Hart to Start

Josh Hart is one of our 5 best players. And the 6th best player isn't even close.

Of course he should start.

For the next few seasons it would be nice to have Julius Randle at the 4 so we could play Grant at the 3.

 

This team has assets and I would think there will be trade (s) possible if needed.

 

Agreed.

 

WTF happened to this Josh Hart? The one that mattered on offense.
The one that scored 27 points, making 5 three-pointers and getting 5 assists in Milwaukee.

The one with the jab step in Memphis, the one who pushed the pace to get easy points.


The one that scored 44 points against the Wizards.

I want to see Josh Hart back in that role, and playing with like-minded players like Winslow.
Billups and Cronin seem to be setting us up for disappointment that doesn't need to happen.
Who doesn't want to see Hart at shooting guard, put Winslow back at small forward, Elleby replaced by Jerami Grant and see where that unit could take us?

 

"Josh Hart is one of our 5 best players and of course he should start." Yes, that's great if he's starting at shooting guard.
If Simons, Lillard and McCollum were in the top 5, does that mean they should all be starting?

Edit: At any rate, the Josh Hart at small forward issue isn't addressing the bigger problem, which is Lillard and McSimons starting in the backcourt.
I would prefer that Winslow replace one of them, but if you prefer someone else, I'm all for that person if he's a good defender.

 

If Hart gets 2x the rebounds as Grant should we call the former the PF and the latter the SF?

 

If the Blazers had a quality 5th/6th option on the roster to plug at starting SF then I might prefer keeping Hart in a guard rotation with Dame and Ant.

But the Blazers don't have another legit starting SF option; Winslow has proven he is not at that level, NAS hasn't been healthy or consistent. Both are much better suited for bench roles.

Plus the Blazers have GP2, Keon, and Sharpe potentially getting minutes as backup guards.

This roster is super unbalanced. Simply shoving Hart in at backup guard and filling forward spots with lesser players isn't going to be better. The solution is to get talent at the forward positions; which is the GM's duties, not the coach setting the starting lineup.

 

It's 3.2 times more if you go by per-minute.

 

The Blazers broke up the highly paid poor defensive starting guard duo of Dame and CJ to go in the direction of;

A highly paid poor defensive starting guard duo of Dame and Simons.

 

When did Winslow show that he is not at that level as a Trail Blazer? What I've seen is a guy who plays 100% on defense always against anyone, passes the ball and makes teammates better, and pushes the pace on offense.
If the Blazers started Winslow and Hart together we'd be seeing a much better effort on both ends of the court.

 

Who comes off the bench; Dame?

 

Simons?

 

according to 82games, Hart was better in New Orleans as a SF than he was as a SG. I don't think there will be a big drop-off if he's the starting SF rather than the starting SG

now, it's painfully obvious that olshey dug a deep hole for the Blazers in terms of positional size at the wing. His collection of SG's was smaller than average; and his collection of SF's was much smaller than average. Cronin hasn't dug out of that hole yet. Hart-Nas-Sharpe are all in the 6'4-6'5 range when most teams are in the 6'6-6'8 range.

Blazers are undersized and I think that 'disadvantage' may be magnified by Grant's poor rebounding at PF

I'm willing to give the Dame/Ant combo a chance; at least a half-season to see if it's enough different from Dame/CJ to see if it will work when Dame/CJ never really did. But Portland's undersize problem started at starting SG with CJ; that echoed thru the rest of the roster. And it could repeat with Ant. If it does, than it would seem a logical solve would be trading Ant for a good PF and then running with a wing rotation of Hart/Sharpe at SG, and maybe Grant/Little/Walker at SF

 

lol..."McSimons"....I like that one

I will say that in some ways, a Grant/Winslow combo at forward makes sense if you believe the perimeter shooting of Dame/Grant/Simons can keep the floor spread. The major issue is that Winslow's injury history makes him undependable as a starter. Of course, the same is true for Nurk

 

that's why I said "according to 82 games"

 

And then affirmed you don't think there will be much of a drop off.

 

yes, and I don't think there will be. Apparently you do?

 

Josh just so passive out there. Not contributing at all because he just keeps deferring. That's not the best way to maximize talent-- perhaps a bench role is the best for him.