RedDawg#8

You forgot Justin Holiday as well. 2nd unit depth is looking like A.Holiday | Bogi | J Holiday | JJ | OO As far as the young guys go, JJ is the only one in the top 9 but as the 4th Big. OO is getting a minutes bump, so there may be 9 mins a night left for JJ when its all said and done. Griffin would be outside looking in at the moment. His best shot will be the start of the season while Bogi is still rehabbing. Otherwise, he is your 5th wing. Scoring/assist wise, as constructed, you are looking for Trae, JC and Dre to take and hit more spot up attempts. You still have Bogi, and the Holiday bro’s shoot in the mid-upper 30’s which is similar to Kev. Shooting should be pretty in line with what we are used to. Hot and cold nights. Dribble drives will go up which can be assist opportunities too so there is that. The biggest fall off is Gallo’s post/iso scoring. That is the lane where Dre can really make his mark for us this year. OO could also stand to improve his post work as well and play some bully ball down low and get to that baby hook he likes. I think the way we score will look different, but we will still be putting up points. We will be at the FT line a lot more this season than we are used to.

Right, forget Holiday. The writing should have been on the wall after we drafted 2 guys at his exact same position. Clearly we are not satisfied with what we were getting from the wing position.

Murray is smooth. JC was our best interview for years but even he wasn’t this cool. I think Murray is about to be the new spokesperson for the squad. Exactly the type of swagger you need on camera so people take us seriously. No offense to Trae, but now he can just focus on being the hooper that he is and let DJ do the talking.

Yeah, I agree. Aaron Holiday is good, but if we truly plan on keeping Trae or Murray on the court at all times, he can only play next to Murray. He would be too small next to Trae. That’s why I preferred Wright who was seamless next to both of them. So, now we will likely have to deal with a Trae/Bogi backcourt again for 12+ mins a game.

AJ is unproven but projects as a really good shooter, JC is above average as a PF, Bogi remains, and then there is Trae. I think we need one more guy who is a guaranteed “bucket” but otherwise are in decent shape Gallo was that guy for the bench. A throw it in and forget it type player. We could use another one of those. That is where Dre needs to take a leap and fill that void.

I feel like many of is underestimated having a guy like Tony Snell. He knew his role and executed to perfection. Didn’t want or need the ball. Just stayed ready to hit the open shot at all times. You need those guys.

I like Kevin the person. I don't know how many moves are left to be made but if we roll out this roster, Bogi is absolutely the better player today than Kevin. When he is on, he is an absolute beast compared to Kev. K'Von made cameo appearances every now and then, but otherwise was a no call no show for us in big moments. Bogi honestly may have the biggest pair on the team outside of Trae. He is ot afraid of the moment. His only issue is health. We shall see where things go from here.

Murray is gonna make me bring back the part. I still get a cowlick in that same spot where I used to have one as a kid.

I'm ok with a Simmons move because it means we are trying. I am not excited or pushing for it. But I will understand it and respect the effort.

Nope, not if you rely solely on insiders. Utah isn't done making moves though, I can tell ya that.

Kev was a rollercoaster and disappearing act. I am in love with his potential, but he is not a reliable player right now. Please look at his meltdown in game 5 where he almost single handedly gave away that game. He is weak under pressure, point blank period. We just added toughness and experience. That equals win-now. I don't love it, I don't hate it. But I am ok with it

Diesel. I love you, but let this GSW stuff go. The biggest thing that they have is a cultural identity. We are not the same. Especially with Simmons, he is not a culture guy. Murray clearly is not Klay. He is Murray. A totally different skillset. Similar caliber of players, but completely different. We are building our own thing over here. The Warriors did not copy anyone else. The Spurs did not not copy anyone else. The Bulls did not copy anyone else. The Pistons did not copy anyone else. The Lakers did not copy anyone else. The Celtics (80's) did not copy anyone else. We have to focus on us. Trae and Steph do different things well. They have different weaknesses. You cannot build around them the same way. If the Hawks become a dynasty, it will be built upon Hawks basketball and a new way of winning. We will always lose trying to play like someone else.

