If that's you're argument, then I counter with "What does Lillard do that's so hard to replace besides scoring, which shouldn't be a point guard's primary strength anyway?"
I was just addressing your financial concerns. You said you liked him and I quote: I like the combination of Vonleh and Plumlee, but I can't see Plumlee here long term for financial reasons.
Lillard is a better playmaker than whatever Plumlees secondary skill is. Lillard is almost too unselfish. He'd be averaging a lot more assists if he wasn't passing the rock to Al Farouq Aminu and co. And yes, I do like Plumlee. Just not sure I like him with our current roster.
I like his skill set and he seems to keep getting better. I would love to have 4 good passers in the starting lineup. Now if Terry could channel some of Dr. Jack's offense while he is wearing his close, we would be better off...... I agree Scalma that with the current roster Plumlee is not an ideal center. But the roster is not finished. Too bad there is no ABA dismantling. I would kill for a Maurice Lucas to fall in our lap to go with Dame, CJ, ET and Plumlee. But if we could get the right PF to play next to him....... Plumlee might be a good fit.
Yeah I agree. That's why I'm all for starting Vonleh. I like that combination, in theory, but that's all it is now. Let's see how it develops. But then again, I like a Nurkic/Vonleh pairing even more.
With how cheap Nurkic is, we could maybe even justify keeping Plumlee as a backup. Even if Nurkic saw starter minutes (25) it would leave 20+ for Plumlee. He's also athletic enough to get minutes at the 4 behind Vonleh against certain teams. But we would have to get rid of Leonard, Davis, and Ezeli first. Just thinking out loud.
Vonleh and Layman are the only players on our team with "upside", and Vonleh has shown flashes of being an imposing force. He has the physical tools, and skill, but just hasn't got it all put together quite yet.
When Vonleh is playing well, I get more excited than I do watching anybody else on the team tbh. He just has so much potential, there's really nothing he couldn't do on a basketball court. I really hope he puts it all together...in Portland. Stotts needs to build up Vonlehs confidence by letting him play through mistakes. He's still only 21!
There needs to be a point this season--perhaps after Crabbe and Plumlee are traded?--where Harkless, Vonleh, and Leonard are given a consistent 30-35 mpg to see if they can do anything with it.
I tend to agree and it probably means surrendering any hopes of the playoffs. I wonder if coaches, Olshey and Allen have it in them?
One can only hope. At this point, it truly is the right move. Not "playing to lose" as Wookie might term it, but giving the guys who allegedly have potential the opportunity to sink or swim.
I'd toss Layman into that group of sink-or-swimmers. Not because I think he has enormous growth potential, but you never know and the remainder of this season may as well get as many answers as possible.
Sure, as a bench guy, absolutely. Connaughton as well, as the designated scoring guard off the bench. If we could deal Crabbe/Plumlee for assets (possibly Aminu/Davis too) and finish off the season with basically a rotation of Dame/CJ/Moe/Noah/Meyers with Pat/Evan/Layman coming off the bench, I think we could conceivably learn a lot about this team's future.
Speaking of Layman, his first game in the dleague is tonight at 5. It's being broadcast online I believe. Hopefully I get home in time to watch him score 50.
