The obvious candidate is Turner, but Aminu is looking pretty shitty right now. Last night was just painful because he shot the ball every time instead of moving it, and missed badly. But it wasn't just last night - he's shooting BELOW 25% right now on the season.
Tuner? Aminu? Stotts? Those are the three most obvious choices. CJ seems to be struggling, but not at the same level as the other three. Plumlee is struggling to stay on the court, but otherwise I like what I've seen from him.
Well, Ed Davis isn't great. He looks a little worse than last season, but he's always been such a limited player that his minor struggles aren't a major issue.
Only four games into the season I'd say it was more than a few members of this board who are struggling the most......
Aminu. Aminu. And Aminu. Poor decision making. Poor shooting. Even his defense isn't at the level I hope he could play. I feel bad everytime he has the ball.
Just because you keep saying it, doesn't make it so. His shooting percentage is back up to 43.3% on the season, which is ever-so-slightly higher than his career average of 43.2%. His last two games he shot 5-9 and 5-6 from the field. Just because you want to keep bashing on the guy, doesn't mean that the numbers are there to back you up.
It's good to see that some of his shots are starting to go in. Doesn't change the fact that the way he's playing looks like garbage. Regardless of his statistical contributions, watching him play has been downright painful. I don't know if that's just what his game looks like, or if he's still pressing and trying to get use to new teammates and system, but what he's doing doesn't mesh with what the other guys on the floor are doing.
I agree it is only 4 games. Way too early......But if I had to pick one, based on the box score, I would have to go with Aminu. 1-17 from 3 point range in the last 3 games is too many attempts. I believe he only took 3 attempts in game one. That I like a lot more. (2-3)
The entire second unit looks like garbage. Stotts clearly hasn't figured out a way to integrate everyone into the system yet. Let's take a look at our bench last night. Meyers Leonard - 10 minutes, 0 points, 0-0 shooting, 2 rebounds, 3 assists. Ed Davis - 16 minutes, 0 points, 0-4 shooting, 3 rebounds, 1 assist , 1 block. Noah Vonleh - 12 minutes, 6 points, 2-7 shooting, 1 rebound, 1 steal. Allen Crabbe - 20 minutes, 2 points, 1-2 shooting, 1 rebound, 1 steal. Evan Turner - 21 minutes, 14 points, 5-6 shooting, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 1 steal. Napier, Layman, Patty C... they all player garbage time, so I don't even really count them.
The starting unit desperately needs a third scorer. Neil should have addressed this during the offseason and he did not. A trade must be made because we cannot go forward with Harkless/Aminu/Plumlee. I'd like to see Crabbe inserted into the starting lineup. Maybe try Harkless at power forward instead of small forward.
This feels like an incredibly "crowded" team; a bunch of guys whose skillsets overlap too much and are too hard to distinguish from one another (in talent and role). It's not like Stotts can point to anybody outside of Damian and CJ and say "Aha! This guy has won his job." That's a huge problem.
I just mean the things they reputedly do well all seems to duplicate. Harkless and Aminu are "clone-ish", CJ and Lillard, Plumlee and Davis. Noah is kind of unique, but he's not assertive or good enough (yet) to be relied on. MyLe has been abysmal coming back. Turner and Crabbe are different, but Turner has been horrid so far. And above all of it, the defense still looks step-slow and out of sync.
Is Meyers in the doghouse? Recently has his contract extended and I thought he said he had something to prove this year? He's not even getting PT. <shrug>
I think another problem is that none of our role players do an exceptional job at any one thing. When you've got a bunch of guys, who are all limited players, they should at least be really good at one thing.
Again it comes down to matchups, so this lineup might not be ideal against every team, but for the most part I think Crabbe, Plumlee and Harkless could work together. I also think Crabbe and a bigger PF could work as long as the PF is not matched up against a spread 4. For instance against Utah (Gobert/Favors) I would be fine with a starting lineup of Dame, CJ, Crabbe....and any combination of Davis, Plumlee, and Vonleh Basically 3 smaller shooters in their with 2 active rebounders. Again as long as the other teams PF is not taking him out to the perimeter. Not sure how Ezeli fits int the equation yet.