Kev could only score once out of very 4 games. He was a threat, but he was not a consistent source of offense. Don't even get me started on defense

A right-minded Simmons would help anyone. He is an elite talent. He was a secondary player in PHI to Embiid. Heck, he was a third wheel when they had Butler and he all but made the Sixers choose between him and Jimmy because he did not like someone else holding him accountable. He is not a leader and he can only be a follower if you a gentle with his ego. At least a guy like Rodman would lay it all on the line for you. Simmons does not elevate his teammates on the court, he actually deflates them emotionally, especially when the moment get bigger

Windy is on to something here. The Jazz are shedding a ton of salary right now. BOLO for them to insert themselves in to the madness. I imagine they can become a landing spot for a contract in a multi-team trade to get KD to PHO.

Just so we are clear. Ben Simmons issues run much deeper than his blown layup moment against us. He has been criticized for a lack of competitiveness and willingness to be coached up since he was in High School. https://ftw.usatoday.com/lists/ben-simmons-2016-nba-draft-scouting-report-photo-givony-drama-reaction-sixers His talent level is out of this world, which is why at every level people think that they can fix his issues and turn the lightbulb on for him. But since he has started making millions it has become less and less of a priority for him to actually put winning first. BB breakdown explains very well his issues and how he is basically a center who doesn't know it yet. He makes a good point that some of his assists are not because he is making a good play, but because he is passing up his own scoring opportunities afraid of getting fouled and going to the line. Y'all keep thinking that we are over hyping his issues but he played next to an MVP level center who could also step out and hit perimeter shots. He had an elite 3 point shooter in Curry next to him. Another great shooter in Danny Green. Even that was not enough spacing to hide him on offense. Y'all think the box-and-1 was bad versus Miami, imagine the zoning that will happen when you can guard either of CC/OO and Simmons with just one defender in the paint splitting the difference between the 2 because they both want to get to 5 feet before taking a shot.

What scares me about Simmons more than his shooting is his mental state. Dude actually can shoot the ball as shown by many workouts. He literally has a mental block that keeps him from shooting in games. This isn’t hyperbole either. It’s like he has a phobia. So even if he does want to be here, the fans will eventually turn on him when he starts passing up shots in big moments. Its why his teams constantly under achieve. For 10 million dollars less, JC will hit that open corner 3 while we are making a comeback in the ECF game 1. Simmons will think twice about an open layup. You can’t make this stuff up, the kid is mental right now.

Nope, you nailed it. Not to mention he hasn't played in a year and has a mystery back injury to recover from. The only fit is that Trae apparently is on board with Simmons. Maybe he knows something we don't, but that's the only reason we keep showing interest in him.

I can see a 3 team trade happening if the options are really that limited for KD and the Nets.

I got you; 4- Won't shoot 5-Can't shoot Just terrible, smh

Why do people keep proposing trades that bring in Ayton and still leave us with Clint on the roster? Are we really planning to have a 20 mil per year backup center on the roster and start OO at the 4?

Agreed. Bogi is more injury prone and slower. But man, when he is on, he can go bizerk and is borderline All-Star level. His peaks have proven to be much more reliable and consistent than Kevin’s. Kevin just has youth, durability as of late, size and quickness over Bogi. If I had to win a game today I’d want Bogi 10/10 times. But for the future it’s Kev. Kev really needs to get his ish together and stop playing like he is afraid of contact. He needs to find a groove and maintain it.

I think we are doing too much at this point. There are no upgrades out there for us at PF. We have only been linked to Centers via trade. I don’t see how we add a 30 million dollar center to the roster and keep Capela. Yet somehow it’s still JC we are focusing on. We have too many wings and only one starting caliber PF. What are we really talking about here? We could literally just bring back Wright right now and be done tweaking. We would still have the flexibility to make moves as needed during the season if we don’t like the available trades. Trae, Wright, Coop Murray, Bogi, Martin, Mays Dre, Kev, AJ JC, JJ CC, OO We have a need for some reserve bigs but that’s about it.

Skip has made a career out of hating Lebron. Trae is in good company.

JCrossover was a huge impact to Murray. Says he is basically a big brother/mentor.