Max? The fandom goes overboard. Aveeja keeps his head down and stubbornly gives us an inside game, because he has no game like show-offs who know only how to score spectacularly or bust. He's a throwback to a more watchable, pre-2010s NBA: Move the ball closer to the basket until someone can shoot, or get fouled trying.
There's a concern for every market team about retaining your talent. Isaiah Hartenstein left the #1 market to go play for one of the smallest markets, OKC, 28th out of 30 teams. Do you have more concern about talent retention for Memphis, OKC, and San Antonio because of their small market sizes (all smaller than Portland), compared to Big Market teams like the Washington Wizards, Toronto Raptors, and Chicago Bulls? What happened with KCP and the Denver Nuggets? Definitely not a small market, coming off of a championship. Why did KCP not give the Nuggets the NBA-Champion-medium-market-discount? Dallas is a big market. What happened with Jalen Brunson? If you can't out-bid other teams, or won't, market size won't save you. I do not see how the Chicago Bulls, the 3rd largest market, have any advantage over the Portland Trail Blazers in the area of talent retention.
True Shooting % from December 1 to today: True Shooting % for the season. Avjdija has passed Deandre Ayton:
On a serious note--I would love (especially if our 3 high-paid vets get dealt) to see what a team with Deni as the first option would look like.
Yep, I was saying the same thing yesterday. If we had no Ant and Grant, all that usage would flow to Deni and Shaedon. I'd be so curious what 30% usage Deni looks like.
Even if it was just one of Ant or Grant if would make a big difference, because Billups has them both chiseled in for big minutes.
I think Ayton would look better with Avdija running the show. The better player/ball movement (Ayton's footspeed is an actual asset) and Deni has also squeezed in some really tight passes to the Big Man for easy buckets that no-one else would likely be able to execute.
sharpe is also a very underrated passer. He is extremely unselfish almost to a fault. Better ball movement with ball him and Deni together
Ayton’s motor? Not a strength. He’s good but could be excellent or above. Toumani and Deni have motor. The more that Shaedon works on D, the better chance he has to become excellent. I look forwa5d to see who makes the team with Clingon, Camara, Avdija, and Sharpe. Scoot has improved. Nice to see.
I thought everyone played well last night. The ball movement was much improved. However, what struck me the most was how well they looked with Deni running the show alongside both Ant and/or Sharpe. When he attacks the basket he commands a double team down low which I thought helped Ayton. He is no Magic Johnson but his height helps. Now I know we would prefer if Sharpe started and he will if Grant gets traded, but this new starting lineup with Deni at guard and two other forwards......works. Even with Ant in the lineup, we are big. Would it work next to Scoot, I don't think it would as well. We need two good shooters next to Deni. Nothing wrong with bringing Scoot off the bench as long as he gets minutes.
Scoot is at a point where he needs to start now. As good as Avdija is on offense, Scoot might surpass him if given the chance. If you like Avdija, why would we not want TWO guards pushing the pace and getting to the free-throw line? In January, Scoot leads the team in scoring efficiency. He's shooting over 40% on threes. He take about double the free-throws as Simons given the playing time. Scoot's 2-point shooting is much better than Simons. What are we waiting for? Simons to be traded , or Scoot to be traded?
Come on we don't need stats to tell us Ant is an overall better shooter than Scoot. Ant is a small SG but next to Deni it works because Deni is essentially the PG If you start Scoot with Deni (and Sharpe) it could work, but not as well IMO. In that scenario, I would bring in Ant at the 6-minute mark and play with Deni. It is not about who is better but who fits best next to one another.
If we were tying to get a playoff rotation today that makes sense. We're so far away from that today though the best rotation doesn't matter. We need minutes and shots for Scoot/Sharpe over Ant at guard. Deni/Camara over Grant. Clingan over Ayton. Instead this current roster is pushing the team to mediocrity long term.
