Embarrassing and telling...

[JeffS17]

I agree Trae has been better on defense.  He's still bad though and will always be a liability on that end.  And building around him is difficult because we're looking for the same thing 30 other teams are looking for -- 3&D wings.  Infinitely easier to build around a forward that can self-create and defend (Giannis, Tatum, guys like that), or an elite center that defends well.  We'll always be bad on defense for that reason.  It would help if Hunter's impact on defense matched what he seemingly should be doing.  Would also help if we had any guards that could play defense at all, but Trae and Murray play the same time of roaming free safety defense.  I won't be surprised if we trade Murray in the next couple of years because I don't think we'll ever make noise with him and Trae in the starting lineup.  Just way too much overlap.

[macdaddy]

2 hours ago, JeffS17 said:

I agree Trae has been better on defense.  He's still bad though and will always be a liability on that end.  And building around him is difficult because we're looking for the same thing 30 other teams are looking for -- 3&D wings.  Infinitely easier to build around a forward that can self-create and defend (Giannis, Tatum, guys like that), or an elite center that defends well.  We'll always be bad on defense for that reason.  It would help if Hunter's impact on defense matched what he seemingly should be doing.  Would also help if we had any guards that could play defense at all, but Trae and Murray play the same time of roaming free safety defense.  I won't be surprised if we trade Murray in the next couple of years because I don't think we'll ever make noise with him and Trae in the starting lineup.  Just way too much overlap.

But is was all known stuff yet we still started the season with only one big who had any offensive skills at all.  And now he's hurt.  The problem is team building but i can only assume that they knew this would be a problem until we could find a good trade because anyone can see that a 4/5 rotation of JJ/OO/CC ain't going to give you what you need over the course of a season offensively.  

[Final_quest]

9 hours ago, JeffS17 said:

I agree Trae has been better on defense.  He's still bad though and will always be a liability on that end.  And building around him is difficult because we're looking for the same thing 30 other teams are looking for -- 3&D wings.  Infinitely easier to build around a forward that can self-create and defend (Giannis, Tatum, guys like that), or an elite center that defends well.  We'll always be bad on defense for that reason.  It would help if Hunter's impact on defense matched what he seemingly should be doing.  Would also help if we had any guards that could play defense at all, but Trae and Murray play the same time of roaming free safety defense.  I won't be surprised if we trade Murray in the next couple of years because I don't think we'll ever make noise with him and Trae in the starting lineup.  Just way too much overlap.

I think you bring up a dominant question for our franchise.  How to make the Trae and Dejounte pairing work, and if it doesn't how to shift into plan B. 

Unless Siakam turns into a give away from Toronto, which could happen, my eye is shifting towards Jerami Grant.  His contract is actually not that bad.  If we are gonna spend our way out of this problem, we're left with taking on big contracts where a guy is overpaid but is still a positive on the court over guys we currently have. 

Next need is a combo guard who can play D and shoot.  That's a big ask.  Then we need the equivalent of Capela from 3-4 years ago.  We got a lot of holes.  

[JeffS17]

1 hour ago, Final_quest said:

I think you bring up a dominant question for our franchise.  How to make the Trae and Dejounte pairing work, and if it doesn't how to shift into plan B. 

Unless Siakam turns into a give away from Toronto, which could happen, my eye is shifting towards Jerami Grant.  His contract is actually not that bad.  If we are gonna spend our way out of this problem, we're left with taking on big contracts where a guy is overpaid but is still a positive on the court over guys we currently have. 

Next need is a combo guard who can play D and shoot.  That's a big ask.  Then we need the equivalent of Capela from 3-4 years ago.  We got a lot of holes.  

Only real answer is development... gotta hope Mo turns into something, JJ keeps getting better, and AJ becomes a decent defender... probably need Bufkin to be a solid BU as well.  Obviously we can improve through trade as well, but that's a less reliable route, and we don't have a ton of draft capital to spend.

[Final_quest]

1 minute ago, JeffS17 said:

Only real answer is development... gotta hope Mo turns into something, JJ keeps getting better, and AJ becomes a decent defender... probably need Bufkin to be a solid BU as well.  Obviously we can improve through trade as well, but that's a less reliable route, and we don't have a ton of draft capital to spend.

This is why I think Tony will eventually utilize spending more money above the tax as a means to acquire better players.  He's never been a plant a seed and wait 2-3 years for it to bloom kind of guy.  

You have a TPE.  You have two picks in the next draft.  If there's a team trying to offload some salary at the deadline he can get something done.  Or even at the end of the year the TPE is still good. 

Combinations for trades:
TPE only
TPE + pick
Player + pick(s)
Player + prospect(s) (Bufkin and/or AJ)

This past offseason was the only time Tony showed any measure of restraint and patience.  But that came with trying like heck to get guys like Siakam or Towns.  The only reason they didn't complete a trade is because the asking prices were too rich, and even then he was considering it.  If we go the route of development as our primary way to improve as a multi-year strategy, it would be a big shift.  After bringing Quin in here to work with Trae and Murray, I'm not sure they are going to endure that level of patience.