Yeah ok. Didn’t golden state run Curry and Poole all last season? They had Gary Payton and Damion Lee backing them up. Let’s check it out 20 games in.
russ is a big guard. people act like he's not around here. we only have three small guards in the rotation, and none of them is exceptionally small or a liability on defense. you'd think we were running 3 jjbs out there given the commentary.
To me we only have 1 small guard… Schroeder - the backup PG. Which backup PG is going to take it to us against Schroeder? Granted we don’t have a ton of 6-6 wings. But this whole size thing is a bit overblown. We have Lebron James who is the biggest of the SFs. We also have Brown Jr and JTA as some wing bodies. Everywhere else we’re quite a big team.
it's just the recurring nightmares of like 4 wings just iso'ing us into submission in games in january, i think. it's never been as big a problem as it would seem from reading lakers message boards, imo. now if we go with AD at the 5 and lebron at the 4 to start games, we become a small team all of a sudden, and that's where we've given up a lot of offensive rebounds the past couple of years, iirc.
I don't think it's ideal to have Lebron guarding Kawhi/PG/Tatum/etc. type wings for the majority of the game. I do like JTA from what we've seen so far. His competitiveness and motor are exactly what we need.
We are a bit heavy at PG though. Reaves is playing more like a 1, distributing far more than any of the others. Nunn/Russ are really combo guards so I guess you can call them 2s since we really have no one else besides Lonnie. Nunn maybe being a little too undersized there to considered seriously at the 2. Beverley/Schroder definitely PG-sized. We can run Reaves @ the 2, especially with Nunn @ PG, you just have more of a scoring PG and a passing SG. Bench, I still see Russ @ 2 and whoever @ 1 based on the matchup.
PF is a little dicey, considering AD will play a lot of center and then there is the PF off the bench, we have what, 3 guys (if Swider is signed), Gabriel, Swider and Tuscan-Anderson (who is way undersized @PF) all of whom represent a tremendous lack of NBA experience though Gabriel/Swider are average-sized PFs.
Troy Brown Jr and Austin Reaves will help as far as defending bigger wings. Again though, I think it’s important to keep expectations inline with our guys. It’s not just that we ended up with multiple guys 6’4” and under but that several aren’t known for defense or shooting. No one would be worried about height if we brought in a guy like Bradley Beal. That said, Nunn was a question mark but looks healed and ready to play which helps a lot. Walker and Russ have looked good in stretches. Ham looks like the real deal and his system seems like it will also lead to good shots for guys and he’s preaching defense. At this point we do have to be fair and give this group a clean slate and see what they can do.
Unfortunate news for Schröder with the injury. The visa issues causing him to arrive late to training camp also didn’t help him. But that’s fine, as much as I liked signing him, I don’t see an obvious fit for him in the rotation … yet. I think he’s insurance in case we trade Russ and need another PG. The way I see the guard rotation shake out is: Nunn / Westbrook / Schröder Reaves / Beverley / Walker With those 3 SG’s being kind of interchangeable and all getting regular playing time depending on matchup, but Schröder out of the PG rotation to give Westbrook full reign as the bench commanding 6th man. Then if Russ gets traded for a package that doesn’t bring back a PG, Schröder takes that 6th man role.
Anyone know what finger which hand and what happened .... ball hit wrong or jammed against a player? Maybe it was practice and that's all we know. Pffft .... Kobe would have taped up however many fingers next to it for a splint, gone out and practiced shooting a couple hours with it, if shooting hand, and been good to go. Miss you Kobe!!! Spoiled us forever. I notice HBK with some fingers taped sometimes too ... his grandma probably told him how Kobe used to do.
He was grabbing at what looked to be his thumb after a play defensively Wednesday. Didn't look serious. Whether that is where the injury occurred or if that aggravated an existing injury...I don't know. Update with some more accurate details...
Dennis will probably miss a week. But it's not a big deal, really. He will be useful for sure, but it's not absolutely essential that he starts the season. Guards we do have.
