We're not asking Smith to be a starting PG. I think he can handle backing up the PG position as well as anyone else on our team. The most important thing to me is to get our young players minutes, wins be damned.
LOL. Well, we have the Clippers' former GM, I guess it's only fitting that we take on the Clipper fan's former mantra. I wonder if the marketing department is going with that for a slogan this year.
Price is no better at PG than Smith is, even if you think Smith's first position isn't point guard. And Smith is was a rookie last year and could easily improve enough at PG to be the backup. Price should not play, barring injury.
Ha, Ha. You may have a point. As an aside, didn't the Clips steal the Blazers' slogan a few years back. "Rise. With us." Or something?
If the roster stays "as is" Leonard will start at center. I don't think there's any question about that.
Yep. Price is here to mentor Lillard. They are work out buddies, and he will bring a vet perspective to Lillard
Jeffries can defend and he's a veteran ... something tells me that because there aren't too many guys on the roster with a defensive skillset, he'll at least get spot minutes most games (probably something like 5-10).
I think Smith can be more effective than he showed last year, but after four years at Duke and what we saw of him last year, play-making for others just isn't all that natural for him. He can handle the ball and run some simple stuff and can probably create a little bit for himself, but that doesn't make him a point guard. If he can show himself to be an adequate off-the-bench "combo guard" then that's nothing for him to be ashamed of.
I tend to agree with this. We think we know what Nolan can and can't do based on his rookie year, but he may have progressed his PG skills as well. I wouldn't put it past him. He will never have starter skills, but who was the player that described him as more of a set up man than Lillard? Maybe in practice he has looked like he can.
I don't think there's any way Leonard starts at the beginning of the season. My gut says Hickson because he has already shown he can start, and he is a talented big. If it's not Hickson, it'll be Freeland. Leonard has a long way to go and I think he'll be hampered by foul trouble his first year or two. It took Joel a LONG time to earn the respect of the refs and stop getting in foul trouble.
Yeah totally agree. He's so damned raw and is going to be in immediate foul trouble because of the way veteran players are going to be able to play into his chest and bigs will have him jumping and swiping right off the bat. The best example of how far he has to go is his performance against Motiejunas. I know he was supposedly throwing up that day, but he had no answer for a skilled player that knew how to manipulate him.
I am kind of throwing last year's season for Smith out the window for now. Someone has to run the offense when Lillard is on the bench. If Smith can't do that, I don't see him getting a lot of minutes. He can still be a good combo guard, but unless they are running a small lineup or E Will gets injured, I think his opportunities at the off guard position are going to be pretty limited.
It's funny because as I was reading your post I immediately started thinking about how bad Motiejunas made him look, and then you mentioned him towards the end of your post. That one pump fake he threw at Leonard stands out in my mind, where he threw a fake and Leonard went flying by and then he did a little move and put it in. It was a thing of beauty and Meyers looked like the rookie he is. I expect to see that kind of thing a lot next season until he figures things out.
Hickson's an undersized power forward. It would be stupid to start him at center. Freeland doesn't have any more NBA experience than Leonard.
Just curious, but why are throwing out last year's season? I'm not saying you can't (because I'm tempted to do it myself ) but what's your reasoning?
Actually no, he's an average sized power-forward with an above average ability to handle the ball in traffic.
We are going to have to agree to disagree on this, I guess? Hickson had a 23.3 PER last year playing center for us, and a 19.4 playing PF. Doesn't mean everything, but maybe it shows a little bit that he can play center? At 6'9" and 245, I'm not sure he is undersized for either the front court spots. He has a very good reach and a wingspan of 7'1" What are the centers that would give him trouble? Bynum Howard Hibbert Is that it?
