Vando should start. Playoffs might be a different matter, but in the regular season he will win us much more games with his defense than he will lose with his offense (or lack thereof).
Last season we had to do any thing to sneak in the playoffs.. We are pretty loaded this season. I prefer using a line up and building chemistry through the regular season we can stay with in the playoffs. This is my hesitation with DLO as a starter.
DLO won some games for us or contributed fine in the first two series. Then he flat went cold shooting in the Denver series. One out of three, and that can happen plus good D from the title winning team. I kind of feel way too much is being made of this. Kind of agree with Ham and his silly but I get it ... great long honeymoon and a bad lunch on the last day not changing the overall good/great honeymoon analogy. His defense didn't change and in the playoffs and regular season (if it's costing us) still should not be closing games, especially with the guard talent we have now. He knows his limitations with not being that athletic or fast, and isn't going to be disruptive about coming off the floor in close games. I think. The "he sucks" in the playoffs is overblown at this point IMO. Just talking about this past playoffs with the Lakers, not anywhere else. What have you done for me lately seems to be all that counts around here anyway. So 2 out of 3 OK series with some clutch play to win some games mixed in.
this is my general take...HOWEVER...his playoff struggles aren't limited to the denver series or even to his time with us. he's had some just cringeworthy bad performances in playoff games/series. it's a thing. my hope/belief is that it doesn't have to continue indefinitely. he's clearly just choking, as he misses shots he normally makes and makes bad plays that he normally avoids. some guys fade in the playoffs because their game is built on stuff that capitalizes on lazy regular season tendencies from the opponent. i don't think that's the case here. he's just mentally shutting down. denver was playing head games from the get go in that series, too. you could tell this was part of malone's strategy, and it worked. i think it's possible it doesn't work the next time, though. i think sometimes once you've failed enough, the prospect of failure stops bothering you and causing the anxiety that causes failure.
i realize i'm going to sound naive, but...who is ham talking about that will actually speak to the coaching staff about getting shots up and getting noticed? NOPE. anyway, as much as i'm pro vando starting, i think prince starting also makes sense. i really prefer rui as a sixth man of the year type. and he looks that good at this point.
