jamychal Green - Nnaji
5 Jokic - Jeff Green - Bol

Listed by defensive position. There's some difference on offense.
Denver hoping to see any of their youngest talents (Hyland, Nnaji and Bol) surpass the vet backup in front of him.
If past be prologue, they'll patiently wait for Murray's return.
They can't trade a first IIRC and have very few seconds.
Most of their tradable salary-matching contracts can't be dealt until January. Add it up and it seems unlikely they'll deal much before the trade deadline.

Team need: health
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Re: 2021-22 Depth Chart/Team Needs list 

Post#13 » by loserX » Thu Sep 2, 2021 9:42 pm

Great breakdowns so far everyone, thank you!

I can't really bump a sticky but hopefully more people see this...lots of teams yet to hear from!
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Re: 2021-22 Depth Chart/Team Needs list 

Post#14 » by toooskies » Fri Sep 3, 2021 4:53 pm

toooskies wrote:Cavs:

Garland/Rubio
Sexton/Windler/Dotson?
Okoro/Osman/Stevens?
Mobley/Markkanen/Love/Wade?
Allen/Kabengele?/Fall?

All the ?s are on non-guaranteed contracts. Wade is the only one the team should want to keep around.

The PF/C depth is yet to be made clear--is Mobley starting at PF or backing up at C?-- but I'd expect ~30 minutes each out of Mobley and Allen each night with ~20 each from Markkanen and Love. Finding out who works together will be an experiment. Wade might steal a few minutes at the 3.

Biggest needs (if intending to win, which is its own question):
- A rotation/starting SF that can shoot and defend. Okoro and Osman were two of the worst players in the NBA last year-- Okoro's offensive game was nonexistent and Osman had his worst year as a pro, particularly shooting. Okoro is probably a more natural SG, and a capable 3 lets him slide over to get minutes at the 2, where Windler is unproven due to injury and Dotson didn't prove anything positively last year, either.

- Depth everywhere except PF is a problem. If any of Garland/Rubio/Sexton/Okoro/Allen get hurt, the team will have to play guys out-of-position or give significant minutes to replacement-level players. That's fine if the Cavs are still in development mode and not win-now mode, but it will lose the team some games throughout the year in the average case and tank the season if just a couple of guys go down for significant time.

- Getting off of Love's salary would be a nice-to-have but probably not at the expense of taking on more money. The Cavs can't seem to attract MLE-level guys as-is, so what is cap space going to do?

Changes in bold after the Markkanen deal and Tacko Fall signing. Not sure Tacko counts as better than replacement-level depth, but he's another guy.
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Re: 2021-22 Depth Chart/Team Needs list 

Post#15 » by MoneyTalks41890 » Tue Sep 7, 2021 10:32 pm

I’ll give OKC a shot but someone come along and correct me:

SGA/Maledon/Mann
Dort/Jerome/Wiggins
Giddey/Kenrich/Deck
Poku/Bazley/JRE
Favors/Muscala/Roby

I think it’s possible that Poku starts at the 3 and Giddey comes off the bench, but seems unlikely. I also think Favors starts but he’s a flip candidate.
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Re: 2021-22 Depth Chart/Team Needs list 

Post#16 » by jayu70 » Sun Sep 12, 2021 12:02 pm

Atlanta Hawks

PG: Trae Young, Delon Wright,  Lou Williams
SG: Bogdan Bogdanovic, Kevin Huerter, Timothy Luwawu- Cabborrot (UG)
SF: Deandre Hunter, Cam Reddish, Solomon Hill
PF: John Collins, Danilo Gallinari, Jaylen Johnson
C: Clint Capela, Gorgui Dieng, Oneyaka Okongwu

Two - way: Shariffe Cooper and Skylar Mays.

Hawks came into the offseason needing to fill the backup PG and C spots - did that with Wright and Dieng.

Remaining healthy will be big this season particularly with our wing players: Bigi, Hunter, Reddish each missed 25+ games.

With Oneyaka out until February, I expect to see Collins and Gallo play spot minutes at Center depending on matchups, like they did last year.

Two interesting things:
1. Does Gallo remain with the Hawks thru the end of the season.? Prime trade candidate.
2. does Jaylen Johnson see any significant minutes with the big club? He will spend ample time with our GLeague team. Most Hawks fans see him as Gallo's replacement at backup PF.
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Re: 2021-22 Depth Chart/Team Needs list 

Post#17 » by IAMZOOTED2 » Mon Sep 13, 2021 4:57 am

jayu70 wrote:Atlanta Hawks

PG: Trae Young, Delon Wright,  Lou Williams
SG: Bogdan Bogdanovic, Kevin Huerter, Timothy Luwawu- Cabborrot (UG)
SF: Deandre Hunter, Cam Reddish, Solomon Hill
PF: John Collins, Danilo Gallinari, Jaylen Johnson
C: Clint Capela, Gorgui Dieng, Oneyaka Okongwu

Two - way: Shariffe Cooper and Skylar Mays.

Hawks came into the offseason needing to fill the backup PG and C spots - did that with Wright and Dieng.

