sturt

Right. And the wing part of that has only become apparent recently. Schlenk did not anticipate that it would. We know that. He said that.

You have to decide what you need for today. That is, where is it more likely a contingency option will be needed? Because this is only a non-guaranteed contract, you can go get something different whenever (of course). And the pool for that position today is the pool for that position today. If you perceive you need something different in two weeks, you gain nothing from having chosen a different position player due to a scarcity in the pool previously. Nothing. Nothing. You gain no advantage at either point, now, or later. 1. Getting what's best for you right now from the pool doesn't hurt you from getting what's best in two weeks or help you in two weeks. 2. Getting what's best for you in two weeks doesn't have any retroactive impact on your choices today. "Non-guaranteed minimum" is key here. Otherwise, it would be as you're asserting that you have to be cognizant of the pool today and what the pool might look like later.

Nope. But that's okay. He'd forgotten about the start of last season when he said this? Nah. He was cognizant of last season when he said this.

Nope. Might be accurate if the bottom line was "who is our #15 player"... but it's not... and it's not. That theeeere is called failure to read for comprehension, Lewis Eddie.

To be clear, I'm not upset by the decision. Insurance is important to have, and increasingly so to the degree that you perceive a risk. I'm confident TS made the best decision.

Nothing has been reported to say TLC didn't get the same non-guaranteed minimum contract that Solo got last year.... which by the way, is consistent with what Schlenk thought "might be" (... hehe...) what would happen.

It is irrefutably "strong" if we're comparing that with "maybe since conventionally speaking we have 6 wings on the roster, we'll look to address wing." Given what we know, that is... yes, irrefutably... the most likely, since... ...none of us, including yourself, have any reason to believe TLC so wowed anyone in preseason that his performance changed TS' mind. Then, to this... ... that's not a reason to go with TLC. It's not. If you think you need a wing, you're going to go get the best wing you can get for the price you're willing to pay, and if you think you need a big, you're going to do the same. Using that logic, TS might have just as likely picked up a point guard if he thought the remaining pool was thin. No, that's not logical. You know you need to fill a void, and you fill that void. It's certainly comforting if TS had that perception that he could get insurance now, and later if Dre's knee became 100%, he could get any of a number of bigs. But that's all that is. For this one, it begs the question "what changed?" Did TS learn that JC can be a 3rd center sometime since early August? That's the tipping point between plausible and likely, dontcha know... what changed. The one thing that we know changed is that TS thought Dre would be "full go" to start the season. No assumption. And, then, that Dre isn't. No assumption. Could there be some nuances here... could there be other factors we have no insight into? Sure. I'd even offer that there often is. But I keep saying it... I'm examining what we know and concluding what is likely. Nothing wrong with that, of course, and again, bigger point is not TLC's status, but that Dre's isn't what TS anticipated. Not reason for super concern, but definitely.... reason for concern.

Not that you specifically should have enjoyed it.... but I was quite sure you did.

Um. Noticed you bothered to cite the quote... and then you didn't speak to what was quoted... or did I miss something? Clever. Tip of the cap to your professional training. (No sarcasm.) When you offer up something that seems a little specious in hindsight... like that Schlenk simply forgot about 2021 and had he remembered, he wouldn't have reasoned like he was reasoning nor, then, misspoken as he spoke... just put it in the past.

Was really hoping for some chuckle... multiple ones, actually... on that one, but maybe even after all these years, the wound is still too fresh... hehe.

Gray, my friend, that they "like" TLC better than other options is self-evident. And. That their judgment would have been affected by a pre-camp expectation of Dre's health not coming to fruition? That's also self-evident. I'm not sure why it's so important for people to somehow minimize the what we know parts of this and inflate the plausible assumptions parts of this. (My Spidey sense says to remember how our good friends AHF and Jay have each others' backs with no fail as far as I've ever seen... but that itself is mere plausible assumption, so I'll avoid going there.) Bottom line is this: While, yes, TLC is liked and on our roster, the actually-salient point is so much more that Dre's health remains a bigger question mark than TS had anticipated at this stage. And 12 games in 20 days (if I counted correctly) is very possibly going to seriously test that health.

Sooooo... you're trying to tell me, when Schlenk said to Kirschner in early August... ...he'd forgotten about the start of last season, and failed to include that in his reasoning, and therefore we should disregard the comment as irrelevant. Okay. Can't go there with you, obviously. Oh well.

