I'm not going to say that we haven't been disappointing so far. Obviously we have. But we're about 1/3 of the way into the season, we've had some crap luck, a few crap officiating days, and aside from inconsistency in playing a full 48 and closing out games, we're looking at what is to me pretty clearly the best roster we've fielded in the last almost 20 years. Our +/- suggests we should be significantly better than we are.
Meanwhile Carter is a potential game changer once he enters the rotation if he can be the same defensive pest in the NBA as he was in college, and DeRozan is Monte's signature offseason acquisition, just 28 games ago. It's not like DDR has looked bad, either. He's living up to expectations. The team just hasn't put it all together.
If I'm Monte, and Vivek starts breathing down my neck, yes, I'm willing to look at trades to fix us up around the edges (which is why Huerter and Lyles are in every trade rumor) but breaking up the core of the team just doesn't seem like the right move. I'd point at coaching as the culprit before I break up a team where I somehow managed to get together three all-stars in freaking Sacramento.
I would say worse. I've never been high on either Grant or DFS. Williams is a nice bench piece.
A well-known silly bit of folk wisdom says that if you trade away the best player, you lose the trade. DeRozan is very easily the best player in the trade. He's the third most-important player on the team, but none of the guys you get back would slot in any higher than sixth-most important on the team (as it stands now). It's a downgrade.
Look I’m still willing to do the other deal I proposed and take a look at this core for a longer stretch (However, with each passing loss, unprotecting that pick to ATL looks more and more risky). Having said that, there are obvious flaws with this core (and I talked about this back when the DeRozan trade was made).
Let’s take a step back for a second here... When Sabonis is your 5, you ideally need to surround him with…
- 4 defenders at the 1-4 (to help prevent dribble penetration and reduce the amount of times Sabonis has to contest at the rim)
- 2 forwards who have above average size, length, and athleticism for their position (considering Sabonis has below average length at C and isn’t a good rim protector, having the extra size & length at SF and PF can help from a rim protection standpoint)
- 2 go-to scorers (I don’t think Sabonis can be a #2 scorer on a contending team. I see him best in that #3 role/facilitator role.
- 4 shooters at the 1-4 (to help keep the paint clear for Sabonis since that’s where he’s best at scoring)
We have 3 maybe 4 players (if Carter’s shot translates) that can be a part of that lineup I mentioned above…
- Fox (go-to scorer, shooter, and defender)
- Ellis (shooter and defender)
- Carter (shooter and defender)
- Murray (shooter and defender)
…everyone else on the roster has a flaw that contradicts with those requirements (Monk isn’t a good defender, DeRozan isn’t a good defender or shooter and doesn’t have above average size/length at forward, Lyles isn’t a good defender, etc.). And the fact that Murray oftentimes has to play PF neutralizes his size & length advantage at SF.
So again that leaves us with a hypothetical ideal roster of…
PG - Fox
SG - Ellis or Carter
SF - Murray
PF - ???
C - Sabonis
6MAN - Monk
To complete the ideal roster I have laid out, our PF would need to…
- Have above average size, length, and athleticism for his position
- Be a good shooter
- Be a good defender
- Be a go-to scorer
Grant checks all those boxes fairly well. I think I’d prefer to have a better go-to scorer, but the fit is great everywhere else that I’d be willing to see how the team looks. And considering the trade proposal doesn’t send out any future 1sts, we still have a lot of options to tweak the roster further.
Now if you’re not a fan of Grant, to each their own, but you’d need to either find a PF that has those 4 attributes listed above or find a PF that has those first 3 attributes and swap Ellis/Carter or Murray for a go-to scorer who can also defend, shoot, and be lengthy.
This is ultimately how you would maximize a roster built around Fox & Sabonis. I’m not overly optimistic on the long term outcome of a starting unit that features…
- 2 below average defenders (Monk & DeRozan)
- 1 below average shooter (DeRozan)
- 3 players with below average to average size & length for their positions (Monk, DeRozan, & Murray - because he’s being played at PF a lot)
…around Fox & Sabonis.
Now my trade proposal takes it a step further because instead of starting Ellis or Carter at SG, I double down on even more size & length by having Murray play SG (he’s shown he’s more than capable of defending smaller/quicker players), while having DFS and Grant man the SF and PF spots. That would be a massive injection of length, athleticism, and versatility into our starting unit. In fact, this is how much of a delta their would be in wingspan & standing reach comparing our starting SG, SF, and PF today vs. the starting SG, SF, and PF in my trade scenario…
- SG: Wingspan Delta = +8.25”
- SG: Stand Reach Delta = +7.00”
- SF: Wingspan Delta = +2.75”
- SF: Stand Reach Delta = +3.00”
- PF: Wingspan Delta = +3.00”
- PF: Stand Reach Delta = +1.00”
That’s a big and meaningful difference, and I could easily see us being a top 10 defense (probably even better) considering…
- We’d have excellent size & length at the 1-4
- We’d have plus defenders at the 1-4
- We’d have two great bench defenders still in Ellis and Robert Williams
- One of the best defensive rebounders at the 5 to close out possessions
Couple that much improved defense with an offense that…
- Still has 4 established go-to scorers (Fox, Monk, Grant, and Sabonis)
- Has a legit lob threat (Williams) to utilize in the PnR (mainly for Monk to utilize)
- Has improved shooting/spacing
…and we may be onto something special.
Now if we are hard pressed on keeping DeRozan on the roster for longer, I think we need to either have…
- Monk come off the bench, move Murray to SG, and add a 3&D PF with above average size/length for his position
- DeRozan come off the bench, move Murray to SF, and add a 3&D PF with above average size/length for his position
I think I’d be more in favor of option #2 simply because…
- Monk’s a much better floor spacer than DeRozan
- Monk’s athleticism allows him to play bigger than his measurements
- I’m less concerned about giving up size/length at the SG spot as I am at SF & PF
- Monk’s athleticism gives him a better chance at keeping his man in front of him (when he decides to lock in on that side of the ball)
- I like the idea of DeRozan not sharing the floor with Fox as much as possible. Fox isn’t the best shooter/floor spacer himself. It would be optimal to have a good amount of DeRozan’s minutes come when Monk and/or Ellis are out there at guard spacing the floor that much more for him to operate.
