CJ is an 8 in terms of scoring.... but is he an 8 as a shooting guard in the full spectrum of that position? I'm not so sure. Klay Thompson is an 8. He's a very good scorer (historically) and a very good defender. CJ seems like a classic scoring combo guard to me. He's Jason Terry, or Monta Ellis. It's nice to have that kind of scoring on your team, but he's not a defender, and it seems to me we're just looking at the most recent version of Curry/Monta. There's a reason why Golden State went away from that pairing. Curry is a sieve, and I actually think Dame might be a better defender than Steph. He seems stronger physically. Curry is a waif. I think a team can hide one player on defense, the Suns did it with Nash, but when both of your guards are sub-par defenders, it creates a pretty big problem on defense.
There is a reason we haven't tried Crabbe as a ball handler bringing the ball up the court against full court pressure and initiating the offense. He lacks the basic skills to do it. We never tried Wes Matthews in that role either, for the exact same reason. Just watch the way C.J. handles the ball sometime and compare that to Crabbe. If you don't see any difference, you may want to get your eyes checked. Not trying to be any ass, but Crabbe is now in his fourth season, same as C.J. and until this year, he couldn't even be trusted to take one dribble before shooting. and even with his improved handle, he's still assisted on 83.3% of his made 2-pointers and 100% of his made 3-pointers. He can't use his handle to create shots for himself. How is he going to use it to bring the ball up the court against full court pressure and create for others? Crabbe is best utilized as a spot up shooter. That's where his talent is. Trying to make him a secondary ball handler so other teams can't trap Dame is not a good match for Crabbe's skill set. BNM
I think we all see what we want to see at times until we step back and reevalute. Some still think CJ is a bad defender because that is what he was in the past. I see him improving and I would say he is even better than average. So while not Klay level of course he is no bad defender that perhaps others still think he is.
I think our last 5 or 6 starts have all been good. The first few were shaky but starting with GS we started out well and then suffered once CJ went out....... I could be wrong, but that is how I remember it.
The biggest change that took GSW from 1st round fodder to champions was not trading Monta Ellis, it was replacing Mark Jackson as coach. After trading Ellis and moving Klay into the starting SG position, under Jackson, GSW was a nice little 51-win, first round exit team. Decent, but not one single person considered them a title contender. Jackson was trying to use Curry as a traditional PG. It was Kerr's decision to play Curry off the ball more, with Green and Livingston as primary ball handlers, that allowed Curry to break out and GSW to make the leap from 51-wins and a 1st round exit to 68 wins and a championship. Could Kerr have done the same with Ellis starting next to Curry? Who knows, but Jackson already had the Splash Bros, he just didn't know how to use them. He was holding Curry back more than Monta Ellis did. BNM
Your is often thought of as an abbreviation to You'Re. Lot less typing and tryign to find that damned... ' when you dont know how to type can suck. Lol Your okay with this now right?
Yep, I think C.J. is better defensively than people give him credit for. I can't think of a single time he's been abused defensively by a starting SG this season. Sure Joe Johnson killed us in the low post in the 3rd quarter of the opening night win over UTA, but I seem to recall Johnson was playing SF and kept ending up with Dame on him under the basket after a switch. Redick didn't kill us in the LAC game, like he has in the past. Will Barton didn't kill us in the DEN game. Devin Booker didn't kill us in the PHO game (but has been killing everyone else since - he's scored 38 ad 39 in his last two games). Wes was horrible against us in the DAL game, but he's been horrible a lot lately and Tony Allen didn't kill us in the MEM game, but he's not a great offensive player - and apparently not a great defensive player anymore after the way C.J. abuses him. I wish 82games had some data online for this season, so we could get an udea how C.J.'s defense has improved. Even last year while he wasn't a defensive stopper, he outscored his opponents by 8.0 PTS/48. I look for that number to be even better this season. BNM
It's not moving Allen Crabbe into the starting line up. Turner was supposed to be our Livingston. A secondary ball handler with size that would allow Dame and C.J. to play off the ball more. That hasn't worked out so far, but the sample size is small. It's not our guard play that killing us, on either side of the ball. Both Dame and C.J. are outplaying and outscoring their opponents. It's our starting forwards and bench play that is killing us. So yes, I think a trade is necessary for us to take the leap to the next level. We need: Better interior defense - a legitimate rim protector, we give up WAY too many points in the paint A reliable 3rd scorer - preferably at one of the forward positions Better rebounding I think there will be big men available that can address at least two of these three weaknesses. Who knows, Neal may pull out a blockbuster trade that addresses all threee. Too bad we probably won't know until mid January, at the earliest. BNM
I wonder if Neil would do that. We would really have to be struggling IMO for a big trade to happen. For the most part, trade deadline deals hurt teams short term, more often than they help teams in that particular year. So yeah if things are going bad and you have nothing to lose then you do it. But there is a reason why you don't see a lot of big trades at the deadline. Yes there are exception, but 25 games is not enough time to build enough chemistry that will help in the playoffs. Teams who suck or who have lost a key player to an injury, benefit most.
