Our lack of a 3/big-wing defender is a serious problem.

[golden]

If you get a Justice Winslow at #23 you have generally done a really good job drafting.

If you get Winslow at #46 in the same draft, that's even better. That said, Winslow flat out sucks on offense so that's a pretty low bar, tbh. Easy to see why he dropped in his draft year. He must have been laying a ton of bricks in the pre-draft workouts.

[Jclaw]

Keep in mind....it's not that we need OG to be game ready in November. We need him for May. Maybe the later start will help him avoid the rookie wall.

[DanH]

Keep in mind....it's not that we need OG to be game ready in November. We need him for May. Maybe the later start will help him avoid the rookie wall.

Just like Powell.

[Mess]

The issue to me is when other teams go small. You shift Ibaka to the five and now you've got three guys (Jonas, Poeltl, Bebe) out of the game, and you have to fill the gap at the 3/4 with Powell, Miles, and Siakam. Anunoby when he's ready.

Compare that to the options we had when we made the ECF: Patterson, Carroll, Ross, and JJ.

It's not just size, either. Positional awareness due to inexperience could be a serious problem for us.

I just hope people don't have unrealistic expectations for our young guys. There are going to be growing pains.

Did you just use the term "positional awareness" about Ross and JJ? PP and Carroll, sure. But those two are on the other end of the spectrum.

[JamesNaismith]

OG >>>> Winslow

It's almost a joke to compare him.

Winslow is the size of SG (6'6 with a 6'10 wingspan), OG is the size of SF/PF that fits this "big wing defender" need to a tee (6'8 with a 7'2 wingspan). OG is one of the few players to have a per 40 pace of 2bpg and 2spg (ie/ players like Millsap and Green did likewise in college...Winslow did not). In addition to being bigger, stronger and longer...OG is also a much better athlete that can jump out of the gym while Justise is a fairly average athlete.

If people fell in love with Norm, just wait until OG starts getting some more burn.

[MixxAOR]

OG >>>> Winslow

It's almost a joke to compare him.

Winslow is the size of SG (6'6 with a 6'10 wingspan), OG is the size of SF/PF that fits this "big wing defender" need to a tee (6'8 with a 7'2 wingspan). OG is one of the few players to have a per 40 pace of 2bpg and 2spg (ie/ players like Millsap and Green did likewise in college...Winslow did not). In addition to being bigger, stronger and longer...OG is also a much better athlete that can jump out of the gym while Justise is a fairly average athlete.

If people fell in love with Norm, just wait until OG starts getting some more burn.

Big SF with no jumper and meh handles.

[Scraptor]

Did you just use the term "positional awareness" about Ross and JJ? PP and Carroll, sure. But those two are on the other end of the spectrum.

No, you're putting words in my mouth. I said our inexperienced players will have positional awareness issues, not that all four of the guys listed previously had great positional awareness.

That said, JJ did have much better positional awareness than Ross, and was a solid help defender. His last year here he would have ranked 18th of 62 small forwards (he was listed as a PF) vs 55th of 62 for Ross in defensive RPM.

[Scraptor]

Yeah, but that should be like 5 minutes a game. Any more than that and it's our own fault for not being able to take advantage of size. There aren't that many GSW's that can really take advantage when small. Most teams will be giving up a lot in those looks.

If we go small and play Ibaka five minutes a game at centre I will eat my hat.

Jonas didn't play in 35 of 80 possible fourth quarters last year and I doubt Mr Intractable Dwane Casey is going to change his approach any time soon.

[Scraptor]

Yeah, but that should be like 5 minutes a game. Any more than that and it's our own fault for not being able to take advantage of size. There aren't that many GSW's that can really take advantage when small. Most teams will be giving up a lot in those looks.

If we go small and play Ibaka five minutes a game at centre I will eat my hat.

Jonas didn't play in 35 of 80 possible fourth quarters last year and I doubt Mr Intractable Dwane Casey is going to change his approach any time soon.

[psrs1]

Bruno's name shouldn't be in this convo.

Let's talk about the NBA players on this team

How much longer do we wait on Bruno?

[DanH]

How much longer do we wait on Bruno?

I'd recommend the length of time that was outlined literally the day he was drafted, at least.

