60WinTim wrote:LaVine certainly has the tools to supplant Martin as the starting SG. I'm just not sure he will earn it before the season starts. But I do hope his game continues to develop so he does earn it.
Its just a matter of time. The sooner he can the better in my opinion. That would mean he is developing as we hoped
monsterpile wrote:I always think it's funny how people basically talk about Martin like he is a worse ball handler than Corey Brewer his first time around. If Martin is healthy start him let him be the shooter to space the floor for everybody If you are dying for Lavine to star just wait till game 21 or 30 when Martin gets hurt for a few games and bingo Lavine will be there. Based on how much time Lavine got last year some solid strides he made and the obvious amount Flip likes the Kid he will get run if he can play.
As for the bench. IDK if it will be good or not. If we bring over Bjelica and he is reasonably effective after say 20 games into the season that could help a lot. Who will the backup PG be? It's too early to say who some of the players will be on the team. If Bud is on the team and reasonably healthy he could be a pretty solid depth guy. The answer to this thread is health and to be decided.
This is the argument I can't stand for Martin over Lavine. Spacing the floor.
"But let's take a look at some of the tangible elements of LaVine's season that showed improvement, beginning with shooting. Dividing the season up into 10 game chunks, you can see that LaVine's 3-point shooting improved measurably. After shooting 34.9% from 3-point range in his first 10 games, he shot over 40% through the rest of the season, peaking in terms of percentage at 45.3% over the last 10 and in terms of efficiency in games 51-60, where he managed a 56.8% true shooting percentage."
Looks like Lavine is just as good of a floor spacer and he contributes in multiple areas instead of just scoring. Sure there is probably a slight scoring drop, but that's it. We talk all the time about Ricky making his teammates better and then we let all the vets who don't need his help play with him while leaving all the young guys to come off the bench and earn those vets' spots basically having to do it themselves because none of them help each other like Ricky can help them. Should not the guys who could benefit the most from Ricky play with him and let the vets who's games are still effective without Ricky run the second unit? Martin is going to score and space the floor no matter who he is playing with. Meanwhile Lavine could learn a lot more playing off the ball with Ricky as the PG and develop at a quicker pace as an off guard since he spent most of his rookie year as a primary ball handler.
Martin has been shooting the 3 ball well for basically his whole career and Lavine had a nice rookie season. I'd stick with Martin starting at this point but we also don't know what the roster will look like so it may make sense to have him come off the bench but I just think I'd go with Martin him playing with Ricky to start the game has some benefits also.
I agree the idea that Lavine should play as much as he can with Rubio has a lot of merit. Having him coming off the bench being able to do whatever makes some sense also. We all want Lavine to be successful and I do think some do maginalize the success and improvement Lavine made last season but I want to see him prove more before I assume he continues that trend I don't think that's beig unfair just reasonable. Line Insaid Lavine is gonna get plenty of opportunity one way or another.
It also feels like people marginalize Martin's abilities unfairly. I'm glad we have the guy on this team (warts and strengths) and for some whacky reason he hasn't asked out which is a little surprising to me.
