AbeVigodaLive wrote:So we're debating who's the best PF on this team...
A guy in his 5th year who's never averaged more than 6.0 ppg, sans a 14-game stretch for a tanking team.
vs.
A guy in his 5th year who's coming off a career high season of 9.1 points... and 2.5 rebounds.
Ha, I agree that the prospects of this team are not dependent on our PF! But I think you're missing the broader point of this discussion: is Ryan Saunders capable of putting the right guys on the floor at the right time? And the answer to that will have a lot to do with our success this season. It seems this board is only about 10% in favor of Saunders as coach, and I still am clinging to my position in that 10%. But I have also said I don't think x's and o's are the key to a coach's success. Instead I see motivating a team and lineup/rotation construction is much more important. Just my prejudice. And I'm concerned about two lineup decisions Ryan seems to be leaning toward that will probably knock me out of the Ryan-favorable minority.
First, I think it's terribly misguided to try to force a non-rebounding poor shooting undersized forward into a prominent PF role.
Secondly, I think this team can be most effective with Rubio at PG and D-Lo at SG. Chris Hines tweets that Saunders wants to have either Rubio or D-Lo on the floor at all times. Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but that sounds like D-Lo starts at PG, and Ricky replaces him when he needs a blow. I think that would be a horrible rotation decision by Ryan.
I'm a Wolves fan, so while I may lose faith in Saunders, I'll still cheer for the 5 guys he puts out there to start (and perhaps finish) games. But it may be difficult for me to celebrate regular 9-3-1 31% shooting lines for Jake with subpar defense.
Even if we don't see them start together... Rubio and Russell will have to play some together, and hopefully finish games.
Both guys should be getting 30+ mpg.
As for Saunders, we all have our reservations to varying degrees. I wonder how much pull he actually has considering the unique roster he's being handed. We all know that the ties to Flip were part of the reason for going with Ryan. And I'm on record that it's also in part because a young unproven coach buys more time for a young, unproven executive to keep his job at least one more year, too. Saunders is unproven enough that he'll take Rosas' direction, and he makes the perfect scapegoat should Rosas' experiment fail.
I think you are pretty much spot on with your "what you think it will be" lineup Kiwi. I think the only one I'd question is Hernangomez over Layman since it appears Ryan has favored Layman so far in the pre-season.
We have a lot of disagreements on this board, but there's one thing we all agree on- the Layman/Juancho rotation at PF that forces a 6'4" guy to play PF is not cutting it. Lipoli has started a worthwhile thread looking at possible PF free agents, but as I look at our glut of 2's and 3's, I wouldn't be surprised if Rosas isn't looking at something more significant to improve this team. I like that he is giving a lot of minutes to many wings (and we still have Nowell waiting in the wings) and that they are mostly all performing at a high level and increasing their trade value.
My choice to dangle as trade bait would be Beasley. He's following up a very good end of 2020 season with an impressive start this year, but his personal instability still concerns me. I love Malik's grit and 3-point shooting, but might not a guy who has averaged (in an admittedly small sample size) over 20 PPG at the end of last season and the start of this season bring back a PF who could step into the starting role and really improve this team? We would still have D-Lo, Culver, Edwards, Okogie and Nowell to cover the 2 and 3 positions- certainly adequate depth with a lot of potential for the future.
Who is out there that could use a potential 40% 3-point shooting 20 PPG SG, and would be able to give us a $15 million PF that would shore up our rebounding and interior defense?
I should add Layman to my list of available wings if we were to trade Beasley. While he is by no means an NBA PF, he does have some potential as a SF. He's quick and adequately sized for a SF, and made 40% of his threes his senior year in college. It would be nice to see if he contribute at his natural position.
AbeVigodaLive wrote:I'm calling it now... Beasley would enjoy (and thrive) playing with Rubio instead of Russell.
I like heat check sharpshooters (and analytical pariahs) off the bench... and there should only be so many shot hunting spots available with Russell and Towns on the court.