I never said wait until the deadline. That won't be until late February, after the all star break. In fact, the sooner Neal acts, the better. I believe everyone on the roster, except for Crabbe can be traded on 12/15. C.J. isn't likely to be traded this season, due to the poison pill provision. So, Neal should start shuffling pieces on, or before, 12/15 to put things in place for the possibility of a bigger trade on 1/15. That can be a series of small moves, like jumping into a 3-way or 4-way trade to pick up a minor asset, like a future draft pick. Or, it can be a trade of one of our bench players to re-balance the roster in anticipation of a future move. In any case, I don't see any reason to wait until late February to make any of this happen. Neal knows what the team's weaknesses are, who is available now and who is likely to become available one or two months from now. We know Nerlens Noel is available now. There are strong rumors that Cousins will be traded, and the price won't be nearly as high as some posters think. There will be others, and I'm sure Neal knows a LOT more about who may become available, and what the asking price will be, than anyone on this forum. The earlier an in season trade happens, the longer the roster will have time to adjust before the playoffs, but even deadline trades can work (Sheed to the Pistons, Clyde to the Rockets, Pau to the Lakers, Mutombo to the 76ers, Camby to the Blazers, etc.). So yeah, the earlier the better, but what's important is this team has glaring holes that need to be filled. We supposedly matched BRK's offer sheet to Crabbe and retained Leonard and Harkless because we didn't want to lose assets that could be used in future trades. We basically came within pocket change of the luxury tax so we would have a very deep roster with many interchangeable pieces that could be combined to land a quality piece or two that we couldn't get via free agency. Resigning those guys was easy. Neal held all the leverage. So, it came down to a simple math exercise. Now comes the time where Neal earns his paycheck - turning those retained assets into something of quality that addresses the teams needs and takes us to the next level. BNM
According to the ESPN Trade Machine, Crabbe, Meyers, and Harkless can't be traded until 1/15. Turner, Ezeli, and Quarterman can be traded 12/15. Everyone else is currently available. But maybe ESPN isn't correct? Either way, I think we likely need Crabbe or Turner's salary to make a meaningful trade work, and I think Crabbe is probably more highly desired by other teams. So, unfortunate as it may be, I don't see a trade happening until 1/15.
Yep, I knew that and even started a thread about it last week: "For our FA and RFA signings, these seem to be the most relevant passages: For three months or until December 15 of that season (whichever is later) after signing a contract as a free agent or matching an offer sheet to a restricted free agent. This obviously does not apply to the trade completing a sign-and-trade transaction (see question number 91). For three months or until January 15 of that season (whichever is later) after re-signing a free agent with Larry Bird or Early Bird rights, if the team is over the cap, the player's new salary is above the minimum, and he receives a raise greater than 20%. The first one seems to apply to Turner and Ezeli. We used cap space to sign them. So, we can trade either starting December 15. The second seems to apply to Leonard and Harkless. They were the last two players we signed, using their Bird rights with a greater than 20% raise. I'm pretty sure were were already over the cap by the time we signed Leonard. So, it looks like we need to wait until January 15 to attempt to trade either Leonard or Harkless. That leaves Crabbe. Were we over the cap when we matched BRK's offer sheet for Crabbe? I actually think Crabbe's contract was the one that put us over the cap. If so, does Crabbe fall under the "matching an offer sheet to a restricted free agent" December 15 restriction or "the team is over the cap, the player's new salary is above the minimum, and he receives a raise greater than 20%" January 15 restriction?" Still a little confused why Crabbe falls under the second clause sited and not the first, since we matched BRK's offer sheet, but Leonard and Harkless definitely fall under the second one. BNM
Hmmmm, yeah, it was a matched offer sheet so - according to that - he should be eligible 12/15 regardless of whether we went over the cap. That would be nice, as I agree it's much more desirable to execute a trade sooner rather than later.
