Game 19: Oklahoma City Thunder (12-6) vs. Dallas Mavericks (11-7) | 8:00pm CST

[KillerLeft]

 I think GWill is miscast as a starting four here. 

I don't think he's playing well right now, but I'm not here with you yet. 

For starters, if the offense is going to continue to be based around the Luka/Lively pick and roll, and I don't see any reason it shouldn't, then the primary offensive responsibility of the 4 is going to be catch-and-shoot from distance. In theory, that's how Williams fits in. He needs to make them at a rate higher than freaking DJJ, obviously. 

Secondly, since Lively is a "true" big in almost every sense of the word, including (unfortunately) defensive foot speed (he's quick enough in the paint, but isn't going to close out and recover like Bam, for example), that means the most important quality of the 4, defensively, should be versatility. Someone quick who can get out to the corners and contest. Someone who can move quickly to play help defense. Someone who can switch. Again, in theory, this is Williams. 

He hasn't been as impactful these past 10 games or so. I'll give you that. But, I don't think it would be the easiest thing in the world to reimagine this thing with a Lauri Markannen, for example. Someone like that is going to want to be INVOLVED in the offense. You might say "of course, and bring it on!" but...what the hell will Lively be doing out there while Markannen and Luka play off one another? I don't know that Lively is ready to play off of a FEATURED front court player like that, at least not yet. People will laugh at this, but I promise that the reason the kid is doing so well is that he's doing only things he's already good at. You bring in a featured guy at the 4, and you're basically asking Lively to be Brook Lopez. I don't know that he's there yet. I think that makes the team worse in the short term, not better. PLUS, are we convinced Lively can't develop into that featured front court player? I'm not, especially after watching what he did last night out of the short roll. 

I still think that they have the right role in mind for Grant Williams, and that he's capable of playing it. PJ Tucker is the model.

EDIT: I think I agree with the ORIGIN of your opinion, in that I believe it's based on the idea that longterm, the team will need one offensively featured front court player. I'm just not sure it has be the 4. You're assuming a ceiling for Lively I'm not (you might be right) and you're assuming Green is the other starter, so Williams is in the way of that for you.