Phunkabilly

A Spud trade proposal without JJ in it! You made the 'Squawk proud today, young man!

I'm sure wanting to find some more minutes for JJ probably had something to do with it, but I think the primary motivation was to create financial flexibility, both this year and in the future. Creating the large trade exception, getting under the LT in order to get the full MLE, and not to mention avoiding the restrictions that you have to deal with when trying to trade while you're in the LT... I thought all of those were worthwhile benefits for us, especially early in the offseason, even if the actual "assets" we received in the trade were pretty lackluster. But now we sit here in August with the bulk of the offseason over and done with, and we haven't really done anything with those benefits I spoke of. The offseason isn't over, of course, and there's still some optimism that something could work out in September, but it would be hard to blame fans for yelling at Ressler for being "cheap" without any further moves to take advantage of those financial benefits we received in the JC trade. Edit: It probably wouldn't be fair to avoid mentioning that shedding JC's salary had a hand in allowing us to extend DJ this offseason. Obviously that was a huge move for our future, although we still haven't really done anything with that financial flexibility to help us this year.

In 100% agreement with @AHF on this debate. The whole purpose of the per36 stat is to normalize the minutes played so that you can make more of an apples-to-apples comparison when analyzing different players, which is exactly what AHF was using it for. And of course ANY stat is near meaningless when there's not enough data to draw from. In the DJ example mentioned above, the 322 minutes played his rookie year is simply not enough data to draw any conclusions from. It makes much more sense to analyze the following 3 seasons when his total number of minutes played was much more significant. And if you make the argument that a player's per36 numbers should go down with more minutes played due to fatigue, you could easily make the counter argument that they'll go UP due to the player having a chance to get "warm" and in a rhythm when they're on the court longer. In the end, I suspect that those two relatively minor factors probably balance each other out and you're probably not gonna see a significant change in per36 stats when "minutes played" is the primary variable that changes.

I would say developing into a solid rotational player is a good outcome for your average non-lottery first round pick. I'm sure Bufkin himself would eventually like to become a starter, but I don't think it's necessarily the expectation of the front office, especially for the first 2-3 years.

Nice... uh... pixels! Jaybird!

Only one clip in there where JJ was the defender. Wonder if that meant he got the stop in his other reps?

Yeah, I remember watching this game. This was definitely one of those moments last year that gave me confidence that he'll be huge for us this year. For those worrying about his 3 point shooting... look at that stroke... it looks good. But the thing that got me most hype is when he starts to go up for a 3 point shot, but spots OO get good position under the basket and lobs a perfect pass to him at the last second.... just shows he sees the floor well at all times. That's the kind of thing JC or Hunter could never give us. Once he establishes his three point shot to the point where the defense has to respect it, he's gonna be SUPER dangerous, because he's quick and athletic enough where he'll be able attack on a closeout, and he obviously has the chops to deliver a dime to his teammates when the defense sends help at him. I'm so pumped to watch the kid this year.

I mean there is such a thing as growing organically, guys. If we had a team full of veterans, then you could reasonably expect to get the same results by running it back with the same squad. But you have to remember that we still have a very young group. Outside of Bogi and Capela, every single one of our important players are 26 years old or younger. I think it's fair to expect that most of those guys will improve just from the natural progression that comes with age and experience. Now throw in a new coach who is known for his player developmental skills, and you have a recipe to accelerate that growth even quicker. And it's not outside the realm of possibility that one of those young guys, whether it be OO, JJ, AJ, Hunter, Bey or whomever, to break out this year and become that third star that most fans are clamoring for. I'm just saying it's not the end of the world if we do end up running it back, especially with this squad. I would much, much, much rather Landry do that than end up accepting a bad deal.

Bring Jose home!!

I gotta ask... what in the world is a "dollybrook"?

I thought this was a good (short) read. I believe it was @AHF or @thecampster who has been trying to stress the point of allowing RFA to work for us. This is a good example of that very point. Basically, the Lakers were able to keep Reaves at half price just because of the threat of being able to match an offer sheet. https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2023/07/spurs-considered-lucrative-offer-sheet-for-austin-reaves.html

The Ignore button is a beautiful thing, kg. Believe me, it makes the squawk a much more enjoyable experience.

Spud, give JJ a chance. I think you're gonna really like what you see out of him this year.

WuTang_OG, imma need you to go ahead and pick you out a switch so you can get this butt whoopin'

Preeeeeaaaccchhhh Soth! I agree 100%

Even better! I would definitely be down for that.

Hawks, Braves, Falcons, and GT fan since 1988? Are you sure you're not me??

Yeah, this is the type of final offer I would make for Siakam. I feel like this is very fair for both parties.

To add to this debate, I will say that a lot of JJ's turnovers had to do with him being overaggressive or making poor decisions in passing the ball, not really with losing his dribble. I think those mistakes are mostly due to a lack of experience, however. With more experience, I expect his turnover% to improve quite a bit. As the treasurer of the JJ fan club, I am obviously more optimistic than most regarding his potential, although I will admit that he does have some things that he need to improve on... namely his three point shooting, decision making, and knowing where to be on defense. But I have seen enough from him this past year to be very confident that he'll improve on every single one of those facets. And we now have a coach that I fully believe will help unlock JJ to realize his full potential. And as I said before, JJ is the type of guy who can make a positive impact pretty much every game even if one part of his game is off, because he does so many different things well... I don't expect him to disappear in games like several of our guys tend to do.

I totally get what you're saying. It's kind of like Peter Griffin choosing between a boat and the mystery box... HOWEVER, one distinction that I would make is that JJ, AJ, and OO are all ready to contribute RIGHT NOW. At this time last year, I would've been willing to include JJ and AJ (although probably not OO), because they hadn't shown me that they were NBA ready yet. However, I feel like all three of those guys are ready to be valuable contributors of a team competing for the championship. And you need guys like that on cheap contracts to pair with your expensive stars. IF we were going after a stud, I would be much more willing to part with any of those guys. However, Siakam ain't at that level to me. He's a fine player, for sure, but on a max or near-max contract, he will at best be market value. To part with high value young guys who are ready to contribute right away, I'm gonna need a star that is gonna be a good value on a max contract... not a second or third tier star like Siakam. With that said, Siakam is certainly an upgrade for this team, and I would be willing to part with any reasonable package that doesn't include Trae, DJ, OO, AJ or JJ. If that's not enough to get it done, then I would just move on.

Well, I think hero is right in that JJ does need to improve his three point shooting. I am optimistic that he'll at least become a 35%+ guy, although he might never get to the 40% levels. But the great thing about JJ is that he can positively impact the game in so many different ways, even if his shot isn't falling. The incredibly annoying thing with Dre to me is that he flat out disappears far too often. If his shot isn't falling, he's about worthless on the offensive end of the floor.

Beat me to it, lol.

JJ has better court vision and is a MUCH better passer than Dre. I agree that his three point shot needs to improve, but he has a good stroke. I expect that part of his game to get much better this year. He's also a better finisher than Dre, although not as good of a mid-range game. Although frankly, I expect Snyder to push most of the guys to get away from the mid-range shot.