Jarred Vanderbilt Discussion: The Vandalorian

Meh teams adjust. And we have a large sample size with him.

 

The Vando cycle: Re-enters rotation and has a good game —> teams actually start game planning against his weaknesses once he’s in the regular rotation —> becomes net negative and removed from rotation —> team that is slow and unathletic looks slow and unathletic —> Vando re-enters rotation and has a good game

He had a great game tonight, but we’ve literally been doing this for years.

 

That's a fair take.
But he does have a unique style of play that I think really fits this team. Physicality, motor and "chaos" is something this team lacks when you have a starting 5 of Luka, AR, Bron, Rui and Ayton.

And Vando helps in a long season where some games they are even more disconnected. Vando's start of the 4th quarter was insane, disrupting every single possession.

I really think there should be a few minutes for him each night. I do agree that he's likely hard to play in a playoff series, but if we can use to take a few minutes off of our key players, we should.
I don't think we have a deep enough roster to not be playing Vando and Knecht in the regular season

 

the fact that vando and smart each change the way the game is being played for us is pretty damning, right?

some of it is definitely chalked up to the "hustle is a skill" axiom, but that just means we're really short on that skill, lol.

 

We have 8 guys whom I think definitely should get minutes:

Smart
Reaves
Luka / LaRavia
LeBron / Rui
Ayton / Hayes

I agree that in the regular season we should go at least 9 deep, ideally 10. The candidates for the last two spots are Vando, Gabe, Kleber, Knecht, Smith and Thiero. I'd personally like Smith and Thiero to be the guys that get those last two spots when everyone's healthy. Then Vando and Knecht can be the next two men up if anyone is out that night (which will be the case more often than not).