Should we continue to start DMC over Thabo?

[Peoriabird]

The more i watch DMC play on offense, the more i feel that he should not be apart of the starting 5.  If his 3 point shot isn't falling, he offers very little else at the offensive end.  His struggles may in part explain our slow starts in games which has become somewhat of a trend during the pre-season.  Thabo Sefolosha is a much better fit with the starting line up not only because he is a better offensive player than DMC but a better rebounder also.  He is probably a better defender too so I wouldn't mind on bit if Thabo was moved into the starting line up and averaged 30 minutes plus per game.  He is too good a player to not get more than 20 minutes per game on this team.   Just my 2 cents.

Edited October 23, 2014 by Peoriabird

[Guest]

I haven't seen any pre-seaon games so I cannot say.  I would at least like a 10-15 game regular season sample to look at this.

Sometimes it's not about having your best players on the court at the same time.  

What if DMC is less effective off the bench?  As a starter the defense doesn't focus on him when you have Teague, Kyle, Sap and Al who will score the majority of points.

Thabo's scoring and defense may be needed more on the bench unit.  

Time will tell though.

[Peoriabird]

As a starter the defense doesn't focus on him when you have Teague, Kyle, Sap and Al who will score the majority of points.

That's the problem...When defenses don't focus on him he either shoots too much or tries to do too much.  Maybe its just pre-season but DMC was trying to drive the basket and initiate offense way too much for my taste!  And by the way, we have plenty of offense coming of the bench in Scott, Mack/Schröder and Jenkins

[Guest]

That's the problem...When defenses don't focus on him he either shoots too much or tries to do too much.  Maybe its just pre-season but DMC was trying to drive the basket and initiate offense way too much for my taste!  And by the way, we have plenty of offense coming of the bench in Scott, Mack/Schröder and Jenkins

Like I said I haven't seen any games so I don't know.  DMC driving the ball has disaster written all over it though (he said that was one area he would work on over the summer).  All  I need him to focus on is shoot when he is WIDE open, play defense and rebound.

I would like to revisit this topic after 10-15 games.

[Guest]

  And by the way, we have plenty of offense coming of the bench in Scott, Mack/Schröder and Jenkins

We have offense all over the place. 

[tbhawksfan]

Tough to have holes. One side of the court players create liability. You hope they're worth it on the other end. Better teams know how to take advantage of holes on either end of the court.

Carroll/Thabo are not going to be very productive starters. The team ball has to cover some of our holes

[Peoriabird]

Carroll/Thabo are not going to be very productive starters. The team ball has to cover some of our holes

I don't know what you mean by "Thabo will not be a productive starter"!

[Bahamut]

Given the choice, I'd

 

[GrimeyKidd]

He was probably told to do that so he could be included more in the offense

[Peoriabird]

He was probably told to do that so he could be included more in the offense

If you are referring to DMC driving the ball, he is terrible at it and it makes the offense so much more inefficient!

[Guest]

If you are referring to DMC driving the ball, he is terrible at it and it makes the offense so much more inefficient!

DMC has terrible handles - I was at a games last season vs the Kings. On 3 separate occasions DMC leading a fast break ended in disastrous results...oooiiiii. :-(. Edited October 23, 2014 by JayBirdHawk

[JETSET]

Tough to have holes. One side of the court players create liability. You hope they're worth it on the other end. Better teams know how to take advantage of holes on either end of the court.

Carroll/Thabo are not going to be very productive starters. The team ball has to cover some of our holes

Yeah I will go ahead and disagree strongly with you there.  Thabo can be a very productive starter for us this season.

Edited October 23, 2014 by JETSET

[Guest]

Yeah I will go ahead and disagree strongly with you there. Thabo can be a very productive starter for us this season.

Agreed - All we need from that duo is to be efficient offensively and do what they do best - play defense and grab a few rebounds.

[GameTime]

Even if he starts, I don't see DMC playing 32 MPG this year with Baze, Thabo signed. I see more like 25 MPG from DMC, 20-25 for Thabo and 15-20 for Baze.

[benhillboy]

I haven't seen any games, so I say DMC keeps his role. He has a year of tenure in the system over Thabo and hasn't done anything to lose his job. If Thabo shoots the three considerably better it might not take long for things to change. There won't be many utility 2s bringing his impact on the boards and steals.

Edited October 23, 2014 by benhillboy

[thecampster]

Really hard to bench a guy who was a vital part of your team last year over 7 preseason games. Perhaps if you jerked on something more productive than your knee, we could avoid these conversations in the future?

[bird_dirt]

Hopefully DMC is just working on practicing his drives, etc during the preseason before the games matter. Much better to try to get comfortable in a game like situation now rather than being forced into a situation in the future where he may need to do it without the experience. Do it now and get it out of the system, preseason is all about tinkering and working on things you need to improve on.

[Peoriabird]

I haven't seen any games, so I say DMC keeps his role. He has a year of tenure in the system over Thabo and hasn't done anything to lose his job. If Thabo shoots the three considerably better it might not take long for things to change. There won't be many utility 2s bringing his impact on the boards and steals.

DMC Pre-season shooting percentages:

 

3 point field goals                  -   5 out of 21 for 24%

overall shooting percentage  -  18 out of 48 for 38%

[Peoriabird]

Really hard to bench a guy who was a vital part of your team last year over 7 preseason games. Perhaps if you jerked on something more productive than your knee, we could avoid these conversations in the future?

1st of all DMC didn't even play in the 1st pre-season game.  Secondly, we won 38 games last year so no one is untouchable!  The facts are that DMC is a very limited player offensively and if we could upgrade the position with a better offensive player who is a better rebounder and might be a better defender then why not?

[Plainview1981]

That's the problem...When defenses don't focus on him he either shoots too much or tries to do too much.  Maybe its just pre-season but DMC was trying to drive the basket and initiate offense way too much for my taste!  And by the way, we have plenty of offense coming of the bench in Scott, Mack/Schröder and Jenkins

 

When did Schröder become a offensive player?