Defense

[sturt]

On 2/15/2023 at 10:50 AM, sturt said:

So, you say you want a better defense?

Well, unfortunately, your rotation is what your rotation is.

The best you can hope for is that those guys get better.

But the second best thing you can hope for is the second best thing you can hope for... backfill your roster with some defense-first players who on occasion can be inserted into the 5-man to pump the brakes on the other team's ability to score, if only for awhile.

I like to solve problems, not just talk about their existence... even if it's only "solving" in theory... (but you knew that already... )

 

Realized just now, we can get greedy under the circumstances... conceivably, anyhow.

1. Stanley Johnson could be signed, replacing either Vit or Tyrese on the 15-man.

(If you love either one of those guys, though, don't despair, they're both likely to be available on the open market anyhow in the off-season, or if not them, two guys with almost the same resume'.)

2. DeAndre Bembry arguably is facing some G-League time given his return from major injury... but a Google search hasn't given any insight into his progress.

If he is returning, and if he isn't especially coveted at the moment since he's coming off major injury... talk to him about taking one of the 2-way slots.

3. But what has evolved to be my favorite thought over the last 24-ish hours is plucking from G-League a player who actually isn't old and actually can brag that he's been on an NBA all-defensive team and actually has shown himself to be an offensive asset with his jump shot this year, even from distance (38% 3 pt on about 70 attempts).

Our good friend Kris Dunn.

And it gets better. Kris reportedly would be happy to get a 2-way contract.

Yes, if you sign Dunn and Bembry, you have to release Forrest and Williams. I like Forrest a lot, but give me Dunn right now. Similarly, if Bembry is healthy enough to play, he left the court last season having been one of the most coveted buyouts, and didn't disappoint in either Brooklyn or Milwaukee last season.

 

Real world... I'm happy with just one of these options turning out in our favor, but I'm allowed to dream... 3 players with widely regarded defensive chops, one of them arguably elite defensive chops even. Costing us almost nothing but opportunity cost (ie, the players they'd each have to replace).

 

 

 

 

This still hanging out there.

Dunn reportedly switched agents today. Could be any of several reasons for that... is he upset that he's not getting any offers at all?... is he upset that he got an offer, and he feels the former agent was too passive or too aggressive?... dunno.

Bembry, I've discovered, was originally thought to be out "most of" the current season. But no actual updates as far as I can find that would indicate if the timetable has gotten more specific.

And Stanley Johnson, it's been determined, is in the same boat as we were with Dedmon last season... once you trade a guy in the off-season and he gets released, there's no way for the original team... in this case, the Lakers... to re-sign him. And a lot of Lakers tweets had been hot to get him back on their roster.

 

While I'm anxious to give Bey a few games to get incorporated into the rotation, I'm with everyone else who is convinced this team really needs a...

 

... defensively.

 

"Yeah, but sturt, aren't you one of those constantly rehashing the line that it doesn't matter who you obtain for the end of the bench anyhow if the head coach isn't going to put any of those guys on the floor."
 

Yes. Why yes, I am. And that's true, too. So, you're welcome to come to your own conclusions about what else is being thought in my pinhead, but not written.

[sturt]

20 hours ago, sturt said:

"Yeah, but sturt, aren't you one of those constantly rehashing the line that it doesn't matter who you obtain for the end of the bench anyhow if the head coach isn't going to put any of those guys on the floor."
 

Yes. Why yes, I am. And that's true, too. So, you're welcome to come to your own conclusions about what else is being thought in my pinhead, but not written.

No reason to hold back now.

We need a head coach who will play the end of the bench.

I hate that it came to this for Nate, but it really seemed like there ultimately could not  be any good reason to expect improvement without a change in the head coach's seat.

[sturt]

23 hours ago, sturt said:

 

This still hanging out there.

Dunn reportedly switched agents today. Could be any of several reasons for that... is he upset that he's not getting any offers at all?... is he upset that he got an offer, and he feels the former agent was too passive or too aggressive?... dunno.

 

 

Well darn.

 

 

 

[sturt]

Ugh.

Tell me again how we're going to get our perimeter defense upgraded???

[sturt]

This is two weeks old news now... not just kinda surprised that some team hasn't already scooped Stanley up.

 

Supposedly, there's going to come a time soon enough that we can add at least one more to the payroll, and possibly two. Doubtful at this point that Utah fails to offer Kris Dunn a contract through the rest of the season, but then again, takes two to tango, and perhaps he and his agent wait before signing up for that in order to see if any playoff contenders take interest.

Me, I continue to maintain that, for post season, it's simply not sufficient to go with 5 legitimate bigs. You need the 6th. My hope is that the sans-Schlenk front office will follow that philosophy where Travis did not.

And then, we definitely could use a shut-down perimeter defender. Dunn is the favorite because he's just that good. But if it wouldn't work out, think Stanley is better than anything that either Vit or Tyrese is capable of giving you.

(I've more or less given up on Bembry being an option... figure that would have come to light in the last week or two if he was seriously efforting to make it back for this season still.)

 

[kg01]

Oh stu, bless your heart.  You gotta stop tryna make fetch ( Stanley Johnson) a thing.

Or are you thinking you see something there that literally every front office is missing?

The guy is just a guy, at best.

[sturt]

2 minutes ago, kg01 said:

are you thinking you see something there that literally every front office is missing?

The guy is just a guy, at best.

Answered that already, kg....

27 minutes ago, sturt said:

And then, we definitely could use a shut-down perimeter defender. Dunn is the favorite because he's just that good. But if it wouldn't work out, think Stanley is better than anything that either Vit or Tyrese is capable of giving you.

