Guard Options Part II - Expanded and Updated

[AussieWolf3]

Not sure where to put this, but I've been thinking about this lately and with Naz's play of late, what his skill set is vs Randle's, and what this team needs I can't help but wonder if their minutes/roles should be flipped.

Naz's shooting is a weapon that can't just be left on the bench as a microwave scorer anymore. Him starting immediately alleviates the spacing pressure that Rudy creates and gives Ant more room to work. Ant is pretty damn good at finding Naz too and they have good chemistry. Bottom line is that Naz has grown into a legit force and it's not just his hot shooting streak, it's how he's getting the shots, while also having as good a handle as you'll see for someone who is 6'10", great footwork, developing passer, can score off the bounce and has the speed to score in transition. Naz has leveled up.
He's also a more consistently better defender than Julius even if neither are good and Julius can get to a level in iso that Naz can't.

All that said, my point isn't really Naz>Randle, but roster balance.

Randle off the bench gives the second unit playmaking and an offensive hub to play around while Ant is sitting. Randle has shown that he can level up when Ant is out, playing on the 2nd team also plays into his super power- which is being able to kill mismatches which he is more likely to find at start of the 2nd and 4th quarters when other teams rotational player are in as well.

It's not going to happen, but that's my 2 cents

[Lipoli390]

Not sure where to put this, but I've been thinking about this lately and with Naz's play of late, what his skill set is vs Randle's, and what this team needs I can't help but wonder if their minutes/roles should be flipped.

Naz's shooting is a weapon that can't just be left on the bench as a microwave scorer anymore. Him starting immediately alleviates the spacing pressure that Rudy creates and gives Ant more room to work. Ant is pretty damn good at finding Naz too and they have good chemistry. Bottom line is that Naz has grown into a legit force and it's not just his hot shooting streak, it's how he's getting the shots, while also having as good a handle as you'll see for someone who is 6'10", great footwork, developing passer, can score off the bounce and has the speed to score in transition. Naz has leveled up.
He's also a more consistently better defender than Julius even if neither are good and Julius can get to a level in iso that Naz can't.

All that said, my point isn't really Naz>Randle, but roster balance.

Randle off the bench gives the second unit playmaking and an offensive hub to play around while Ant is sitting. Randle has shown that he can level up when Ant is out, playing on the 2nd team also plays into his super power- which is being able to kill mismatches which he is more likely to find at start of the 2nd and 4th quarters when other teams rotational player are in as well.

It's not going to happen, but that's my 2 cents

That makes sense to me. Randle becomes the de facto PG for the second unit, which puts Bones in his more appropriate role as a scorer. I’ve come to really like and value Randle but I still don’t like his fit with Ant and would like to cash in on his relatively high value right now via trade to acquire a better fit or if not now in the off season. But the caution of course is that losing Randle means losing a lot of offensive production.