Obviously we're keeping Nurkic. But we have Meyers, a now-supposedly-healthy Ed and Swanigan and Collins. And we've been starting Aminu at the four. Does this make sense in a smallball league? Meanwhile our backcourt bench is decidedly thin. We have no real backup PG - we'll be playing Turner and possibly Napier there, but neither is a true PG. There has to be a trade... right?
I think Noah, Swanigan and Collins really haven't earned minutes yet. So it's really a battle between Nurk as the starter, Aminu as the starting PF and potentially Davis as the backup PF/C. Someone, probably Collins, will ride the pine a lot this year.
D'oh - I knew there was another one. Hey, I've got an idea: trade Noah and filler for this do-anything wing they've got in Charlotte. He's a bit pricey but he's exactly what we need.
When you compare him with the rest of the backups in the league, Napier is pretty decent. Watch out for Briscoe. He's a true point who was forced to play a different position at Kentucky last year. Assuming there's no Melo trade, I wouldn't be surprised if he knocked someone like Connaughton off the roster, despite the guaranteed contract. If Morrow makes the team Connaughton makes less sense than a third PG.
I think the Blazers are holding tight until the Melo-drama is resolved. I think a trade is bound to happen at some point. I'm not concerned about PG though. CJ will still see minutes there. I think a three guard rotation of Dame, CJ and Turner will be the regular plan. All of those guys are pretty much interchangeable at playing on and off the ball. Napier and whichever backup SG makes the cut will only see spot minutes. Who the heck plays a "true point guard" anymore?
I also think Olshey is waiting on Melo, and probably has other deal(s) lined up if it doesn't go through. I could see a trade for someone like Hezonja for example. Roster just seems incomplete. We've signed four guards in the past couple of weeks. Could be just filling out the Training camp roster. Could be also be preparing for open roster spots via trade.
Are any of these guards better or equal offensively, but better defensively than what we have. Are they worth trading for? Chicago Bulls Point Guards according to Trade machine. Zach Lavine - 6'5 185lbs Cameron Payne 6'3 185 Kris Dunn 6'4 210 Jerian Grant 6'4 198 David Nwaba 6'4 209 Ryan Arcidiacono - 6'3 195 2 way contract Talk about being overloaded in a position.
Payne was supposed to be the next great guard from a small school (y'know, like Lillard and McCollum). Or was that Elfrid Payton? The only one who really tempts me is Dunn, but that's the one they won't trade.
A PG I'd be very interested in is Tyus Jones from Minny. He's a TRUE PG. Downside is he's small and not a great defender, but if he wasn't those things he'd be starting and a franchise cornerstone.
We have enough at PG, IMO. Dame and CJ are perfectly capable of handling PG for 48 minutes. With Dame+CJ or Dame+ET or CJ+ET, we have two perfectly capable ball handlers on the court at the same time. Napier is enough depth to deal with situations where one of those three is out (foul trouble, injury, whatever). If we had such great depth at the bigs position, we might want to remember who played C for us in the playoffs and how that worked out. I wouldn't count on the rookies at all, even though I expect they will contribute.