[Primer]

Nah. We'll be fine. If we lack a big SF, we don't lack that SF any more than we did the past 4 seasons. If it's a problem, it's a persistent one, not a new one. Powell is more capable of guarding any player in the league than Carroll was over the past two years, nevermind Terrence Ross playing at the three. The big SF's that kill you need to be doubled to stop them anyway.

Was going to write a post but Dan already nailed it here. We had Tucker in the playoffs and Lebron still had his way with us. If you're saying we need a Lebron stopper then you're asking for something that doesn't exist. Might as well say we need to add a Unicorn for Kyle to ride all game so he doesn't tweak his knee.

[MixxAOR]

How much longer do we wait on Bruno?

if they extend him who knows. He needs to show something this year.

[planetmars]

I'm not so concerned about the 3 position defensively.. More concerned about just not having too many defensive players. I like what Serge can do but he's not the same player he once was. After him it's slim pickings.

We lost Tucker and Patterson. They were basically our top two defensive players (although you can argue that with the Serge acquisition Patterson dropped to third). I was singing the #TradeCoJo anthem all year last year, but near the back half of the season (post trade deadline), CoJo was getting better. I love Kyle and he can be a disaster guarding the elite guards in the league. Wright is still an unknown. Siakam had no awareness and hopefully he got smarter with his time in the D-League. Poeltl will probably rack up too many fouls if he gets a chance to play. And OG is just not going to get much of a chance at all in his first year unless a major injury (or two) happens. So if we see him play it will probably be against bench units so his defensive ability will just be moot.

Carroll was trash so there is some addition by subtraction but Miles isn't really a defensive guru. I'd argue that Ross is a better defensive player than Miles is.. and Ross wasn't even that great.

I'm hoping for the best, but I don't see a top 10 defensive team with this roster next year. And when the defense is bad you really need a great offense (top 5 at least) in order to hit that 50 win milestone. A top 5 offense is possible. Losing Carroll again is a blessing from that perspective. Miles should be more consistent than Patterson was. Lowry and JV both look liked they've lost weight. Having a full season with Serge should be a positive.

So I still think this team can be a 50 win team. But if they struggle defensively it will be a short playoff season.

[GLF]

I'm not so concerned about the 3 position defensively.. More concerned about just not having too many defensive players. I like what Serge can do but he's not the same player he once was. After him it's slim pickings.

We lost Tucker and Patterson. They were basically our top two defensive players (although you can argue that with the Serge acquisition Patterson dropped to third). I was singing the #TradeCoJo anthem all year last year, but near the back half of the season (post trade deadline), CoJo was getting better. I love Kyle and he can be a disaster guarding the elite guards in the league. Wright is still an unknown. Siakam had no awareness and hopefully he got smarter with his time in the D-League. Poeltl will probably rack up too many fouls if he gets a chance to play. And OG is just not going to get much of a chance at all in his first year unless a major injury (or two) happens. So if we see him play it will probably be against bench units so his defensive ability will just be moot.

Carroll was trash so there is some addition by subtraction but Miles isn't really a defensive guru. I'd argue that Ross is a better defensive player than Miles is.. and Ross wasn't even that great.

I'm hoping for the best, but I don't see a top 10 defensive team with this roster next year. And when the defense is bad you really need a great offense (top 5 at least) in order to hit that 50 win milestone. A top 5 offense is possible. Losing Carroll again is a blessing from that perspective. Miles should be more consistent than Patterson was. Lowry and JV both look liked they've lost weight. Having a full season with Serge should be a positive.

So I still think this team can be a 50 win team. But if they struggle defensively it will be a short playoff season.

Yea I'm with you on that. Overall our defence is most likely going to be bad. Most of our vets aren't good defenders and then we're going to be playing a lot of young guys who yes they have defensive potential but they are not there yet. Pascal is a perfect example. If we're looking for OG to be some saviour on defence in his first year we are in trouble. Hopefully the young guys prove me wrong but I doubt it. Also if we are relying on our offence to get us through this year we are going to get kicked out in the first round because we know how TERRIBLE our offence gets in the playoffs. So no offence and no defence will be a horrid combination. In the regular season we'll be fine though.