Remaining healthy will be big this season particularly with our wing players: Bigi, Hunter, Reddish each missed 25+ games.

With Oneyaka out until February, I expect to see Collins and Gallo play spot minutes at Center depending on matchups, like they did last year.

Two interesting things:
1. Does Gallo remain with the Hawks thru the end of the season.? Prime trade candidate.
2. does Jaylen Johnson see any significant minutes with the big club? He will spend ample time with our GLeague team. Most Hawks fans see him as Gallo's replacement at backup PF.


Dayum. Hawks stacked like a mofo. Barring health, they fittna make some noise. TLC... ya'll gotta find a way to guarantee that deal. Considering Bogy and Huerter's health woes, it might be good, cheap insurance.
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Re: 2021-22 Depth Chart/Team Needs list 

Post#18 » by loserX » Mon Sep 13, 2021 8:42 pm

Thanks to everyone who's chipped in so far...still need plenty of teams! Check the OP to see if your team can still be done, thank you :)
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Re: 2021-22 Depth Chart/Team Needs list 

Post#19 » by SmokeyPaw » Tue Sep 14, 2021 4:30 am

Other wolves fans will have a different perspective, but this is my best guess:

Depth Chart
Wolves have a roster that is heavy on guard/small wings and light on size. Dont think we'll run 1st and 2nd units but rather mix and match to get certain combinations on the floor. Some 3 guard combinations are likely given the makeup of our roster.

Starters

Towns (C)
Vanderbilt (PF)
McDaniels (SF)
Edwards (SG)
DLO (PG)

Its possible that DLO or Vanderbilt will come off the bench, but this is my best guess, pretty much how we ended the season.
Vanderbilt's defense and rebounding is needed despite the lack of offense. He does preclude putting some players on the floor with him such as okogie or layman
Since DLO and ANT are the primary shot creators, I think Finch will allocate minutes to keep at least one on the floor.
McDaniels may spend some time at pf, but will primarily defend the best wing.

Rotation Guys/ Spot Starters

Beasley (SG)
Prince (SF, PF)
Reid (C, PF)
Beverly (PG, SG)

Beasley is an excellent shooter but not much of a shot creator. Expect they'll pair him with ANT or DLO. Should get starter minutes
Reid will back up Towns but also play with Towns in some matchups.
Prince likely to get minutes at both SF and PF. Wish he'd defend better, but has some offensive skill.
Beverly could be paired with any of the other guards since they are all poor defensively.

Situational Guys

Nowell (SG) - He can create a shot, so could move up if he shoots consistently. Hard to find minutes though
McLaughlin (PG) - 3rd string pg
Okogie (SG,SF) - defensive specialist but poor offensively. Beverly makes it harder for him to get on the floor.
Layman (SF, PF) - fell out of Finch's rotation. ok defensively but didnt contribute on offensive end
Knight (PF,C) - 3rd string big.
Bolmaro (SG,SF) - guessing a developmental season. could move ahead of okogie, since he defends and but has more offensive promise. FO likes him

Needs

PF and perimeter defense with DLO, ANT and Beasley are the primary concerns. ANT and McDaniels development is probably the key to the season.
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Re: 2021-22 Depth Chart/Team Needs list 

Post#20 » by ecuhus1981 » Tue Sep 14, 2021 4:58 am

BROOKLYN NETS

Irving (32) - Mills (18) || Carter
Harden (36) - Harris (26) || Thomas
Durant (34) - Brown (16) || Doumbouya
Griffin (22) - Millsap (20) || Johnson
Claxton (22) - Aldridge (14) || Sharpe

This is my best guess as to how it will shake out, and I'll freely admit that Steve Nash has not commented on his starting lineup or rotation. Here's what we know:

1) Paul Millsap's agent noted when he signed that he would be allowed to compete for the starting PF spot alongside Kevin Durant. To me, that clearly suggests that Brooklyn plans to start KD at SF, which IMO is the right move. Of course, we have another solid SF on the roster, Joe Harris. He's the longest tenured Net and this point and a fan favorite, but we have enough offense in the 1st unit. He could really add scoring punch from the bench.

2) James Harden trained privately with Nic Claxton for much of this offseason. While this is no guarantee, I do believe that as the engine of our offense, James will have a ton of influence on who locks down the 5th starter spot. Nash will likely treat it as a matchup-based thing, but I think that Nic will get a plurality of those 82 starts.

Our needs are few. We are committed to load management, so I envision Kyrie and Kevin sitting at least 12 games, to *hopefully* stave off longer absences due to injury. Harden seems to desire another MVP and to prove a point, so it would not surprise me to see him return to Iron Man form and play 78-80 games.

The biggest possible bugaboo will be massaging egos, when 2 or 3 guys at any moment will deserve minutes that they simply cannot have, due to players in front of them. If there's one thing Steve can coach at an elite level, it's vibe management. The veterans will probably understand and appreciate rest for the stretch, but what about the kids? Claxton and Brown are in contact years, and looking for big extensions (that we might not want to give). If their PT gets sporadic, do they push for a trade? Up until now, they've been good soldiers, but getting frozen out of the rotation could mean losing tens of millions on their next contract. I suppose we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
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