Pretty Meh. A better comp might be Z-Bo, who was incredible in SL but barely played as a rookie. But then he did have a few good players ahead of him.
McCollum--Turner--Layman--Aminu--Swanigan would be an interesting bench unit imo. Could offer enough shooting to offset Turner plus give Swanigan/Turner room in the mid/low post if he they have a favorable matchup. As far as the starting lineup goes, Hakless is the hands down starter at SF for me minus a considerable shooting regression (which is not unlikely btw). I understand Turner's value as a versatile POA defender, but if he's playing alongside both Lillard and McCollum, he's relegated to guarding 3's other than in late clock switch situations. And as much as I don't like him as a pnr ball handler, he still provides more value in those situations that as a spot up shooter. He's also less likely to be given post/iso scoring opportunities which is where he's best used offensively (the lesser of all evils might be a more apt description for this haha). And as far as the 5th starter goes, I expect it to be a revolving door all year. My hope is Collins ultimately proves competent enough as a shooter and pnr defender to be that guy, but we'll see how things shake out.
So you are basically relying on Napier alone to handle the ball in the second unit? Turner is our biggest need on the bench right now in my opinion.
12.0 ppg, 8.8 rpg, .463 FG% in 31.5 mpg. He killed it in one fourth quarter against the PHO teenagers, but other than that, Swanigan had a much better summer league. BNM
Why do people keep bringing up our 3rd string PG (who is a shoot first PG) like he should be getting any significant amount of time? CJ and Turner will be the ballhandlers when Dame is out. That's why it's called a rotation. Turner replaces whoever is tired or in foul trouble first. If it's Dame, He replaces CJ later. Napier shouldn't be getting more than 5-8 mpg.
Thats my point. Turner is needed on the bench or its Napier as the primary backup PG and the only one with handles much of the time.
I'm not saying the lineup is terrible, I'm saying this rotation pattern is. I think it's the recipe to see big leads evaporate games after games... Also I don't want Butters anywhere I the rotation. I think Napier is actually good and should get consistant rotation minutes
It's hard to read too much into summer league, especially when he played so few minutes, but Collins just seemed like he had a much better knack for help defense than those other guys. I like Chief's athleticism in one-on-one situations against those elite 6'6 to 6'11 guys, but really it's not those guys who kill us. It's all the guards. *shrug* I realize I don't have a lot to stand on other than what I saw in SL, so take this post as predicting the next Batum-level surprise of a rook starting right out of the gate. Nobody saw Batum coming in August during his rookie year. I'm getting in on the ground floor with Collins.
This is another good lineup regarding handles, so maybe Harkless should be the starter alongside Dame and CJ and in one guard lineups use more of Turner, Layman, Aminu etc. What we need most, position wise, is another guard deserving of minutes No, not because I say so, because it's the truth.
You just don't understand how tiring and frustrating it is for someone like him who knows basketball better than most in here to try to explain and convince those of us with far inferior basketball knowledge.
