08-16-2023, 12:14 AM
(08-11-2023, 02:56 PM)myconsumerclub Wrote: Power Forward needs to function as a way to play the guys with size more. Small ball is okay if the other team forces you to play small but going big is harder to do and if the other teams cannot go there you would have an advantage.
I cannot wait to see starting lineups like these with Luka and Irving plus
1. Omax Grant Lively
2. Kleber Lively Grant
4. Lively Holmes Grant
5. Lively Omax Holmes
6. Omax Kleber Lively
7. Omax Grant Kleber
8. Omax Grant Holmes
Assuming THJ and McGee are gone our bench then is Kleber Holmes Green Hardy "(Exum or Seth at PG) DJJ Powell and whoever is coming back in trade. If McGee is a candidate to stretch wave I would just prefer to keep him unless a really nice opportunity happens to drop in our lap where we need to make that move to clear roster space.
The young guys are looking like they can play now and be an upgrade over the vets. It is not a matter of them being great is more a matter of our guys ahead of them being trash. IMHO Lively is that much better than Powell on day one, Kleber is a special case because he is a stretch 4 and Holmes should be interchangeable at the 4/5 similarily but both are not starting quality at the 5.
Omax is actually looking like a Siakham Starter kit and Lively could eventually be way better than Tyson from the look of things. I think when we get Omax up to speed he is a SF/ PF similar to Matrix. Grant is just a bad ass enforcer that reminds me of Draymond and Barkley. His shooting makes him versatile enough to play 2 through 5 if he can keep up with the faster guards I would use him even at SG. Exum at 6'6 is another guy we can play at SF
PG: Luka Irving Exum Seth Miles
SG: Irving Luka Hardy Seth Green Exum
SF: Grant OMax Green DJJ Exum Luka Lawson
PF: OMax Holmes Kleber Grant Powell Luka
C: Lively Holmes Kleber Powell
Whoever we get back in trade for THJ and McGee will get in there somewherer. If as the experts say Capela is who they bring in then that would make for a nice rotation at the center to pair with Lively and allow us to move Holmes and Kleber over to get most of their time at PF. Also I see Grant and Omax being used at SF more. Green may become the odd man out and have to come off the bench behind the guards with Hardy Exum and Seth. He could play some at SF but if you see OMax developing his 3 nicely and Grant is maintaining his 40% range then why not use Green and Hardy at the 1/2. They both need to work on their passing and finding easy baskets for other guys on the court so that they can be more trusted at the PG spot. If Exum becomes a special find then we may see these 2 getting shopped for a legit 3rd star but I prefer to keep them and see what they can become because Irving is not going to be here forever and old man time slows down the best of the best too.
The key to our teams success will mostly come from internal improvements as Luka and Irving fit in better with each others games and they show that they can find the other open players to facilitate more easy buckets when teams come at them with the double team. Add in Grant as the next level of defensive improvement that we need and our 2 rookies developing fast and that improvement will take us to that next level of success. Hardy and Green finding a way to play more and score more effortlessly is another think I hope to see since they should improve also. Chemistry will take time but that is the case whenever you have as many new role players and starters to fit in all at the same time. New guys include Lively Grant OMax Seth Holmes Exum DJJ plus whatever we get for THJ etc...
You basically have added almost enough talent to field a newe play off rotation. With time we will know what it is capable of but the need for another center is going to remain till we see Lively producing results.
Our 3 point shooters will need to be given opportunity to get hot as well. Green needs to loosen up and start to take more shots. Hardy will have no problem as the season edges on but if Exum works out that plus Seths prowess from 3 they are going to be rotating guys in an out a lot. Grant is a proven threat from 3 as well. Hopefully Kleber and Holmes both show they are ready to hit some 3's. I decided Lively was my guy to target based on his demonstration of 3 point shooting so hoping he is still working hard on that part of his game.
With more 2 way talent we will be limiting teams scoring a lot better than we did last season so I feel like the 55 clutch games we played last season will not end in 29 loses like last year. Winning games is what we need to see happen ASAP. These new guys will have ????'s around them till that happens and nobody needs to be a hero if their name is not Luka or KY the need to play team ball is required to get minutes so Hardy needs to learn that lesson to if he wants to maintain his minutes. I am not saying be shy about shooting it like Josh but lets try to get that ball to others when there is an opportunity to feed them open shots. Green and Hardy need to evolve that part of their game significantly because they will get way more burn and make the team have to play them more if they start to produce more assists. We need more movement and less standing around at the perimeter.
I don't anticipate you're going to see a lot of starting lineups including Omax or Lively this season. I hope they both can contribute in year two but I think they'll probably only see significant minutes this season if there are injuries to multiple rotation players. We are a really deep team this year.
I do think that Seth and Exum will be good bench options for us. I see them as competing for the 10th man spot in our rotation. Seth will be the choice when we need offense and shooting and Exum will obviously be the choice when we need better defense.
I also agree that our best hope for improvement is better synergy between Luka and Kyrie. I think everyone else on the team just needs to play their role well and we'll be much better. I think that is why the Mavericks soured on Christian Wood- he wanted to be more than a role player here and that's just not what we need next to Kyrie and Luka.
I believe we all agree that Josh Green needs to shoot more as well. I think that confidence will come with experience and I believe he'll become our clear 3rd-best player this season. His defense is already pretty good and can potentially become outstanding. His offensive efficiency is already elite and can stay really good even if he starts taking more opportunities to shoot. I think Hardy will improve defensively this year which should make him more of a winning player.
The future looks good. Should be a fun season.