Doncic Trade ?

[mvossman]

I mean, the article was about this team, this year. He also listed 6 defenders, with 1 of them being out (Maxi). Six plus the 2 in Kyrie and Luka makes an 8 man rotation. Add in 1 from the list of “others” to play when 1 of Luka or Kyrie are sitting and that’s a 9 man rotation.

It’s similar to the rotation I proposed not too long ago.

Luka/Kyrie/Exum as the guard rotation 

Green/DJJ as the SF rotation

GWill/Maxi/Lively as the bigs rotation 

That’s a big IF Maxi can still be a good defender. That’s the ideal to Iztok’s article to me. With Maxi out, we CAN fit someone else in the “others” group, they just can’t be played when both Kyrie and Luka are on the floor at the same time and we have to give up size in that instance.

Tonight, things looked good with Luka/Kyrie/Green/DJJ/Lively to close the game.

All that to say, it’s at the very least as much on coaching as it is on the FO. I’d say more on coaching since Iztok showed the numbers bare it out.

Of the 6 defenders he listed, one is oft injured (and currently injured) two are min or near min signings, one is a rookie and the other two are currently struggling.  The argument is to make up 3/5 of the lineup with that group.  I agree with Iztok assessment and I'm not saying Kidd couldn't do better, but he hasn't really been delt the best hand to make it happen.  

Lets do the math.  Lively is averaging 24 minutes a game, which is way more than most thought reasonable to start the season.  With his fouling issues, its hard to pencil him in for much more than that.  That means we have 24 minutes of non defender at the center position right now.  Luka and Kyrie have been averaging roughly 68 minutes between the two of them.  That is 92 minutes of non defender right there.  That leaves us with 4 minutes for Timmy, Hardy and Seth.  I know you are not a fan of Timmy, but he is one of our better players and its hard to argue that he should not be getting any minutes.

One thing that would change the math significantly is if we could call Holmes a defender.  I think the jury is still out on that, but early results are fairly positive.  He has the lowest defensive rating on the team (small sample alert) and according to the rim protection chart Iztok showed, he is our best rim protector right now (also probably small sample).  If we could fill the center minutes with "defenders" then that leaves 28 minutes for the Timmy, Hardy, Seth group, which is more reasonable.

I was following that premise in last nights game.  Categorizing Holmes as a defender, we played with at least 3 defenders 80+ percent of the game.  When we didn't it was because we were playing Powell or playing Luka/Kyrie/Timmy or playing Timmy/Hardy (I have no idea why Kidd would put those two on the court at the same time) and we tended to lose a little ground in those situations.  I would like to see this pattern more, with Holmes and DJJ in the second unit.

Its amazing to me that 4 of the 5 healthy defenders Iztok identified (and 5 of 6 if you include Holmes) were acquired this last offseason.  What a defensive wasteland this roster was after the Kyrie trade.