The roster construction is unique. Pretending to be Monte, I think he clearly saw that our big 2 of Fox-Sabonis was not good enough to contend in the playoffs. Aside from those 2, the only player on our team who can consistently create their own shot is Malik, but he's microwave scorer that can be very hot and cold. As a result, this is why we saw Monte push very hard for a true #2 scorer in Markkanen and BI. However, neither trade came to fruition. Monte was also interested in LaVine at one point, but LaVine's health and contract posed a big risk.
Moving down the line at available stars... the only viable option left was a 35-year-old DeRozan.
I don't think Monte had much of a choice here. I don't think this is the ideal roster he wants, but it's the best he can give Mike Brown to work with. Between Fox, DeRozan, and Sabonis..... they are the worst 3pt shooting "big 3" in the league. Watching the preseason, it became evident that we needed to surround them with shooters, hence this McDermott signing. We're going to need Huerter, Monk, Keegan, and Lyles to all shoot at least 38% from 3pt. Last year's shooting from that group was: 36.1, 35, 35.8, and 38.4. That's dreadful. If these guys can't hit their shots, McDermott is going to be gunning for their minutes because none of them outside of Keegan plays defense anyways.
With Sabonis "anchoring" the defense, I think we all have to accept that our defense will probably always be bottom half. He provides very little in terms of rim protection, interior defense, and perimeter switching. Fox could be the wildcard that moves our defensive needle, but he needs to give consistent effort throughout the game.
Mike Brown has it cut out for him... but just putting it out there, most of our problems would magically go away if Keegan takes that next step we're all hoping for....
