You're preaching to the choir. However, I doubt that's how CJ would look at it. I'm willing to bet he sees himself as a top 10 SG in the league, and certainly the best on the Blazers. I'll guarantee that he'd consider it an insult for Crabbe to start over him, even if he were playing 36 mpg off the bench.
I wanted to take this a step further and say,. Do you think he would still be insulted if it was explained that he is needed more off the bench and overall it will make us a better team? I think he is mature enough to put the personal sting aside, but I sure as hell think he would still feel the sting.
Exactly. Yes, I do think he would be bothered, and while he wouldn't make an issue about it, I think it would have the potential to impact him as well as team chemistry. Mature or not, if you see someone who you feel is clearly inferior be promoted ahead of you, it impacts your perception of that person, the management who made the decision, and the organization as a whole, and can definitely have an impact on your production, conscious or not.
I see the Blazers using a 3-guard rotation most of the time next season with Dame & CJ starting, Crabbe coming in when Dame takes his first break and CJ sliding to PG; and then CJ getting a break when Dame comes back to play point along side Crabbe. Not sure why you'd want to mess with that.
Iggy won finals MVP as a 6 man in GS after starting his whole career...it's like Batum used to say..doesn't matter who starts, I want to be in at the end ..CJ in my view would thrive off the bench and a better defender could start with some length next to Dame...that has been my view all along but given the pairing were second in the league last season, I doubt they'll do that.
Because Crabbe is a better defender than CJ, so it might be better for the team as a whole to have Crabbe expending energy guarding superior offensive players, while CJ can come in when the starters are not quite as fresh, and be even more effective than he already is as a starter?
The guy is locked up for 6 more years. He is getting paid. I am sure CJ wants to start, but I doubt he would consider it an insult....as long as it helped the team. Right now there are a few match ups where due to his size....he is inferior. He just does not match up well against Klay. Over all I am not sure who should start at sg because we also have to take into consideration who is starting in the front court too, and whether or not we have Harkless on the team. But CJ is no idiot, if it is best for the team....he will get over it quick enough. But is it best for the team........ is the question.
Makes some sense. I guess you could keep the same general rotation; start Dame & Crabbe, bring CJ in at the point when Dame takes a break, then shift him to 2G when Crabbe sits. Maybe, but I doubt that Stotts will go that route.
if Crabbe makes the same type of jump, or even remotely close to the same type of jump that CJ did this past season THIS season, he will end up 6th man of the year material. which would be great because that will take some of the load off of CJ when he is running the point, and when dame is in it will be like having no loss in production between those 3 in a 3 guard rotation.
How many players have all-star bonus $$ tied into their contracts? And how many bench players have made an all-star team?
It might also net him MIP. Wouldnt that be sick for the Blazers to have back to backers? At least some of that must be credit due to the coachign staff right?
I am not sure how many exactly have bonuses but I think it is few and far between. Not the majority, for sure. And here is a list of bench players who made the all-star game: http://bkref.com/tiny/jz4ai So nobody since Kobe many years ago.
Thanks for finding this KoR. While I think mature players realize it's what's best for the team and winning, I still think ego comes into play when not starting - be it bonuses, all star consideration, endorsements, etc. It's human nature to want to start. While we can armchair QB who should be starting based on winning, it will be up to Olshey and Stotts to blend the minutes with this new highly-paid squad. And I would bet PA wants to see his players earning their millions verses sitting pine. I read somewhere today the Blazers are sitting at a minimum of a $27 million luxury tax bill for next year. We're in Brooklyn Nets territory when it comes to tax penalties.
Ugh why is bringing McCollum off the bench even a question? If he still plays 36 min, there's no difference except for the fact that you relegate the 2nd best payer on this team to the bench to start someone worse. If anything, Crabbe would start at SF and Turner would come off the bench.
CJ started every game he played (80) last year. He'll be the starter this year as well. Some posters here are forgetting that we deliberately signed Evan Turner to be an additional ball handling player on our team. He is expected to be the "primary" substitute at guard. I expect him to get ALL of CJ's backup PG minutes from last year. I think CJ will get more minutes, if not all, at SG. Neil and Stotts have both said that they identified prior to free agency that their target was someone who could handle the ball. They expect to keep at least 2 of Dame, CJ and ET on the court at all times. Crabbe will get some minutes at SG and some at SF. If all remain healthy, Harkless may have a tough time finding any PT.
For people that think starting Crabbe is a good thing, it's not. Sure we'd have better defense but our offense would start a lot slower. We need to get out to fast starts and that's done by scoring.
Ideally: Lillard (36) / Turner (12) McCollum (35) / Turner (13) Crabbe (29) / Turner (3) / Harkless (14) Aminu (26) / Davis (18) / Leonard (4) Ezeli (20) / Plumlee (18) / Leonard (10)