 

[kg01]

3 minutes ago, sturt said:

Answered that already, kg....

 

No, he's not better than anything already on the roster.

[HawkingAwesome]

where were you when larry legend went for 60

[sturt]

26 minutes ago, kg01 said:

No, he's not better than anything already on the roster.

 

You're right. We're better off having Vit as a perimeter defender. Better off having Tyrese. What was I thinkin.

 

 

Maybe two glasses of wine before bed is a little more than enough, kg. Cut back, my friend.

[kg01]

50 minutes ago, sturt said:

 

You're right. We're better off having Vit as a perimeter defender. Better off having Tyrese. What was I thinkin.

 

 

Maybe two glasses of wine before bed is a little more than enough, kg. Cut back, my friend.

The #1 thing teams covet is perimeter defenders with size, but he's sitting at home?  After having been on like 6 teams?

LA, who desperately needs to make the playoffs, politely asked him to stop showing up.  And, after replacing him with someone who's actually good at the things he's supposed to be good at, they immediately start playing better as a team.

He's not good.  End of story.  Not even worth discussing.

[Spud2nique]

1 hour ago, kg01 said:

 

Oh stu, bless your heart.  You gotta stop tryna make fetch ( Stanley Johnson) a thing.

 

 

 He’s just copying me with Stan cuz he wants to sit in the winner’s circle at least once.

Stan is the man.

[Spud2nique]

18 minutes ago, kg01 said:

He's not good.  End of story.  Not even worth discussing.

He snub you on an autograph or… 

[sturt]

7 hours ago, kg01 said:

The #1 thing teams covet is perimeter defenders with size, but he's sitting at home?  After having been on like 6 teams?

LA, who desperately needs to make the playoffs, politely asked him to stop showing up.  And, after replacing him with someone who's actually good at the things he's supposed to be good at, they immediately start playing better as a team.

He's not good.  End of story.  Not even worth discussing.

 

1. We could have a substantive conversation if you'd just once engage the point made twice now... explain to me your reasoning that Stanley Johnson is a worse option for the playoffs than Vit... then, after you're done with that debacle of a silly attempt at reasoning, do it again with Tyrese.

There is no universe where anyone deems either our #14 or our #15 players as "coveted" perimeter players. They are developmental players.

We need veterans in the post season, not developmental players that are a dime a dozen in the off-season.

 

 

2. LAL, I suppose you hadn't read, cannot re-sign him.

The same rule that kept us from resigning Dedmon after we traded him to DET and he was released applies here. Some questioned if there might be an end-around somehow someway, but some NBA writer looked into it and no, not possible (... per Hoops Rumors if you wanna look it up).

[kg01]

36 minutes ago, sturt said:

 

1. We could have a substantive conversation if you'd just once engage the point made twice now... explain to me your reasoning that Stanley Johnson is a worse option for the playoffs than Vit... then, after you're done with that debacle of a silly attempt at reasoning, do it again with Tyrese.

There is no universe where anyone deems either our #14 or our #15 players as "coveted" perimeter players. They are developmental players.

We need veterans in the post season, not developmental players that are a dime a dozen in the off-season.

 

 

2. LAL, I suppose you hadn't read, cannot re-sign him.

The same rule that kept us from resigning Dedmon after we traded him to DET and he was released applies here. Some questioned if there might be an end-around somehow someway, but some NBA writer looked into it and no, not possible (... per Hoops Rumors if you wanna look it up).

Ok, he's better than Vit or Tyrese.  So?  He won't play so it won't matter.  Screeeeeech (moved the goalposts on ya)

He's at home for a reason.  Doesn't matter if LAL can/can't sign him.  He should update his passport.

Why do you put so much energy in touting these marginal players anyway?  They are not how we improve our defense.

[kg01]

7 hours ago, Spud2nique said:

He snub you on an autograph or… 

Haha, you better apologi..... ah, nevermind.

I was 'out' on Stanjo the Banjo when he was a rookie.  He was scheduled to be the nbaradio rookie host for a weekly segment that year.  He did 1 show and flaked on the whole season.  Basically ghosted them.  I'm not surprised he never panned out. 

[sturt]

2 minutes ago, kg01 said:

He won't play so it won't matter.

I believe that.

I don't know that.

I also believe that when I walk my dog in the evening that we won't be approached by aggressive neighborhood dogs. It almost never has ever happened.

Operative word being "almost."

I carry a taser with me these days. Haven't used it yet. Better in my hands, though, than on a store shelf. No point in not being prepared for the worst.

[sturt]

5 minutes ago, kg01 said:

Why do you put so much energy in touting these marginal players anyway?  They are not how we improve our defense.

You'll need to review with me what one can tout... after the deadline... that would improve our defense.

Because I know of nothing.

At least, though, if you had a Kris Dunn on the bench, and you had someone blazing hot on the opposing team and no one was slowing him down, it would at least be an option to deploy that guy as a weapon.

And Stanley Johnson isn't anything to write home about, we agree, but he's always been a decent-to-plus defender. (This season, he's even been adequate offensively.)

[Spud2nique]

51 minutes ago, kg01 said:

Haha, you better apologi..... ah, nevermind.

I was 'out' on Stanjo the Banjo when he was a rookie.  He was scheduled to be the nbaradio rookie host for a weekly segment that year.  He did 1 show and flaked on the whole season.  Basically ghosted them.  I'm not surprised he never panned out. 

Oh I didn’t know he was a 50/50 flake. On the court though he can help us.

 

[JayBirdHawk]

Clint has really been struggling.