Conley Donte or Dilly

[Leado01]

Absolutely LOVE TSJ, but we really need a real pg in the vein of a Mike Conley . . . Not for 38 minutes, but for 10-15 minutes probably based on match-ups

[60WinTim]

What?!? You didn't include Bones in your choices!

I am convinced Mike is not the answer as a starter as his skills are reflecting his age. Finch has to balance developing young talent and winning games. That game last night offered zero opportunity for a "development stint" from Dilly.

The ANT/TSJ backcourt played the entire 5 minutes of crunch time last night. But I am fine with starting DDV while we wait for more data to unfold on TSJ, Bones and Dilly.

[Wolvesfan21]

Interesting symmetry with the local pro football team...

A team built to win now, with a talented roster... except for one glaring position of uncertainty.

We're nearing dangerous territory with Dillingham at this point if he can't even get into a game in year 2 when nobody else can even dribble the ball up the court.

Even if they know he's not the answer, there can't be much return on the investment at this point...

My expectations at this point is that he's just a role guy and his probable ceiling is 6th man type, low end starter in a few. You're for sure right, not seeing the floor is an issue. Conley will miss many games simply because of rest, so I think Dilly plays this year still, just maybe not as much as he should to develop / make mistakes.

The argument to simply throw him in there as a starter and take lumps with likely losing more games early but maybe becoming better late in the year is intriguing to me. Coaches are always lets win tonight, not seeing the long term. Though it could for sure backfire if he's not good enough too. It'd be a gamble.

[Wolvesfan21]

What?!? You didn't include Bones in your choices!

I am convinced Mike is not the answer as a starter as his skills are reflecting his age. Finch has to balance developing young talent and winning games. That game last night offered zero opportunity for a "development stint" from Dilly.

The ANT/TSJ backcourt played the entire 5 minutes of crunch time last night. But I am fine with starting DDV while we wait for more data to unfold on TSJ, Bones and Dilly.

Nah, Bones looks like a poor mans Crawford to me, he's just OK. Yes, I know you're kidding.

I'm with you, I feel like Conley is just too long in the tooth to play big minutes. I wonder if his struggles last year were due to injuries though, but still, you're going to get banged up and older guys simply take longer to get right. (me with my stupid back hurting for the last two weeks will tell you that, I've been moving like a 80 year old).

[Coolbreeze44]

I really don't believe the best option is currently on the roster. I think it's time to make a run at this thing. How good would a Payton Pritchard or Ty Jerome look on this team? I would be looking for a proven young player who can lead and manage the team. We have several players we could dangle in a potential trade. Our window is opening and the time to act is now.

[D-Loser25]

I really don't believe the best option is currently on the roster. I think it's time to make a run at this thing. How good would a Payton Pritchard or Ty Jerome look on this team? I would be looking for a proven young player who can lead and manage the team. We have several players we could dangle in a potential trade. Our window is opening and the time to act is now.

Agree. I’m guessing that maybe Naz can’t be traded yet, but once he can, I’m trading him for someone like this. I’m picking to move forward with Randle over Naz. I think TJ, Clark and Miller can fill the minutes left by Naz. He doesn’t really defend or rebound a lot anyways. For this poll, I voted Dilly. Throw him in the starting lineup for a couple games and see what happens

[rapsuperstar31]

I do think Donte will be fine starting against the Lakers next game going against Reaves. But the home opener against Indiana would be quite difficult for him trying to bring the ball up the court.

[DNatagal]

I went with Dilly. Let him start the game with Ant, Jaden, Rudy, and Randle. Each game Finch can see if it is working, he is in the rotation, if not, DDV or Conley or even Hyland get his minutes.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Theoretically, Conley is the best fit for what the starting lineup needs. Steady hand. Floor spacer. Can play with Rudy pretty well. Not a good defender anymore, but knows basically where to be on the floor. Still, he's clearly lost a step or three with age and although he doesn't seem to actively hurt the team when he's out there, he also doesn't seem to be helping the team much either. On a good night, you just barely notice him when he's out there and it's just getting tougher and tougher to have a very good team with a starting PG like that. On a bad night and/or in the playoffs, he's going to get targeted defensively, and that will really be a liability.

Donte is really a SG, not a PG. His ball handling and playmaking just aren't quite there to be a PG, and besides, he's better as a floor spacer moving off the ball. It's kind of unfair to him to put him into that situation, though I can see how he should be able to play with Ant and Julius if Conley's not out there. He's a little bigger than Conley and not a complete liability defensively. Personally, if I squint, I can kinda see why Finch made the switch to him from Conley, but it's obviously not an ideal situation. I'm surprised Finch went to him as the starter. It feels like a bit of desperation at this point.

Dillingham has shown real flashes as a ballhandler and playmaker, and theoretically, he should be a good floor spacer too, but man, is he small. A total defensive liability, and frankly, I think he's kind of erratic when running the offense. He should give us a shot-creator, which we need, but most of the time we don't really need that when Ant and Julius are on the floor. He seems best suited to be a bench sparkplug, and even then, he'll get absolutely picked on defensively in tight games or in the playoffs. I know he needs to develop, but even if he were to become a pretty good version of what he looks like he could become, that looks like a 6th man to me, and we need a starting PG to play alongside Ant. Can't blame Rob for this, but it's definitely a disappointing situation to find ourselves in.

Bones feels similar to Dillingham, just a little longer and a little more steady with decision making on offense, but without the high level handling and shot-creation that Dillingham can bring. Plus he's another small guy who is a real defensive liability,

TSJ and Clark are similar options to Donte. We could kind of get by with them with the starters, probably, but you really want to do better than just "get by" if you want to be a contender. Playing any of those 3 guys (Donte, TSJ, or Clark) as starters would invite pressure defense and put an additional strain on Ant and Julius to carry the ball handling and playmaking responsibilities. That's just not ideal.

Basically, there's not really much of a good solution here at all. It sucks for sure.

[Lipoli390]

I really don't believe the best option is currently on the roster. I think it's time to make a run at this thing. How good would a Payton Pritchard or Ty Jerome look on this team? I would be looking for a proven young player who can lead and manage the team. We have several players we could dangle in a potential trade. Our window is opening and the time to act is now.

Agree. I’m guessing that maybe Naz can’t be traded yet, but once he can, I’m trading him for someone like this. I’m picking to move forward with Randle over Naz. I think TJ, Clark and Miller can fill the minutes left by Naz. He doesn’t really defend or rebound a lot anyways. For this poll, I voted Dilly. Throw him in the starting lineup for a couple games and see what happens

That’s where I landed. Let’s get Dilly in there with the starters. I had a very good Summer League and a decent preseason. Get him in there with four talented starters and see what he can do. If he doesn’t settle in and give us what we need after a couple weeks then I’d either go with TSJ or trade Donte for a decent starter like one of the names Cool mentioned.