We need to protect Lopez’s career. Protect him from himself. Don’t let him come back til he’s 100%, and then once confirmed by 3 Dr.’s, run him through concussion protocol. You can never be too careful with these kinds of injuries.
I wouldn't be surprised if Thomas got the start with Lopez expected to miss some time. We gave the start to Hart, our other rookie, when the time called for it. Luke seems set on preserving the Julius/Kuzma back-court rotation. Besides we need to see what this kid has. He's been tearing up the G-League. Time to see what you can do against the real thing.
I'd have loved to see if he could be our version of Jordan Bell. We need an athletic big with some size to him who isn't a liability on either end.
He is very slow laterally; he will probably get killed on the pick in roll. However, if we were making it work with Lopez to an extent, he should be ok in spurts.
THis would be great. But to Bell's credit and gifts he's got great feet to move laterally for a guy his size which is what was so appealing to Kerr and Bob Myers for how GSW want to plays with a team that can get up and down the floor and switch everything. Thomas is a better offensive player but his defense isn't nearly as good as Bell who has the gifts physically.
Have to admit I've been bummed a little since reading someone else's comment here that he is pretty "slow" laterally on defense. Hopefully with modern training and band resistance work and other s.o.t.a. techniques ..... that part of his game can be improved a lot. He seems to be a decent athlete and decent with the quick twitch necessities. Sure has nice length for "small ball" 5 needs as well as a very sweet and quick 3 point stroke not a lot unlike how much we are impressed with Kuzma's shooting motion.
I'm not his trainer, so I don't know for sure but just watching him in the time that I have, he's got some kind of hip issue. Either he can't, isn't strong enough, or is unwilling to open his hips so that he can be truly explosive. At first I figured this was just a lack of training, but who knows? Hopefully it's something he can grow out of, but we'll just have to wait and see.
Don't we have someone in our staff in charge of player development along those lines that can deal with this issue? Bryant has the attitude to want to learn and has motivation in droves.
