Minnesota Sports Forum

CoolBreeze44 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

Brooklyn_Wolves wrote:If Wiggins develops as a playmaker, can LaVine become our PG again? If Thibs offense calls for PG only to bring up the ball and hand it to Wiggins who starts a 2 men game with Towns, then Zach maybe fit enough to play that limited PG role, he has the handles and a money outside shot. Get a long defensive SF in the offseason and move Wig to SG.
Zach-Drew-SF-KAT-G.

Boy, that solves a lot of problems, doesn't it? I suppose it's why Flip and then Mitchell may have tried it in the first place:

1. It allows Wiggins to play his "ideal" position on the floor at the 2.
2. It allows LaVine to not be shoved aside in order to make way for Wiggins. He simply switches to the 1.
3. It gives us a PG that is currently the best shooter on the team.
4. It gives us great size and length at our two back court positions, although frankly, neither utilize their length much on defense, as neither gets many deflections (but may be this changes if guarding smaller players more often?).

I cringe at the memories of LaVine trying to run an offense though. I mean, he had problems even bringing the ball up at times!

Also, Wiggins is a looooooong ways away from a D-Wade/Kobe/Jordan/LeBron/Harden type of point wing. He is still in the very, very early stages of developing play making skills.

It's definitely an interesting thought and I can certainly see it being used in crunch-time situations in the short run. But as a permanent solution? Not so sure.....

The next discussion would be IF this could work, what we could we do with the existing PG assets to improve the team?

thedoper wrote:The logic was always there for Lavine to play the 1. Part of the reason he was in a tiff with his college coach was that he and his dad thought he should be a 1. The problem is that he has some of the worst decision making on the team on both sides of the ball. If he could just be a spot up guy great as Cam properly pointed out his strengths. But when he dominates the ball too much, nothing good happens. Glad to see the dream is still there, it makes sense with his comprehensive skill set. But in reality I doubt it will ever work.

Q12543 wrote:Wilson Chandler is a good option for a potential hybrid 3/4. The other guy is Rudy Gay, whose name I know has been thrown around before.

I get that Gay is not very effective as a high-usage go to guy. But I wonder how he'd do as a 3rd or 4th option and asked to focus primarily on wing defense? Tempting.....

Brooklyn_Wolves wrote:

Q12543 wrote:Wilson Chandler is a good option for a potential hybrid 3/4. The other guy is Rudy Gay, whose name I know has been thrown around before.

I get that Gay is not very effective as a high-usage go to guy. But I wonder how he'd do as a 3rd or 4th option and asked to focus primarily on wing defense? Tempting.....

Nah, that 3/4 fella must be a top notch defender. Gay just isn't that and neither is Chandler. We have enough offense as is already. A guy like Roberson would do it. He isn't exactly a hybrid forward, but he can guard any 1-2-3 and won't break the bank to sign here.

Q12543 wrote:

Brooklyn_Wolves wrote:

Q12543 wrote:Wilson Chandler is a good option for a potential hybrid 3/4. The other guy is Rudy Gay, whose name I know has been thrown around before.

I get that Gay is not very effective as a high-usage go to guy. But I wonder how he'd do as a 3rd or 4th option and asked to focus primarily on wing defense? Tempting.....

Nah, that 3/4 fella must be a top notch defender. Gay just isn't that and neither is Chandler. We have enough offense as is already. A guy like Roberson would do it. He isn't exactly a hybrid forward, but he can guard any 1-2-3 and won't break the bank to sign here.

I get that Gay isn't top notch, but what if he didn't have to score 20 PPG and his minutes were reduced to 28-30 range? I just wonder if a guy with his experience and physical profile could lock down under those conditions...or may be not. I honestly haven't watched him closely enough to see if he has the right instincts technically.

As for Roberson, to me that is going too far in the "one-way" player direction. He literally does nothing but defend - even Rubio is a better open shooter than Roberson!

Camden0916 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

Brooklyn_Wolves wrote:

Q12543 wrote:Wilson Chandler is a good option for a potential hybrid 3/4. The other guy is Rudy Gay, whose name I know has been thrown around before.

I get that Gay is not very effective as a high-usage go to guy. But I wonder how he'd do as a 3rd or 4th option and asked to focus primarily on wing defense? Tempting.....

Nah, that 3/4 fella must be a top notch defender. Gay just isn't that and neither is Chandler. We have enough offense as is already. A guy like Roberson would do it. He isn't exactly a hybrid forward, but he can guard any 1-2-3 and won't break the bank to sign here.

I get that Gay isn't top notch, but what if he didn't have to score 20 PPG and his minutes were reduced to 28-30 range? I just wonder if a guy with his experience and physical profile could lock down under those conditions...or may be not. I honestly haven't watched him closely enough to see if he has the right instincts technically.

As for Roberson, to me that is going too far in the "one-way" player direction. He literally does nothing but defend - even Rubio is a better open shooter than Roberson!

Rudy Gay played solid defense for Thibs on Team USA when he was asked to be that glue guy, but I'm unsure if he would excel in that role over the course of an 82-game season plus playoffs. It's not a bad thought, though.

I've always viewed Chandler as a good, versatile defender, however, the numbers don't appear to support that claim. I'd still like to have him on the team.

As for Roberson, he plays his role well despite not being able to shoot. I think guys with his length and defensive ability have a place on winning teams, but I also think he's going to get paid soon. I'd rather look for a more well-rounded option.