01-14-2021, 08:08 AM
Much of the attention last night went to the KP/WCS combo which was +5 when they were on the floor. The combo that really worked (albeit against mainly subs) was Boban/Johnson at +12.
I don't see anyone arguing for KP/DFS as the starting C/PF anymore. The entire offseason 3/4ths of the board would shoot down any deal that involved adding a big (it wasn't just Gobert). One of my arguments in favor of starting two legitimate bigs is we have too many of them. We could have kept Ariza, but paid to swap him for PF Johnson. We attempted to sign Gasol and instead retained WCS. It will be nearly impossible to get minutes for KP/WCS/Powell/Maxi and Johnson (let alone Boban) if DFS gets any meaningful minutes at PF. I for one am glad and have said all along that KP/DFS should be a gimmick lineup (if used at all).
It was pretty cool to see smaller players get by either KP or WCS and have the other waiting for them at the rim. With that said, I'm not sure we are any closer to knowing what Carlisle will ultimately do. We have an embarrassment of riches and the only combo that probably doesn't work is WCS/Powell. When rotations tighten up in the playoffs, I suspect we will have five guys (Luka, Brunson, THJ, DFS and JRich) getting almost all of the 1, 2 and 3 minutes. We have five other guys who have a legitimate claim on the 4/5 minutes. We always needed some margin with KP's always uncertain health and Powell's uncertain recovery. But managing minutes for the five bigs (not to mention Boban) is going to be interesting.
This is what you get with Burke. We saw the same in the bubble. 30 one night and 1/10 (or 2/12) the next. I hope Brunson doesn't have to share too many of his minutes with Burke and Burke is used more like Boban is (or JJB was last season) mainly because...
I want to see Josh Green get a steady role. Skinny Luka and returned KP so dramatically change things offensively. Suddenly there is space to operate and Green looked dramatically different. I realize we all have our pets among Terry, Hinton and Bey. But two-way contracts are lottery tickets. For years the team has rotated new guys through here using late seconds and two-ways hoping to find the next DFS. Sometimes they figure out they don't need them and give them away (Roby, Motley). Sometimes they don't stick in the league at all. Those guys are on a completely different plane than Terry (3 guaranteed years using part of the MLE) and first rounder Green. We are super deep with arguably 12 guys who should be getting rotation minutes. It is pretty clear from the way Carlisle is finding minutes for him that Green is far and away the developmental priority from among the kids.
I don't see anyone arguing for KP/DFS as the starting C/PF anymore. The entire offseason 3/4ths of the board would shoot down any deal that involved adding a big (it wasn't just Gobert). One of my arguments in favor of starting two legitimate bigs is we have too many of them. We could have kept Ariza, but paid to swap him for PF Johnson. We attempted to sign Gasol and instead retained WCS. It will be nearly impossible to get minutes for KP/WCS/Powell/Maxi and Johnson (let alone Boban) if DFS gets any meaningful minutes at PF. I for one am glad and have said all along that KP/DFS should be a gimmick lineup (if used at all).
It was pretty cool to see smaller players get by either KP or WCS and have the other waiting for them at the rim. With that said, I'm not sure we are any closer to knowing what Carlisle will ultimately do. We have an embarrassment of riches and the only combo that probably doesn't work is WCS/Powell. When rotations tighten up in the playoffs, I suspect we will have five guys (Luka, Brunson, THJ, DFS and JRich) getting almost all of the 1, 2 and 3 minutes. We have five other guys who have a legitimate claim on the 4/5 minutes. We always needed some margin with KP's always uncertain health and Powell's uncertain recovery. But managing minutes for the five bigs (not to mention Boban) is going to be interesting.
This is what you get with Burke. We saw the same in the bubble. 30 one night and 1/10 (or 2/12) the next. I hope Brunson doesn't have to share too many of his minutes with Burke and Burke is used more like Boban is (or JJB was last season) mainly because...
I want to see Josh Green get a steady role. Skinny Luka and returned KP so dramatically change things offensively. Suddenly there is space to operate and Green looked dramatically different. I realize we all have our pets among Terry, Hinton and Bey. But two-way contracts are lottery tickets. For years the team has rotated new guys through here using late seconds and two-ways hoping to find the next DFS. Sometimes they figure out they don't need them and give them away (Roby, Motley). Sometimes they don't stick in the league at all. Those guys are on a completely different plane than Terry (3 guaranteed years using part of the MLE) and first rounder Green. We are super deep with arguably 12 guys who should be getting rotation minutes. It is pretty clear from the way Carlisle is finding minutes for him that Green is far and away the developmental priority from among the kids.