Did we just become too strong at one position and weak in another?

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Worldk, It's probably driven more by necessity than fit. Who else is going to back up Martin? Budinger can do so at times, but he is a step slow guarding opposing 2's, especially the type of small ball 2's that come off the bench. And I don't think Shabazz should see the light of day unless injuries force him into action. For all of Shved's weaknesses, he's actually not a terrible defender. He has the size and quickness to hold his own against bench SGs. Actually, I see Martin, Shved, and Brewer playing all the minutes at 2 this year (with Brewer being the guy that swings between the two wing positions).

[worldK]

Q, good points. I just think jj will continue to get minutes. He is good enough to get the backup pg minutes and when he gets hot, he will play with Rubio. We are deep at the wing positions and martin,shved,brewer and bud will get majority of the minutes at the wings. Which is why I think the training camp battle will be between dw and Dante on who gets the backup pf minutes. I'm not discounting that dw might get some min at sf but it won't be easy as he is up against 4guys who deserve playing time there. gree that shabazz won't get off the bench much.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

K, you reminded me that Rubio can play with Barea too, in which case Rubes would run the point on offense but guard the 2 on defense. So yeah, Martin, Shved, Brewer, and Rubio are all options at the 2.

I agree that it comes down to DC and D-Will battling for minutes. Good. May the best man win. Unfortunately, I think injuries will render things moot for the most part. I'm pretty much counting on Love, Pekovic, Turiaf, and other guys missing out on a fair amount of time.

[mjs34]

Worldk, It's probably driven more by necessity than fit. Who else is going to back up Martin? Budinger can do so at times, but he is a step slow guarding opposing 2's, especially the type of small ball 2's that come off the bench. And I don't think Shabazz should see the light of day unless injuries force him into action. For all of Shved's weaknesses, he's actually not a terrible defender. He has the size and quickness to hold his own against bench SGs. Actually, I see Martin, Shved, and Brewer playing all the minutes at 2 this year (with Brewer being the guy that swings between the two wing positions).

Q, wouldn't it be nice to have CJ McCollum to bring in at the backup SG spot for those small ball 2's!

[markkbu [enjin:6588958]]

Q, saying it doesn't matter what position that Shved plays as longs as he does X, is a terrible argument, please do better than than. Thanks

[markkbu [enjin:6588958]]

As anyone attempted to make an arguement against Shved being the backup PG besides Q saying that his position is irrelevant?

I have a very hard tome seeing the "Shved could play PG or C" argument as an actual attempt to make a point.

[KiwiMatt]

Last season proved you can NEVER have enough quality wings. I remember a stretch of about 3 or 4 game when Gelabale was our only healthy wing and he'd only, been with the team for 2 months. We were playing 3 PG's (Rubio, Barea, Shved) at the 1, 2 and 3 at times!

Flip has done a great job balancing this roster. We no longer have a massive log jam at the point and have to play SG in PG bodies at the 2. Martin was a great acquisition as was getting Brewer back and resigning Bud. We now have a good mix of height, shooting, athleticism and defense at the wing positions.

One thing people take for granted is the fact Flip got us a starting SG without giving up Derrick Williams or a 1st. Sure Taylor opened the cheque book (finally), but that was needed if we ever wanted to become a contender in the West. Our front court depth is even more impressive than it was last year with additions of Deing and Turiaf at the expense of Steamer.

[Lipoli390]

Q is right. Barea will be the #2 PG behind Ricky -- at least to start the season. In fact, Flip prey much said as much on last Friday's Funkadelic. For those of us who remember how poorly Shved played the last 3 and a half months of the season, it's not safe to assume he'll be part of our rotation. I see Budinger or Brewer as the #2 SG behind Martin, depending on which one ends up starting at SF. Shved could eventually become a significant part of our rotation if his game improves significantly over last season. His ability to play three positions gives him great potential to get meaningful minutes if he plays well.

And of course, injuries are inevitable. Among Martin, Ricky and Barea, one or two if not all three of them are bound to miss significant minutes.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I just listened to a podcast of the Funkadelic, Lip, and it's hard to know what Flip thinks about the back court...he's pretty adept at not saying anything! With respect to JJ, he said " JJ's not going to fill the role with us he filled at Dallas. He can come in and be an aggressive player when we get in the bonus." What the heck does that mean??? Time will tell what Adelman has in mind, but I still think they want Shved to establish himself as the backup point guard rather than getting sizable minutes at the 2, and use JJ as a situational energy guy when they need that spark. JJ can be a productive scorer on his good nights, but he will never learn to get his teammates involved the way a point guard should...doesn't seen to jive with RA's team offensive concept.

I agree Shved was difficult to watch at times last year, but he proved in the Olympics that he has the potential to be an excellent distributor. If he can earn Adelman's trust as the backup PG, that leaves the SG minutes to Martin and Bud, with a few mop up minutes allocated to Shabazz. But who knows? There are so many moving parts on this roster, it's going to be fun to see how RA puts it all together.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

SJM - Yes, McCollum would have been a solid pick at #9. I was shocked when we traded down. If you get a very good 3rd guard out of the #9 pick, that's a great draft. We'll see how he does in the years to come, but I have a feeling we'll be kicking ourselves.

Markkbu - I don't see a massive difference between SG and PG, especially when you are a ball-handling SG like Shved. Simply moving Shved over to PG doesn't suddenly make him a better shooter or decision maker. Plus when he played with Barea, he often did handle the ball and set-up the offense. This reminds me of the argument from some that Derrick Williams would be much better at the 3 than the 4. If you aren't knocking down outside shots and able to finish at the rim, simply switching over by one position isn't going to solve those problems. I'm not suggesting that Shved can't improve, but his problems last year were far more related to not being NBA-ready than what position he was playing.