I think Kyrie trade can go plenty of ways so worst case scenario, we are riding with this: Russ | THT Reaves | Walker | Nunn LeBron | Stan | Troy AD | JTA Jones | Bryant | Gabriel Lack of shooting is undeniable. We can have a closing lineup with Nunn, Reaves, Stan or JTA, LeBron and AD that can be quite interesting. Russ, THT and Lonnie don't excite me for now. If Nunn is not healthy, I think we are short there. Mostly because of the lack of shooting and modest defense
I'd assume we have Nunn as the backup PG. Which leaves THT and Walker to battle for the backup SG. Potentially THT could be also the backup SF with Stan pushing up to the PF. Russ / Nunn Reaves / Walker Lebron / THT / Troy AD / Stan / JTA Jones / Bryant / Gabriel I think Stan and THT can be decent defensively on the wing. But like you said we are really missing a decent 3&D wing that was mobile enough to play at SG but defend SF's would of been great. Not sure if we could do a THT + first for a wing like that?
I’m sure coach Vogel is punching air right nowPelinka went with geriatric squad for him and went way young this year
this is my thought. if THT is going to work out, i think he has to be a backup point-forward type, which means he needs to defend the sf spot. as i mentioned in another thread, he has the standing reach and weight of an nba sf, so i don't see why not. as for trades, i think THT/nunn could bring in say, harrison barnes, for example. but right now those are the two guys you have who can play backup pg in a pinch. if you move down to just THT, you can only bring in a guy making about 12-13 per, and there's not a lot of guys who fit the bill at that price, tbh (hence my carping about our mini mle expectations). i also agree that stan will and should play as many minutes at 4 as he does at 3. guessing brown and gabriel won't see the floor much unless folks are injured.
Yes, I just put THT there because I guess he's unplayable with Russ. Basketball is heavy positionless nowadays. THT plays 1-3, Nunn 1-2, Reaves 1-3, Lonnie 1-3, Stan 3-4, JTA 3-4. And when you have a guy like LeBron, your guards are basically wings on offense. This squad allows for very different looks that can be interesting. But the lack of shooting worries me. You don't win titles without it nowadays. That's why it baffles me the stall on Kyrie trade because of Harris. But Phoenix didn't had a ton of shooting and reached the Finals. We can only contend with that Nets trade though. But it should be a more funny team to watch even if we don't get that trade The fact we didn't get any PG hints that a deal with THT/Nunn is unlikely (for a wing) which surprises me. But I can easily be sold in giving THT 1 more year in a different system to up his value. And Nunn the same because he should play this year no? They both tanked their value last year, so it makes some sense if we hold on to them
if THT/nunn are moved for something that's not a pg, i wonder if a bought-out patbev is our backup pg. either that or i guess klutch bledsoe.
Bryant. Jones Gabriel AD Johnson. Swider LeBron JTA Troy Brown HBK Walker Christie Nunn. THT Pip Jr. send Rustbrick home
assuming we can't move him, i want to give russ his chance at redemption. if he comes out and plays better, he gets to pin it all on vogel and maybe regains some esteem (which he cares about VERY much). if he doesn't, i think ham has the green light to excise him from the rotation.
i can't know this, but i really feel like we've turned over every stone in terms of moving russ, and none of it has yielded a sensible move yet. going into the season with him starting is a weird mix of defiance and capitulation, and if the nets are stubborn, that's where we're going.
Seems all the GMs on all the teams we checked with about that big juicy 47M expiring contract of a first ballot HOF triple double machine …. saw the same thing everyone here saw, except for Slick. And don’t give a s*** whether LeBron and AD were healthy or not. Because they were evaluating the BBB himself. (Big Brick-headed Bricker)
With the Bev press conference yesterday I'm starting to believe we're starting the season with Russ still on the team. Russell Westbrook / Kendrick Nunn Patrick Beverley / Austin Reaves / Lonnie Walker IV Lebron James / Troy Brown Jr / Max Christie Anthony Davis / Juan Toscano Anderson / Wenyen Gabriel Thomas Bryant / Damien Jones Scottie Pippen Jr and Cole Swider on 2-way. Jay Huff camp invite. 2 open roster spots. --------------------------------- Trading THT and Stan really tightened up the roster a bit, before there were some overlaps. Guard rotation is set though a lot of faith is in Nunn returning. Also a little disconcerting that our mMLE is at the end of the rotation unless Reaves plays up into SF. Forward rotation I'm still not too happy about. Wasn't expecting Brown to play a lot but he might end up having to play a bigger role. I really like JTA here but he's still a tad undersized for the 4. Our biggest improvement is in the center rotation. We pretty much had two unplayable centers last year and then had to run Melo at center. I really like how TB and Jones pairs with AD out there, and it also allows AD to play more 4/wing. Hoping Huff gets one of the last spots for center insurance. And maybe a more NBA ready wing instead of Christie.
This is going to be interesting and a great test for Coach Ham right off the bat. Russ might prove me wrong but I don't think he can win a starting job over Reaves or Nunn based on what Ham has said he is looking for. It would not surprise me to see a Reaves, Nunn, Bryant, LeBron, AD line up. Beverly and Russ can have have their time being sparkplugs off the Bench. Nothing wrong with that.
Meh..who cares? Besides some " insiders" speculating, I'm not sure how hard we shopped Russ at all. When you put out early that you aren't interested in taking back injury risks, or giving up picks, the options are going to be limited from the start. The only things being floated, involves one of those things or both. A deal isn't going to happen, that's been rather obvious to me for awhile. I don't give a damn about all these other Gm's opinions, they haven't won any recent chips, I do give a s*** about whether Lebron and AD are healthy or not tho. Anyway if Nunn is a go, I guess we'll actually get to see whether this thing will work or not.
Nunn, reportedly, hasn't played 5 on 5 yet. Ham yesterday said that he looks great in "individual" workouts.
I can't predict if will be healthy or not but if healthy he stands a good chance of earning a starting spot. Nunn is a good player and fits our needs. In the end I trust Coach Ham to make the right call.
I certainly hope not. Why get Bev if he's not starting alongside Bron and AD? Bryant has to start at C if we Russ is here and starting. Also pegging Nunn as a starter when he hasn't played 5 on 5 in a year... is this Ariza all over again?
Yeah sounds like a crock for clicks from Zach. After all the appearances and quotes from Ham continually talking about starting positions based on competition and ability to play defense, no way in hell can he pencil in Brick and Nunn at this point. PLUS ... Brick just basically put it out there unofficially through Ramona he'd like to go somewhere where he could be empowered to play the same way he has always played which is nothing like what Darvin has been describing he wants to see from him. F*** off Zach.