this would require playing time. but yes, dallas gave us the blueprint: lively or gafford/pj washington/djj. rangy athletic players who are mostly finishers (i suppose pj is something of a connector, as is lively when he's upright) on offense and are good individual and team defenders. if you have three of them, you can have luka/kyrie or luka/reaves as the big 2 and be a legit contender. problem is if you let rui go or trade him, you need to bring back or sign your pj washington. is that guy out there? obi toppin maybe? we could find ourselves in a position where just re-upping rui at something just over the mle is our best option among not-great options.
Rui is who he as at this point. Great weapon to have off the bench, but probably not an ideal starter next to Luka and Reaves. Guys like Herb Jones, Pj Washington, Jeremy Grant, and Wiggins are better fits with Austin and Luka IMO.
If they cant, S&T him, @abeer3, what other options do we have; he clearly doesn't fit, but we just can't let him walk. Is he worth a first rounder? Maybe a couple of seconds? If he took a role off the bench, I'd gladly keep him.
schroder got paid more and wanted to start. i don't miss him, tbh. wish we would have spent the money on neither, though.
The combination of no motor and some really dumb basketball plays just can be brutal. Either sit lebron or him and fix this stupid starting lineup issues.
Rui is a problem at the moment. I think he'll need to go eventually. My line for a while was that he was a great piece as the PF after Lebron leaves - but with Reaves and Luka as our main guys, we don't have enough defence with him in the starting lineup. Time to look for trades.
hmm...be curious to see how that stat is tracked, as ayton plays right next to the basket, played like 30 minutes, and had 2 boards. if luka really is just neglecting all boxouts, that's an easy fix, imo. you can call him out on it, and he'll fix it. i just question a stat that implies vando isn't working the boards. is missing the boxout pursuing the rebound, for example? or is it only just sitting there and watching or leaking out for the break? is luka instructed to get in position to catch an outlet? any stat that requires clear human inference on the front end worries me a bit, as it kind of ceases to be objective.
Man I like Rui I know he's a limited player but he's made himself into a elite catch and shoot player and he's got that nice iso post game. But and it's a big but the lack of defense and a motor is glaring. I don't trust LaRavia jumper at all but the team is getting blasted on the defensive end with him and he does enough on offense where you have to guard him. Jake I feel just ises his size better then Rui Anyways Rui maybe more expendable than I thought
the coach should play the player who is the better fit or better player But politics absolutely play a role in team dynamics, and losing your roster spot off of injury, and to a melanin challenged teammate to boot, let's just say it could cause some catastrophic issues in locker room chemistry. Allegedly.