2022-23 Depth Chart

Spoiler: 2021-22

Will update as the team fills out but so far we have:

Russell Westbrook / Kendrick Nunn / Rajon Rondo
Malik Monk / Wayne Ellington / Talen Horton Tucker
Lebron James / Kent Bazemore
Anthony Davis / Carmelo Anthony / Trevor Ariza
Dwight Howard / DeAndre Jordan

13/15

Austin Reaves and Joel Ayayi on two-way contracts

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-Definitely going to need Mills and Melo/Gay types for the 1 and the 4.
-If AD is more comfortable at the 5 now I think we're good with Marc and Dwight.
-Still not liking how we don't have size on the wings. Baze is 6'5 and THT is 6'4. Ariza is 6'8 but also 36
-I understand the appeal of Dudley again but I really hope he picks up an assistant coach gig instead of taking up a roster spot. I'd give that spot to one of our undrafted steals cause we're old enough already.

Spoiler: 2022-2023

2022-23:

Kendrick Nunn / Russel Westbrook / Dennis Schroder
Lonnie Walker / Patrick Beverley / Max Christie
Austin Reaves / Matt Ryan / Troy Brown Jr
Lebron James / Wenyen Gabriel / Juan Tuscano Anderson
Anthony Davis / Thomas Bryant / Damien Jones

Scottie Pippen Jr. and Cole Swider on 2-way contracts

2022-2023 Playoff Run:

D'Angelo Russell / Dennis Schroder / Shaq Harrison
Austin Reaves / Malik Beasley / Lonnie Walker
Lebron James / Troy Brown Jr / Max Christie
Jarred Vanderbilt / Rui Hachimura
Anthony Davis / Mo Bamba / Wenyen Gabriel / Tristan Thompson

Scottie Pippen Jr and Cole Swider on 2-way

 

I think whether we win a championship with the Westbrook, Lebron and AD combo will largely be dictated on the rest of the team's makeup. Can we can keep our defence strong while improving our shooting?

I'm assuming the team will play Lebron and AD at the 4 & 5 for significant minutes here:

Westbrook/
Ellington/THT
Bazemore/Ariza
Lebron/
AD/Howard

Shooting

Bazemore and Ellington can both shoot 40%, so we have two good shooters. Ariza shot 35% last season but 40% the season before so it's a coin flip. Lebron can shoot a bit and AD can step out and knock some down too. I'd love to pick up Melo (40%) and S&T Schroder for someone solid (Hield?). Patty Mills (40%), Rudy Gay (38%) and Danny Green (40%) are all still out there.

When we think about shooting, we need to think about the fact that we will be playing 5 out with AD at center during the key moments. When Westbrook or Lebron drive, the quality of catch and shoot looks for our shooters should be very high and IMO this should help us improve as a shooting team. Would still love 2 more shooters though.

Defence

We're not quite there yet here, but we should be a top 10 defensive team on the back of the AD/Howard/Gasol big rotation. If Lebron and Westbrook share the offensive duties they should be above average to great at times. Ariza will continue to be a good wing defender. I would love for THT to turn into a great wing defender as we could really use one more. Rudy Gay could be a solid defensive addition here, as well as an Avery Bradley.

Injuries

Westbrook and Dwight will help take the pressure of Lebron and AD during the regular season. If we can add a Melo/Gay for some added scoring and something with the S&T of Schroder, we should be in a good position to stay relatively healthy, play our stars lower minutes while getting a good seed. It's all about the play-offs for this team.

In an ideal world but with realistic targets available:

Westbrook/Mills/Bradley
THT/Ellington
Ariza/Bazemore
Lebron/Melo/Gay
AD/Dwight/Howard

Is this enough to get it done?

 

For everything Howard does on the court, I think bringing some of that energy/chemistry back from the 2 years ago is just as big. We never quite found ourselves last year, seemed to have a good amount of "me " players. Could blame the pandemic as well.

I'm happy with we went with a guy like Ariza over Iggy. I think whenever he does play he can offer some solid defense with some average 3 shooting, which is huge for us.

Ellington is the perfect fit really, you can complain about age but what do you expect with what we are working with.

Bazemore caught me off guard a bit, but as stated above he brings a good energy and his a very willing defender. If he can shoot 37% or better its a great value for the min.

 

Yeah, Howard, Bazemore, Ellington and Ariza for less than $10M is a huge win, however you slice it. Let's get Mills and Carmelo for another $5M.

 

Russ , Bron, AD and Dwight are some strong MOFOs at their position

 

I think we have to start getting comfortable with the idea that this season's team isn't going to be a top defensive team. BUT we won't be at the bottom offensively and especially when Lebron is off the court. How far we slip on the defensive ranking or how high we climb offensively is still tbd with the rest of the roster build.

Watching the past two seasons teams lock down the opponents was great but seeing them sometimes struggle to put up points made me pull out my hair.

 

And we have a defensive minded coach. So adding offensive power with the talent of player to a defensive approach with the talent of the coach

 

All of the min signings have been fine.

Rob is killing it there despite age and such.

Obviously, there's more holes to fill, and I'm hoping one of these two way players work out.

 

Westbrook /
Monk / Ellington
James / Bazemore / Ariza / McKinnie
Davis / Anthony
Gasol / Howard

Is what I’m looking at now. Still have the MLE, and rights for Schröder and THT.

I’m hoping us retaining THT is a sure thing, but I still see him as more of a situational guy that we can let slowly develop. Not sure if we can pencil him in as our main back-up PG.

 

This is my concern.

Melo is shot on that end.

Maybe we can salvage Monk.

Ellington isn't decent