Phreak50 wrote:I haven't watched a game for a while, how has White looked running the show?
Any argument to trade one of him or Murray?
Yeah I agree with Jeff and gump. I'm a huge Derrick stan, he's my favourite Spur (along with Devin now) but as a combo guard, his ball handling is poor. The best you can say is that it plateaued, but truly for someone coming into the league as a 1-2, it's not too much to ask for this crucial aspect of the front end of a spear to be sharp. I've been commenting on his lacking ball handling for like three years now, and here he is still picking up his dribble too early, still dribbling up to his chest, still not having any manner of cross over or other tools in the handling kit to beat his man off the dribble besides a spin or pump fake or up and under, and even then, these are finishing moves.
Even Bryn has a behind the back dribble he's been using to create space. Bryn!
I love Derrick and just about everything about him as a guy who worked his way up to the NBA. And he's worked hard in the NBA, too. I love his defense, his physical drives, his herky jerky moves in the key, his decent passing (though that's been spotty this season, too).
To whatever extent he was the lead PG in that Denver series, I see now it was a combination of confidence of being surrounded by vets, so as the PG he wasn't tasked with also being the main scoring option, and so he succeeded as the secondary option that wasn't scouted well. It may also have been peak Derrick.
When we don't have those other primary options and rely more on the back court to initiate and create, well we see that even getting doubled by Pistons is pressure he hasn't learned to overcome (and true, we have to do a better job coming to the ball of a doubled player).
Maybe gump's right and he's still finding his way from a largely missed season. It's just surprising he lacks that killer take-over we've seen at times, that putting the team on his back confidence to make the right decisions and moves on O. To his credit he stepped up on D to take the charge late - his D I don't question at all. But it looks like he lacks confidence on O because he hasn't developed a wider array of go-to moves to be a late game difference maker, and that's frankly on him.
I don't want to see him on another team, and he's still a value contract despite his struggles this season, but I do think that he functions best as a bench 2 guard. Lonnie is there now and he's nowhere near the defender, so maybe Lonnie can slide to the 3? I don't know.
Feels like we have the next wave of players pushing up on players who we have now - Primo for the 1/2, Joe for Doug's eventual spot, Lonnie if he gets more steady perhaps for Derrick's spot, though he's not done anything to make us think he can dethrone Derrick. Too erratic and unreliable still.
So clearly DJ is THE guy. DJ has stepped up and proven to be the leader of the team, to be the central guy who can be the cog around whom the team naturally organizes itself well, and the guy who can make clutch shots. He's surpassed Derrick, though they work well together at least for now. But Derrick's making himself replaceable with the lack of ball handling and not really being the galvanizing force with the ball. We've waited so long for this tandem to be together, and it may be together for a shorter time than I thought they would be if he doesn't improve these crucial aspects of a guard's game.
DJ's not going anywhere. (At least I'd be shocked if at this point he were moved).
As to our contracts, here's their value: