Biggest questions that remain for us post All-Star break...

[bstein14]

With 58 games played, we have just 24 games remaining this season. Here are the biggest five questions for me down the stretch of this season.

#1. Can Cade finish the season strong and be our first Rookie of the Year since Grant Hill in 1995? He's slumped a bit in his post hip pointer injury play but he may be poised for a strong finish down the stretch.

#2. Does Bagley fit? Can he be a player worth signing to a multi-year deal. Weaver has specifically mentioned that he'll be using these games to evaluate Bagley.

#3. Speaking of evaluating, we've got to decide soon what to do with Killian. Does this bench role better serve him? Can he make a big jump this offseason? Weaver will have to decide on his 4th year $7+ million team option by Oct 1st I believe.

#4. Is Frank Jackson a rotation player for us? Does he play well enough down the stretch to get his $3 million team option picked up next year or do we move on from him and look to someone else (perhaps Diallo to play backup SF and SG roles, or perhaps another player all together).

#5. How will Bey look if both Cade and Grant are also playing and healthy. Is Bey still the leading scorer? He's been averaging a decently efficent 18 PPG for us the past two months and he's been our leading scorer in that stretch. How does that change when both Grant and Cade are playing alongside him. It'll be interesting to see his scoring averages and efficiency down the stretch for March and April.

[Piston Pete]

With 58 games played, we have just 24 games remaining this season. Here are the biggest five questions for me down the stretch of this season.

#1. Can Cade finish the season strong and be our first Rookie of the Year since Grant Hill in 1995? He's slumped a bit in his post hip pointer injury play but he may be poised for a strong finish down the stretch.

#2. Does Bagley fit? Can he be a player worth signing to a multi-year deal. Weaver has specifically mentioned that he'll be using these games to evaluate Bagley.

#3. Speaking of evaluating, we've got to decide soon what to do with Killian. Does this bench role better serve him? Can he make a big jump this offseason? Weaver will have to decide on his 4th year $7+ million team option by Oct 1st I believe.

#4. Is Frank Jackson a rotation player for us? Does he play well enough down the stretch to get his $3 million team option picked up next year or do we move on from him and look to someone else (perhaps Diallo to play backup SF and SG roles, or perhaps another player all together).

#5. How will Bey look if both Cade and Grant are also playing and healthy. Is Bey still the leading scorer? He's been averaging a decently efficent 18 PPG for us the past two months and he's been our leading scorer in that stretch. How does that change when both Grant and Cade are playing alongside him. It'll be interesting to see his scoring averages and efficiency down the stretch for March and April.

1) Yes

2) Fit? Yeah, mostly
Extend? No thanks

3) Killian = bench
I hope we don’t pick up his option.

4) either way. $3 million isn’t much, even for a bench guy.

5) Bey will be fine

[Cowology]

With 58 games played, we have just 24 games remaining this season. Here are the biggest five questions for me down the stretch of this season.

#1. Can Cade finish the season strong and be our first Rookie of the Year since Grant Hill in 1995? He's slumped a bit in his post hip pointer injury play but he may be poised for a strong finish down the stretch.

No. Too much ground to make up and he'd have to drastically improve his scoring efficiency.

#2. Does Bagley fit? Can he be a player worth signing to a multi-year deal. Weaver has specifically mentioned that he'll be using these games to evaluate Bagley.

Yes. It will anger some fans when we re-sign him.

#3. Speaking of evaluating, we've got to decide soon what to do with Killian. Does this bench role better serve him? Can he make a big jump this offseason? Weaver will have to decide on his 4th year $7+ million team option by Oct 1st I believe.

No. Tough decision could go either way, but I'm not sold.

#4. Is Frank Jackson a rotation player for us? Does he play well enough down the stretch to get his $3 million team option picked up next year or do we move on from him and look to someone else (perhaps Diallo to play backup SF and SG roles, or perhaps another player all together).

No. He's marginal at best, no reason to pick it up.

#5. How will Bey look if both Cade and Grant are also playing and healthy. Is Bey still the leading scorer? He's been averaging a decently efficent 18 PPG for us the past two months and he's been our leading scorer in that stretch. How does that change when both Grant and Cade are playing alongside him. It'll be interesting to see his scoring averages and efficiency down the stretch for March and April.

Yes. He's starting to break out. Expect big things.

[MotorCade2]

#1 No but I don't care. He is going to be the best player in this draft when it's all said and done

#2 Yes, Bagley can play both PF and C and is actually an interior presence who plays strong. He is a consistent jumpshot away from being an absolute steal for us. With our situation we should try and resign him for a cheap 3 year contract and hope he breaks out.

3# I am no fan of Hayes but he is similar to Bagley in that we should give him another year considering that we are still in the rebuilding phase. He has all the physical tools but just can't put it together because of his lack of aggression. I would give him one more year. If we were a contender next year I would dump him but we aren't. I do not want him starting though. I want to find a competent backcourt mate for Cade. Hayes may not be that but if he can break out a bit and be one of our better players off the bench then that would be perfect.

4# I love Frank Jackson. 3 million is chump change. Definitely keep him for that. He has been a gamechanger in many of our games this year. That is what you want from your bench.

5# Bey just needs to get his efficiency up to around 43% overall and 38% from 3 and he will be a borderline allstar. Cade, Grant, and Bey have all proven they can play very well together. Let's add a starting big or guard from the draft and a starting big or guard from free agency and start to develop a winning culture next year.

[FloridaMan78]

1) No. I know Cade cares about ROY so hopefully it gives him a bit of a chip on his shoulder and it motivates him.

2) Yes Bagley will fit. Good place holder when we trade Grant and draft a PF. Eventually our scoring big off the bench so only if he's cheap 7-8 mil yr

3) Killian should get the team option. 7 mil ain't a lot for a back up point guard. He's showing he's serviceable in that role. Still has potential to get better.

4) Frank Jackson as the 10th man on the bench for 3 mil is perfect. Team guy that was ready when called upon and didn't b*tch when he wasn't playing.

5) Really hope they keep feeding Bey the ball. Definitely part of the future. I hope to see him keep working on his passing game though and not force things.

[Manocad]

1. Don't care. ROY will be a nice feather in Cade's cap so I'm sure it means something to him personally but it doesn't mean anything relative to improving the team so it means nothing to me personally.

2. I think it's clear Bagley CAN fit; the team certainly didn't suffer when he played. The rest of the season will determine whether he's really an asset worth keeping from a play on the court standpoint, then it will simply be a question of cost.

3. No, the team doesn't have to decide "soon" what to do with Killian. The team has until Oct 5 actually to make a decision on whether or not to pick up his final year. Between now and then he should keep playing from the bench unless he breaks out.

4. For $3 million I'd keep Frank. Like a lot of the other young players he just needs to be consistent; he's certainly not lacking in ability.

5. Bey will be fine. It appears he's starting to develop some consistency and as long as he learns to stop pressing trying to make iso plays and can finish at the rim better he'll be at or near All Star level. Whether or not he, Cade or Grant becomes the leading scorer is moot IMO. They just all need to be efficient scorers.

[bstein14]

3. No, the team doesn't have to decide "soon" what to do with Killian. The team has until Oct 5 actually to make a decision on whether or not to pick up his final year. Between now and then he should keep playing from the bench unless he breaks out.

I believe Weaver made the comment about "evaluating" both Bagley and Hayes down the stretch of this season to determine future moves. So I think how Hayes plays down the stretch of this season may effect whether or not we make moves that would keep Killian as a rotation player or not.

It's very clear that Casey prefers CoJo to Killian... so if CoJo is still on the roster and we go after someone like Brunson it pretty much pushes Hayes out of the rotation for next season. I would say these last 24 games are pretty important for Hayes simply because the draft and free agency happen before we get to see him in the summer league again. I'm also pretty sure we won't see guys like Cade, Bey and Stewart in the summer league this year but Hayes, our top 5 pick, Lee, Garza, Livers, etc will be there.

I also think its very likely that Casey gets less of "you need to play the young guys to develop them" and more of "play the players that you feel give you the best chance to win" next season with the exception of perhaps Weaver wanting our top 5 pick to get a certain amount of playing time. After being a bottom 5 team for the past 3 seasons you know Casey is going to push to win as much as he can next year. That coaching W/L record sticks with him long after he's gone.

[Manocad]

3. No, the team doesn't have to decide "soon" what to do with Killian. The team has until Oct 5 actually to make a decision on whether or not to pick up his final year. Between now and then he should keep playing from the bench unless he breaks out.

I believe Weaver made the comment about "evaluating" both Bagley and Hayes down the stretch of this season to determine future moves. So I think how Hayes plays down the stretch of this season may effect whether or not we make moves that would keep Killian as a rotation player or not.

It's very clear that Casey prefers CoJo to Killian... so if CoJo is still on the roster and we go after someone like Brunson it pretty much pushes Hayes out of the rotation for next season. I would say these last 24 games are pretty important for Hayes simply because the draft and free agency happen before we get to see him in the summer league again. I'm also pretty sure we won't see guys like Cade, Bey and Stewart in the summer league this year but Hayes, our top 5 pick, Lee, Garza, Livers, etc will be there.

I also think its very likely that Casey gets less of "you need to play the young guys to develop them" and more of "play the players that you feel give you the best chance to win" next season with the exception of perhaps Weaver wanting our top 5 pick to get a certain amount of playing time. After being a bottom 5 team for the past 3 seasons you know Casey is going to push to win as much as he can next year. That coaching W/L record sticks with him long after he's gone.

I should have clarified. Let's consider "by the end of this season" as the definition of "soon." While Weaver could make a decision after the end of this season about what to do with Killian, he doesn't HAVE to. He could consider offseason trade options and summer league performance as well. Unless "soon" means by Oct 5 which then the answer is "Well yeah, obviously."

[Uncle Mxy]

You forgot an important question:

#6 Who do we have to tank for Casey still being coach?

[Piston Pete]

You forgot an important question:

#6 Who do we have to tank for Casey still being coach?

[FloridaMan78]

3. No, the team doesn't have to decide "soon" what to do with Killian. The team has until Oct 5 actually to make a decision on whether or not to pick up his final year. Between now and then he should keep playing from the bench unless he breaks out.

I believe Weaver made the comment about "evaluating" both Bagley and Hayes down the stretch of this season to determine future moves. So I think how Hayes plays down the stretch of this season may effect whether or not we make moves that would keep Killian as a rotation player or not.

It's very clear that Casey prefers CoJo to Killian... so if CoJo is still on the roster and we go after someone like Brunson it pretty much pushes Hayes out of the rotation for next season. I would say these last 24 games are pretty important for Hayes simply because the draft and free agency happen before we get to see him in the summer league again. I'm also pretty sure we won't see guys like Cade, Bey and Stewart in the summer league this year but Hayes, our top 5 pick, Lee, Garza, Livers, etc will be there.

I also think its very likely that Casey gets less of "you need to play the young guys to develop them" and more of "play the players that you feel give you the best chance to win" next season with the exception of perhaps Weaver wanting our top 5 pick to get a certain amount of playing time. After being a bottom 5 team for the past 3 seasons you know Casey is going to push to win as much as he can next year. That coaching W/L record sticks with him long after he's gone.

I think there's a difference between moving on from Hayes completely and Hayes playing a different role than Weaver might have envisioned. Weaver drafted him 7th and probably thought he'd be a starter. It's become apparent he's not that. Hayes' attitude though has been pretty good all things considered. 7 mil isn't that much.

I totally understand the pressure to win. But I think you're one year ahead. Once it's time to extend Bey the following year, the pressure will really be on.

Rumors are this is Casey's last go around and may retire when he's done here. IMO his W/L doesn't matter as much to him knowing what he accomplished and the respect he's gained around the league. Of course he wants to win, but he knew what the situation was here when he extended. He knew it was a rebuilding team and would take years to get back to winning.

[Kalamazoo317]

Hayes has the potential to be a really nice glue-guy for us longterm, IMO. Cavs game showed he can really affect a game just with defense and playmaking and not really look to score at all. As long as we have enough scorers on the team (and we're trending that way) I think having one guy who can help the team gel but isn't really looking for his own shot doesn't have to be Kryptonite.

[Rodman]

Question 1 Can Cade finish the season strong. without question he can. put him in the pick-and-roll and he's almost Unstoppable give him a big like bagley and it's game on. he's an All-Star for years to come if you put him in the pick-and-roll surround him with Shooters and it's game over. question 2 does Bagley fit. without question he fits because he allows everyone else to do what they're good at he plays team ball he's an outlet he can score without an assist. he's a keeper. I try to get him on a three or four-year deal. question three what to do with Killian.Killian hasn't played a full year up of nba basketball yet and in my opinion he compares to Marcus Smart; tough. give him another year or two his shot will come around. maybe he will never be the shooter or scorer we hope for but if he's a Marcus Smart Player by all means he's a keeper