why do you think Orlando would be interested? Suggs and KCP are locked in as starters and then they have Black who is super young and has been playing well for them.
IMO, we should be looking at DFS. He would be a huge upgrade over Lyles (love Trey) and give us a lot more versatility. If Carter is who we think he could be our bench would be full of Dawgs and enough scoring punch to really do some damage.
Well for starters, Suggs isn’t really a PG and a backcourt of Suggs/KCP is definitely lacking in the creation/playmaking department. That’s mitigated a bit by having Banchero and Wagner who can also do those things, but replacing KCP with a guy like Carter gives them 4 guys who can handle the rock, pass, and shoot so they can all share the load.
The other thing to consider is ORL’s financial situation in the years to come. When Banchero, Wagner, and Suggs are on their 2nd contracts, it will be helpful to have a guy of Carter’s caliber on a rookie deal.
As for DFS, I’m obviously a fan of him as well and would be interested in trading for him. I would be hesitant to give up a 1st for him at this point considering his contract situation but a Huerter and 2nds type of deal makes a lot of sense for us.
If we did acquire DFS, I’d ponder a similar idea about starting…
PG - Fox
SG - Murray
SF - DeRozan
PF - DFS
C - Sabonis
…versus starting…
PG - Fox
SG - Ellis/Carter
SF - DeRozan
PF - Murray
C - Sabonis
…a DeRozan, Murray, & Sabonis frontcourt is always going to be small and there will be teams where we immediately have mismatches to start the game due to that lack of size & length. If we start Fox-Murray-DeRozan-DFS-Sabonis, I have a hard time seeing us have significant mismatches right out of the gate.
However, the issue with starting Fox-Murray-DeRozan-DFS-Sabonis is how the minutes breaks down and how it would force us to play a 3 guard lineup for long stretches of the game. For example, Fox should be at 34-36 mpg, Monk should be at 26-28 mpg, Ellis should be at 20-24 mpg, and Carter will probably be deserving of around 20-24 mpg. That’s 100-112 mpg for our guards (there’s only 96 min to spare) and we haven’t even allocated any SG minutes to Murray yet.
This is another reason why my proposal for Isaac makes some sense as well. It allows us to start a lineup of Fox-Murray-DeRozan-Isaac-Sabonis (limiting mismatches right out of the gate)
AND it avoids a log jam in the backup guard spots. For instance, you could have a minutes rotation like…
PG - Fox (34) / Monk (14)
SG - Murray (18) / Monk (12) / Ellis (18)
SF - DeRozan (28) / Murray (14) / Ellis (6)
PF - Isaac (28) / Lyles (14) / DeRozan (6)
C - Sabonis (34) / Len (10) / Lyles (4)
Fox = 34 min
DeRozan = 34 min
Sabonis = 34 min
Murray = 32 min
Isaac = 28 min
Monk = 26 min
Ellis = 24 min
Lyles = 18 min
Len = 10 min
That only has us playing 6 min in a 3 guard lineup which I can live with. I have Isaac at 28 mpg, but honestly, with his impact on the floor, he should be a 30+ mpg player (it just depends on his health/mitigating factor injuries).
Oh and you want to know one of the underrated reasons why I absolutely love Isaac’s game?
HE DOESN’T FOUL!!! Per 36 min, the guy averaged 10.2 rebounds, 1.7 steals, and 2.8 blocks while only averaging
2.5 fouls! The only player on our roster last year that averaged less fouls per minute was Barnes and I’d imagine that’s largely because he doesn’t play passing lanes/use his hands to disrupt a player’s dribble (0.8 steals per 36 min), he doesn’t contest shots at the rim (0.2 blocks per 36 min), and he doesn’t compete for rebounds (3.8 rebounds per 36 min). The fact that Isaac is playing elite level defense while limiting fouls this much is darn impressive.
Looking across the league, only Wemby and A. Davis defend at a similar level with minimal fouls. They’re per 36 min stats last year were…
Wemby: 12.9 REB / 1.5 STL / 4.3 BLK / 2.6 PF
Davis: 12.8 REB / 1.2 STL / 2.4 BLK / 2.4 PF
Isaac: 10.2 REB / 1.7 STL / 2.8 BLK / 2.5 PF
That’s quite the group to be in. And compare that to a guy many here think is the best fit next to Sabonis…Jaren Jackson Jr. He averaged 4 fouls per 36 min last year and that was actually a down year for him (which I think is largely due to his expanded offensive role due to all the injuries making him less active defensively). The previous season, he averaged 4.6 fouls per 36 min. Yikes!
Defending without fouling has been a big emphasis by the coaching staff this year. Issac does just that but at an elite level.