sturt

He'll be back. That, or our coach and the staff have a very dark sense of humor.

I prefer to think that reads Hawksquawk, and made his decision after reading this thread....

I like the bun. But for selfish reasons. No, it does nothing in my opinion to attract the ladies... @JayBirdHawk or others may weigh-in, of course... however it does make him instantly recognizable on the court wherever he happens to be at any particular moment. You know, b/c those white guys all look alike.

I see no conflict myself. The player wants to play for us, but he's just not ready to play, contrary to the expectation when he signed and the progress that seemed to have been made since his surgery. Cut him. If someone else wants to offer him more money while he continues to rehab, that's indeed the risk you run. We *do* want him on the team when he's ready to play, but he's not. He's an asset. He's just not enough of an asset that you upset the rest of your roster to accommodate. Kick the can down that road, because you're not only missing Splitter right now, you could very well be missing Scott later. You can't be slicing off low post players. At least, buy yourself that time. That's only sensible, imo.

..."I'm not sure I see the logic in thinking they're going to go ahead and cut anyone from the low post, when in fact, there is no cost to slicing off the roster another injured player whose contract is inconsequential."... Think you may have read that one too fast. I'm speaking of a player who you can pick back up as easily as you cut him since he's only making the minimum.

If I may.... as long as Splitter is hurt, I'm not sure I see the logic in thinking they're going to go ahead and cut anyone from the low post, when in fact, there is no cost to slicing off the roster another injured player whose contract is inconsequential. Someone set me straight. I must be missing something.

re: Keeping Moose... On the one hand, I've argued extremely persuasively (can't you tell by all of his admirers in this thread?) that Moose is essentially tracking with Zaza's career, with just a point or two better scoring, and a rebound or two worse production there. On the other... my real reason for being a Moose fan.... I just love having a player on the roster whose nickname is Moose... a football nickname in a basketball uni... and s'helpme, he even shoots the 3 decently sometimes. What's not to love? :D

Now that we have intel on Jack's status, I'm converting.... previously thought THjr would be dispatched one way or another. But... it's not alright now. He's not Jumpin Jack Flash. So, he's out. For now. There is no real consequence to cutting Jack, IF you buy-in to the idea that your 3rd pg can be a role temporarily held down by any of Baze, THjr, or Bembry. And I have to believe THjr's been getting those PG minutes for that very reason, and it sounds like he's capable of shouldering some of those. But zooming out... what we still don't know but strongly suspect is that Mike Scott can't possibly expect to make it through the season, and possibly can't expect to make it through a month, without the legal situation sidelining him. So, OPTIMALLY, what happens is you've got Scott at least until Splitter gets back, and the domino effect being that Moose takes some minutes at the 5 that he wouldn't ordinarily for now. Then, when Splitter gets back, that's the first next point in the timeline that you re-evaluate where things stand. The second point is either when Jack's healthy, and you can look to re-sign him... or, when Scott's situation gets resolved.

Speaking from his perspective of course. But, too, how many times do we get to March and April and see that a player turned out to have a strong year in spite of a weak October and/or November? Just hate the thought that we rid our roster of someone who ends up excelling for an opponent, and especially if we paid a premium price and they got him off our discount rack.

To be clear, I'm saying "I can't see him on the roster yet." With Splitter out, and with some good, some bad reviews for Delaney as PG, barring some trade that flips the context, it's becoming difficult to imagine he's not the odd-man-out. Have to think he logged PG minutes b/c 3rd PG is the last remaining role he could conceivably fill and see someone else (Jack) as that odd-man instead.

Interesting. I'd thought last year he might get a chance to assume a big PG role, but when that didn't materialize, forgot the whole notion. When you say "he looked okay," is that to say "he could make-do if we're ever in a bind," or to say, "there actually seems to be something there to work with"... ? I see he had no turnovers.

Good news for THjr. Broke thru for 19 pts. Bad news... 40% FG%, 20% 3FG% in 30 minutes. I honestly think this is just a mini-slump, but it comes at about the worst possible time. Only saving grace would seem to be that he arrived, along with 2 WAS second rd picks, as the price of our mid-1st rd pick summer before last... hard to imagine cutting him, or for that matter, even trading him for someone's future 2nd rounder.

Hi, Lou. In a former life, my name was Bud, and I developed a whole routine called Who's at Point Guard... but it just never caught on. ;)

What did I miss... THjr has legal trouble? You mean his dad's??? I dunno.

Small but important detail as it applies to Scott. Based on what I've read, the CBA dictates that if he's dismissed for a 2 year exile, we retain the ability to sign him for his current salary ($3.3m) when he regains eligibility. That could be a consideration... not that you keep him for that reason alone, because he's still got to perform of course, but long-term that could be ace up the sleeve in a future season. Could be. I've been one of his cheerleaders all the time he's been here, but have to think THjr is the one most on the bubble of the healthy non-TC-contract players. Heck, correct that... I think that's almost done deal at this point. If Jack doesn't stick, it's b/c they decide to go with Bynum or some other team's PG cut.

True story. I can beat that. Two nights ago, Don Trump and Mafia-like minions were in hot pursuit, trying to hunt me down. I ran too fast for them. (That's how I know it was a dream.)

Wow, indeed. C'mon Junior. This isn't you. Quit pressing and just play ball like you know and we know you can do.

Did anyone?

I'm not nearly so ready to cut loose any player based on just two preseason games. But having said that, there could be some merit in your idea. Could be. Like we keep saying, it's hard to say w/o any inside scoop on Jack's actual status.

All told, that was one heckuva performance.... not only withstanding arguably THjr's worst performance ever in ATL, but dang, Pop played their starters virtually the entire first half from what I saw... and yet, our guys largely held serve.

Honest answer.... I think the system depends on players taking open shots when they get them, especially wings... that, and, after awhile, the other team notices who seems to be cold, and allow that player to have more open shots. I don't think THjr gets that many minutes, though, in a regular season game, and all the more so, after the first 8 shots or so prove unsuccessful. In an odd way, I'm glad he took as many as he did.

When one guy in the starting line-up goes 1-13, it's no mystery how everyone else's +/- sucks. Let's hope that it was just first night jitters for Junior.

What's up with this? Splitter and Scott both were active for the scrimmage last Saturday.

The C-Viv has spoken. I have complete faith in his insight on these things. (*wink*)

Stray thoughts... 1. I could be wrong, but I think Prince can claw his way into the rotation if he can show himself a defensive asset. 2. I've maintained all along that Moose can deliver a lot of what Zaza did for us, minus a couple of rebounds, but plus a couple of points... I think I'm seeing that play out. Clearly, at the least, Budcox is showcasing Moose for a trade, or at most, actually planning to use him extensively based on a suspicion that Scott won't be on the roster. 3. Edy moving without the ball. Edy with that silky touch in the post. This really could be something special to behold, and as said above, lessens the impact of any time Splitter has to miss. 4. Ryan Kelly, imo, is capable of consistently generating stretch-4 offense for us off the bench. Hard pressed to see how he wedges his way onto the 15-man short of some trade that opens up a spot, though. 5. To @AHF's question, I saw that C-Viv indicated in a tweet that Bud was holding back a few of the 20 from PT, but that those would get time on Saturday night in SA.