Free Agent Derrick Jones to Portland

...."if used properly." That will be interesting to see how that works out.

 

Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner!

Who do people honestly think are smarter - Olshey/Stotts or Riley/Spoelstra? Who got the most out of Jones they could and then let him walk? Who signed him to play in a system where he may not fit? The more I look at this signing, the less optimistic I am about it.

 

Olshey/Stotts vs Riley/Spo....ugh, that isn't pretty.

 

Well, Miami is paying Iguodala 15 million as a backup SF so maybe they could not afford another SF at 9 million.

 

Interesting that we heavily criticized Neil for paying Meyers 10 million per year, and Riley just did the same.

 

Meyers getting paid more than Baynes is INSANE

 

For the people here who said they like the DJJ addition a lot better because he'll be coming off the bench as opposed to starting like Harkless did: Would you still feel great about it if he's starting as that's seeming more and more possible?

 

I like him more as a starter than off the bench. I want him playing with dame and nurk, our two best playmakers who can get him the ball off cuts.

 

I get what you're saying... you have confidence we will have enough spacing on the floor that teams won't dare him to shoot/be a play maker?

He's a well below average shooter and ball handler for his position. I fear the Covington/DJJ tandom will look a lot like Aminu/Harkless and I don't want our playoff hopes to depend on them hitting 3's.

 

I think Jones is much better off the ball than either one of those guys. I think Jones‘ slashing is more valuable than average, inconsistent, outside shooting, which is pretty much all Aminu brought. Harkless was a good slasher, but it also depended on his mood, so it was inconsistent.

 

I hope you're right. If his defender is playing way off him and they don't defend Nurk out to 15ft feet, I think his slashing opportunities will be limited. On the flip side, I think Dame and CJ are going to beat 1-2 people up top, only to find Jones' defender waiting to help, daring him to kick it out to DJJ. Again, I hope the coaches can get something out of him that Phoenix and Miami did not.

Personally, I don't love when we put out lineups with 3 guys that are 35% or less from deep.

 

Are you suggesting Covington is a sub 35% shooter based on his Houston sample size from last year? He's 36% on almost 7 attempts for his career. Dame is only 37% on 8 attempts per game for his career. Covington is definitely a better shooter in theory than reality, but he's not a non shooter like Aminu and Harmless. Teams are not going to leave him alone.

 

Exactly. Comparing percentages can be very deceiving. What matters is percentage, willingness to shoot, and gravity. Covington is leagues better than either of Aminu or Harkless in that.

 

Which one gave Whiteside $100M?

 

Watching some of Miami’s games, and the way Jones works screens defensively is like watching porn for the first time.

 

You're correct, I was 1% off on Covington.

I think the comparison between the difficulty of three's Covington has taken is far closer to Aminu/Harkless, than your comparsion of Dame. You disagree?

You may be right that they won't just leave Covington open, but I fully expect them to leave DJJ open.

 

We’ll see, but I doubt they are going to completely ignore him like Harkless and Aminu.

And on Jones, again he’s not ending the game when we have other shooters on the team. Stotts often went to Crabbe or Seth or other shooters in closing lineups but they had defensive issues. We have Hood, Melo and Trent this year that can all end games spacing the floor, so I don’t see what the issue is.

Besides, we’ve seen the trap even when we had two 40% shooters at the wing spots last year and we still couldn’t beat it. Not sure why you’re harping so heavily on the lack of shooting when that’s not even the main reason why we struggle against the trap. We don’t have a secondary playmaker and our guys don’t make quick passes and decisions out of the double.

 

both...one did, the other tried to

 

The question is “which one gave” not “which ones gave or tried to give”...

So both is the incorrect answer.