Bass was a solid addition, but he's a career backup. I think our biggest hope if Randle isn't a starter is Tarik.
Just from a talent perspective, Wright and Beasley would be the best bets. Pretty sure Taylor signed overseas.
Beasley is not an NBA player. He's been given enough chances. Miami has given him at least two and they just cut him. I want nothing to do with him. In today's game there's no reason Kobe can't be the SF for this team. Nick Young is a SF through and through. I'm not sure if Anthony Brown can even play, but he's definitely a SF. Randle is a PF. Bass is a PF. Nance Jr. is a PF. Kelly is a PF. We have PFs for days, weeks maybe. We're fine there. Hibbert, Black, and Sacre isn't an inspiring group, but can hold their own at C. I wouldn't be opposed to more depth at the five with a more traditional big man. The areas of need are PG and SG. Kobe is our SF whether you like it or not. That's where we're going. He'll have an easier time guarding strong guys than fast guys at this point in his career. Speedy guards are going to blow right past him. At least at SF there's a chance he can stay in front of some of them. The reality is there's just not that much out there to go get. We're in a rebuilding year, that much is clear. I like Wright and I'd certainly take him, but wouldn't it be more logical to throw Anthony Brown in there and see if he's worth the money we just paid him? We accepted Sacre's option, wouldn't it make sense if he fills the need we've asked him to for the last few years? In my opinion, let's just get a veteran PG to help coach the young guys in Clarkson and Russell and let's just go into the year. We're going to rely heavily on our rookies, but oh well. That's kind of the boat we've put ourselves in. Russell/Williams/3rd String PG Clarkson/J. Brown Kobe/Young/A. Brown Randle/Bass/Kelly/Nance Jr. Hibbert/Black/Sacre Full roster. Balanced enough to win 30 games at least, 40 if they hit all the combo boosters, probably finish somewhere in between.
Huh? Did you even read my post beyond the name "Bass"? How is our best option at starter if Randle isn't ready, Tarik Black? I like Black, but he has almost no PF skills and Bass is a better player than him. Bass started 69 games 3 seasons ago, 73 games 2 seasons ago, and 43 games last season, and put up solid numbers. I think he's shaken the career backup label. If Randle isn't ready, and we want to be any good, Bass starts.
Randle certainly isn't starting caliber at all yet. He'll have to earn his minutes off the bench. Bass compliments Hibbert better anyways with his mid-range game.
I think it's more likely Randle starts honestly. I think we've got very little to lose this season. Might as well throw out the rookies and let them take the Jordan Clarkson Learning Curve. They'll have short leashes anyway and get pulled for veterans who will come in and stabilize the team if/when the rookies do poorly.
As I said with Beasley and Wright, strictly speaking from a talent perspective. I agree with your analysis of our roster for the most part, we really don't need to sign anyone. The few places I'd disagree are Tarik Black, unless Randle is a monster & deserves all of the minutes Bass doesn't play, Tarik should be seeing some minutes at PF also. I think it's very possible that he's our 2nd best big behind Hibbert this season. The other point I disagree with is needing a backup PG. Young can play minutes in the high 20's, there's no reason Kobe couldn't play some SG, and Jabari Brown looks like he needs minutes too. Those guys getting minutes at SG should allow Clarkson to play any PG minutes that Russell or Lou don't play. We basically have 3 guys capable of starting at PG, 4 guys capable of starting at SG. 22 MPG average, coming off a season where he averaged right around that. He might be a token starter, but I don't consider guys who play 22 MPG "starters". Someone other than Bass is going to play the majority of the minutes at PF, is that better?
Well understand your point more clearly now. The way I see it we have 2 guys that will split minutes there, and being careful with Randle, and not pushing Bass beyond what he's used to, we'll simply use a 3rd guy a little. Maybe that's Black, maybe it's Nance Jr., heck maybe that's still Kelly, we don't really know until training camp.
Yeah I'm just really high on Black. He doesn't have the skillset you expect from current PF's, but he's more of a throwback like Tristan Thompson. My main concern is rebounding. Hibbert is going to do great things for our defense, but he's a very weak rebounder. Randle has been a terrible rebounder, albeit in a small sample size. Bass is maybe an average or slightly below average rebounder. I could see Nance being a good scrappy rebounder, but who knows if he's ready. Assuming Kobe is the starting SF, he's usually an above average rebounder at SG but I'd expect him to be right around average at SF. Young will give his typical 2 RPG. I see Tarik as that guy who could lead the team in RPG if he gets the primary backup minutes at PF and C. Or who knows, maybe Russell will be that Rondo/Kidd type PG that puts up double digit rebound games on a regular basis. He did look like an above average rebounder in SL.
fields, wright, r. butler, and marion are all guys who could get minutes at sf on this team. well, I'm assuming fields still has legs and stuff.
We need another 2/3 hybrid. Kobe is going to 'rest' a lot if not breakdown completely. Send a camp invite to Jordan Hamilton. He's a decent enough body to get some minutes and maybe some production. We need another point guard. And probably another big man given the fact that both Byron/Mitch think Tarik is a 4. I do like this team better, though. Nevertheless, we still need some pieces. Ellington/Price surprised and worked their way onto roster spots at the beginning of last season; we may need to go that route again.
I want another PG that doesn't need minutes, but is here to provide veteran leadership. Ridnour makes sense to me. We've got a lot of guys who are capable of playing the point, but one is a rookie, one is a sophomore, and the third one is more of a scorer than a passer (although Lou can do both). I want a veteran guy back there to keep the heads on straight for the young players. For me the rotation is: Russell (25)/Lou (23) Clarkson (30)/Lou (10)/Jabari (8) Kobe (28)/ Young (20) Randle (25)/Bass (23) Hibbert (28)/Black (20) Bass and Randle will handle almost all the minutes at PF. We have nothing to gain by NOT playing Randle and Russell at least 25 minutes a night. They need to develop. It's better to throw them out there and let them learn than to start the veterans. Usually I'd say "let them earn it" but at this point we're already rebuilding. We need to see what we have. Usually we're a decent team so the young guys need to come in and do better than the veterans, but now? We need to let the kids learn. They're our future. If we don't think they can support us then we need to know that asap.
In response to the part of your post I bolded, we may have something to gain - wins. That's assuming Randle is as far behind Black as he looked in Summer League. Completely agree on Russell, I wouldn't even mind if he works his way up to 30 MPG as the season goes on, he looks ready. Preseason can't get here fast enough, I can't wait to see more of our young guys and get an idea of what we might see from them this season. You're probably right on the 3rd string PG, a veteran leader that doesn't need minutes but can help Nash, Byron, and Kobe mentor the young guys and play some minutes in case of injury. I just don't see a need for anyone except Russell/LouWill/Clarkson to see minutes at PG, but injuries do happen, and this team could use more veteran leadership.
If it means waiving Sacre or atleast not seeing him play a single minute, McGee is a very solid backup for Hibbert. We'd have better rim protection than we've had for years at all times and he would bring some much needed rebounding off the bench. Hope it doesn't signal an Upshaw deal being dead(depending on what the Vegas issue was).
