Let’s, for the sake of debate, say Harkless will be available and Jake will translate his summer league/preseason jump into the regular season. Who’s the better option to start? Personally, I think I’d go with Layman. Harkless can shoot set shots, but Layman is more dynamic as a shooter. He moves very well off the ball. Harkless can slash but he’s not a guy you want coming off screens shooting threes. This makes Layman a better fit with Dame and CJ imo. Harkless is the better post player, and if he was on the second unit, he may have more opportunities to score, especially in the post. Harkless is also the better defender and rebounder, for sure. They’re about even in transition imo. They’re both great athletes. It’s interesting to look back and compare their athletic numbers out of college. Layman actually had the better standing/max vert and their sprint times were identical. Can’t believe this may actually become a thing, considering where Layman was not long ago.
Harkless defense is very valueable. And he can at least hit shots to be considered a 3 and D wing which is what we need at that position. Not sure of Layman's defense. In this scenario, have Layman take Turners bench minutes.
I feel like I’ve seen what this team can be with the inconsistency of Moe, if we are gonna surprise the “experts” this year we will need contributions from someone new. I like the offensive potential of our starters if Jake really is a reliable scorer now.
Depends if we get Motivated Moe or No Show Moe. If the former, I'd rather start Moe due to his defense and bring Layman off the bench as a back up 4 (with Turner technically playing point forward at the 3 spot). Put Turner out there with Curry, Stauskas, Layman and yes, Meyers, and he has 4 guys around him who can all shoot the ball. If we have to play Turner, the more shooters around him, the better. If Moe decides to sleepwalk through the first two months of the season, yet again. Just bench his ass and give all his minutes to someone who actually shows up to play (i.e. Layman). BNM
We rode Moe' s hot play to the 3rd seed last year, surprising the experts ... Why can't we do it again...?
Maybe my memory is going but I don’t recall Moe being a huge part of our season, wasn’t he hurt most of the time? Didn’t he average like 6/3/1? Or is this sarcasm?
Yeah I did, and I didn’t see anything from Harkless that couldn’t be replaced fairly easily, now Ed on the other hand My vote is for Jake. He seems to play with more fire than Moe, I’m shocked every time Moe strings 2 outings of maximum effort together.
To be fair, Moe averaged 14.8 ppg over the last six games before his injury. In his last game before his injury, he had 16 PTS, 6 REB, 4 AST and 4 BLK in a 3-point victory over OKC. To be balanced, the only other time all season he scored in double figures two games in a row was October 26 and 28. He was coming on strong at the time of his injury, but other than a handful of random games, prior to March 15, was pretty much a non-factor. Those last six games teased us his potential. The rest of the season just pissed us off to no end. That is the frustration that is Moe Harkless. BNM
This is the dangers of taking anything away positive or negative from the preseason or summer league. It’s just not “real” basketball. Trust me, 10 days from now in the middle of that first big road trip, you’ll be praying Mo is healthy!
Mo is only a year older than Layman, for what it's worth. One one hand you can say we should stick with Harkless, because after all he's been good enough to log 6 seasons of quality NBA minutes. On the other hand, jesus, look over his body of work in 6 seasons and what do you see? Basically the same player he was when he was drafted, plus better defense and three point shooting. He's been pretty consistent in his inconsistency. Jake certainly looked like he wanted the starting job in preseason. Hopefully he can keep aggressive and steal the starting job. Harkless hasn't really done enough to earn it by default.
Right now i give the edge to Harkless if he is playing well. Simply from a defensive point of view. If Jake can get some solid stops and shows defensive ability in crunch times? There is very little question in my mind. You go with Jake.
We need Moe almost as much as we need Aminu, and I don't mean that as faint praise, as our last game showed.
I am unconvinced that Layman is anything but sizzle. Looks good but has very little effect on the outcome of the game. I thought that in Summer League, too - he put up good numbers but about 4 other players were more important to that team than him. If Moe's out I'd almost rather start Curry, like we did that one game where we absolutely buried the other team (which may even have been Utah) when we were playing our 3 6'2 guards together.
I hope Moe's knee is good to go. The Blazers are going to need him. He does things Jake can't. Jake makes a good case though, and depending on how his preseason play translates, and Moes health, he may start sooner than later.
Stotts had already said when Harkless is healthy he will start. But I also think we will see a different Harkless this year due to how good Layman has played. Because Layman can easily replace Harkless if Harkless gets in his mood swings.
If Moe plays like he did when we were really really good, its no contest. But at least we have the option of someone who seems like he can make a difference and be dynamic with Jake, in the case that Moe goes no show again.