Possible, sure. Why not. And who knows, maybe TLC has some dirt on TS... like he recorded him saying, "He's got some Frenchman in him." (*wink*) Possible. No one can legitimately say it's not. But the discussion, at least from my perspective, is what's likely given the evidence? It might be likely had we seen something in preseason that was overwhelming from TLC. But none of us seem to think that, including yourself. What we did see in preseason is TS' stated pre-camp expectations about Dre's health being somewhat disappointed... the kind of thing where you're not really super concerned, but just enough to prompt some change in reason, and his better angels telling him better to keep some wing insurance instead of adding a big. Likely. Highly, just going off what we know.

You didn't, but I have to admit I had to read it twice, too.

There's some chronology here that would seem to matter. Back when Okafor was cut, I don't think Gallo was considered to be injured. (Correct me if I'm wrong, tho.) And even now, I'm not aware that Gallo's injury is anything considered to be a chronic concern, as Dre's is. And I believe you said yourself (?) following Okafor's being cut that you thought TS was likely to be looking for other options as teams made their final cuts. As did I. But in hindsight, probably not so much. The other part of it is, back when Okafor was cut, it was becoming clear that TS' expectation that Dre would be full-go on opening night was being confounded by Dre's knee still experiencing swelling after preseason games... and the kind thing to do for Okafor then would be to grant him optimal opportunity to still catch-on with another team because TLC was going to be needed for insurance purposes.

Whoa. I just realized. BRUNO STUCK ON THE C'S 15-MAN (!). Way to go big fella.

Not to be Debbie Downer, but we're going to find out pretty early how healthy Dre's knee really is... just look at when the team gets its first two-day break... after 12 games...

Have to say yeah to that. I believe he can guard practically anyone 6-1 to 6-11 better than the median defender can. It's only when you get at or above 7-0 and with that have a big chest like Embiid... or get at or below 6-0 and with that have exceptional quickness... that I think his defensive benefit evaporates.

Yep. And a very bad contract, ie for humongous expense, both in terms of (a) actual money and (b) opportunity cost and flexibility to obtain other players as needed.

I can buy that, too, but it's a whole other topic, of course.

I can buy all that.

There's a part of me that doesn't mind Hunter being on restricted minutes for awhile (assuming that happens)... ie, so that Cam gets significant playing time practically automatically and doesn't press.... to me, that's the key right now... Cam needs to get into a flow and not feel the weight of constantly having to feel his floor time is threatened by his next bad shot. Fortunately, I think we have the right head coach who's going to be able to facilitate that flow regardless, but it's easier if Hunter isn't forcing the issue by playing so well that McM can't feel good about substituting him.

I'm slower to that conclusion, even with this newest dust-up proving to me (for what that matters) that Simmons is at least as immature as I was when I was 25. And that's pretty immature, I have to say. (Sorry @kg01, but if you show up for practice and the very first things you do demonstrate you didn't show up mentally prepared for even the most routine, mundane expectations of a practice... in the context that both parties had just agreed to try to get along at some basic level of camaraderie... that tips the scales of impropriety firmly over to the Simmons side.) And I'm slower to that conclusion because when someone's been psychologically flogged to the degree that Simmons has, there's some chance that when such a person begins to see light at the end of that tunnel, s/he feels both empowered and highly motivated to prove everyone wrong. And were Simmons to end up with an actual contending team, I see that chance increasing exponentially--because the potential for not only proving everyone wrong, but making the playoffs a public show of how wrong they all were, makes for off-the-charts motivation. And too, there's the Rodman factor, which says that if a team already has strong personalities (like Jordan et al) and a firm sense of own culture, it can withstand the insertion of a personality that represents a potential shock to stability. We might not be there yet, but then again we might be. But none of that matters because of the current salary ledger situation put together with the belief that this isn't the time to take any team chemistry risks, and especially so given the anticipated continued growth and maturity of our high-potential too-young-to-rent-a-car players. In short, Simmons may or may not be the wrong player for us... but his contract is definitely a wrong contract at this juncture. Maybe that changes by next off-season, or who knows, maybe even by the trade deadline.

Good for us, they've both so estranged themselves, b/c if that trade were to happen, seems both the Nets and Sixers get better.