Both are fantastic in about 20 minutes a game. Extend both of them more than that, and I think you think more about their flaws. I love Caruso's ability to run the team, hit the open man, finish at the hoop, his solid defense. I'm digging Avery's dog in him hounding guys with tenacity and getting to the hoop for some easy buckets. I don't feel he runs the team as well on O, and the ball is in Lebron's hands a bit too much. Glad we have both. It's kind of like having one pretty darn good point guard. Kind of an Oreo Cookie things going on. Some like the cookie, some like the cream.
We have McGee/Howard playing center Bradley/Caruso/Rondo playing point Maybe this is a new paradigm like when baseball managers would take mediocre starting pitchers and convert them into excellent closers. Might get more complicated when trying to re sign them next season though.
I don't have the clip, but he had an amazing crunch time defensive sequence. He doubled a close out on the baseline on a Murray drive, then full on sprinted to the opposite side deep three corner to bother the shooter into a miss. Pure hustle.
The #BalldHawk has been an absolute animal on defense. Hes’s 6th best in the league in drtg (15mpg & 10 games played minimum). https://stats.nba.com/players/defen...E*10&Season=2019-20&SeasonType=Regular Season He is 4th best on the team (behind 1.Bron, 2.AD and 3.Av) in terms of defensive win shares. His D is what’s up (pause).
I'm surprised by good he is on defense. He's not as good as a guy like Beverley but the fact I'm even thinking of comparing Caruso to him speaks volumes. It would interesting to run a Caruso/Green/AD/Lebron/Dwight lineup and let them go all in on defense. Vogel though seems to be keeping his cards close to his vests with ideal lineups. It's not like he doesn't have a feel for it: he put in Caruso and took out Rondo with 2 minutes to go in the 4th
It's truly impressive. People are joking around, but they don't realize how good of a role player he really is. He's valuable.
That’s where I see the value of Rondo. Start off strong in regular season games with Bron running point and McGee coming off the bench for Dwight. Stagger Bron and AD as the game progresses and have Rondo come in to have Bron/AD run more off ball while setting up McGee as a lob threat. This allows Bron to save his legs and then if need be (ie toggle on klutch switch in the 4th), you can go with a defensive heavy lineup of Av, Caruso, Green, Bron, AD (small ball) or either Caruso/Av, Green, Bron, AD, Dwight (tall ball) to close games that are still in doubt. Bron should run point heavy to start and end games. Rondo should be the playmaker in between. Either Caruso or Av should close games or start 4th quarters that secure a lead if we have one. It should go without saying now...protect Bron for the playoffs. Dude IS our offense and one of our defensive leaders and playing pretty heavy minutes. Protect him please.
None of this is a surprise. I remember Weezy and I were adamant that we had a solid backup in Caruso all offseason. He was good last season when he was on the floor.
Big time put-back...stares down his own bench...McGee had to get up out of shock. On the Lakers post-game show the hosts mentioned about a movement about Caruso being in the Dunk Contest which he sheepishly sidestepped modestly stating he's about only a 10th of the usual participants. Laker fans were loud after that flush...in Denver.
