MAVS NEWS: Luka Is Hurt, But is Trudging On | DLive's Mom Passes Away| Maxi OUT

[KillerLeft]

I’m glad someone else thinks this about Curry.

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I was also fantasy trading for Holmes back when he was with Philly.  I’m like everyone else…I’d love an upgrade at center.  I want Lively to get 18-20 minutes every night, but he’s not ready to start (and the team has specifically said they will bring him along slowly).  With that said, I’d rather play with what we have than make a bad trade for a center.  We have Holmes, Powell, Maxi and (presumably) PJ who all present something different at the position.  It isn’t ideal,  but I think Holmes will surprise us to the upside.

What I think I’d rather see is THJ for PJ (with PJ making a little less than THJ) which gets us back to full MLE still being available.  THEN, go get Thybulle (I like converting Seth to MLE and spending the rest on Thybulle and saving the BAE).  Look at what this does to your D (note that I run nine deep in the first and second unit as either Kyrie or Luka will be there also:

Holmes.   Lively.         Powell

PJ.          Maxi.           OMax

Green.                       Reggie
              Thybulle
Luka.                         Curry
              Hardy
Kyrie.                         Exam

Love this. 

If Thybulle gets less (significantly less, I hope) than the MLE, I’m all about it.

I, personally, think the 5 has been Kleber’s best position for a WHILE now, and would only consider playing him at the 4 in situations where extreme size is called for. If that means you only play him 15 minutes, so be it. Those are still likely to be the team’s most effective 15 minutes of the game. 

I would also stop short of penciling Holmes in over Powell on the pecking order, personally. But, your overall point is a good one - between centers Powell, Kleber and Holmes, along with swing 4/5 Washington, that’s more than enough bigs. It will already be difficult to find developmental minutes for Lively without adding another. 

Yes, paint protection and rebounding will still be weaknesses of the team, but not more so than the WCF season, and the defense, depth and (hopefully, if Kidd has a clue) spacing should be improved enough to make it all feel like progress, imho.