01-06-2024, 12:11 PM
(01-06-2024, 10:26 AM)StrandedOnBeauboisHill Wrote: That list seems pretty comprehensive (and I would take DFS over DJJ just for his shooting but it’s certainly more of a toss up than anyone would have expected).
I’m kind of baffled with the way this board talks about the defense of jerami grant and pj Washington specifically. I think defensive metrics, especially individual metrics, are going to skew heavily against players who play heavy minutes on teams with a bad overall defense like the hornets, pistons and blazers. Jerami Grant was Denver’s defensive ace when he left there. PJ Washington is normally asked to guard the best player on the other team for a reason (less of that now with bridges and miller on the roster but it was essentially the case every game last year). I understand the concerns of thinking these guys are offensive guys and we need a defensive one but the best defenders on that list in my opinion are Siakam, Williams, Kuminga and DFS and we don’t have a way of getting to three of those and probably don’t have interest in bringing DFS back.
I think it’s important also to think of how certain players will bring defense in playoff games because that level of intensity will bring out defensive effort. We haven’t seen Washington in that environment but go back and watch Grant defend Lebron in the playoffs before he left Denver and tell me that’s not good enough.
I know it’s just a highlight package but the first half of this video is a ton of PJ Washington help side rim protection which would pair really nicely with Lively. He has the talent to be a good defender, just a matter of the scheme making sense and him learning it.
https://youtu.be/7uD1C0izdck?si=md7m5yktQH907kdF
Long winded way of saying you can’t let perfect be the enemy of good here. Just got to remember we’re basically looking to upgrade Grant Williams at this point.
It’s tempting, especially after a loss, to think that we’ll be much happier with incremental upgrades. If only we could just be a little better!
But the price is often future assets. So we go from a 7-seed to a 4-seed, but end up with no draft picks and no cap flexibility.
I guarantee that the moaning and complaining among the fan base will last considerably longer than the temporary joy of some of the proposed deals I’ve seen, where we’re sending out young players and draft picks for mediocre players with big, long contracts.