Our SF situation and who should start.

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Honestly, I haven't seen anything from Williams yet which disproves any of his criticisms. It certainly seems as though Adelman had his mind made up not to utilize him, but it's not like, since he got here, that he's done anything his critics said that he can't do.

 

[KingMilz]

Honestly, I haven't seen anything from Williams yet which disproves any of his criticisms. It certainly seems as though Adelman had his mind made up not to utilize him, but it's not like, since he got here, that he's done anything his critics said that he can't do.

#They said he was a blackhole... not true every game he's played within the offence and has taken less than 5 bad shots the entire time he's been here.

#They said he was not a SF and lacked a handle.....his handle seems fine goes coast to coast weaving in and out with easy every game and he's looked like SF is his natural position he cuts well without the ball and when you combine that with the fact he's a physcial speicemen that's really good

#They said he could not defend....he's defended well, players including KD, Hayward, Dirk, Harrison Barnes and solid vets who post up well (but couldn't against him) in Jefferson and Marion.

He's certainly doing everything he can so far to disprove a lot of the criticisms, the thing I like about him even when you puts up limited stats he still makes his impact felt and you need that on a team.

Derrick Williams atm is everything we wanted James Johnson to be but he couldn't be due to his low IQ and rock bottom shooting.

 

[Kings Faithful]

Honestly, I haven't seen anything from Williams yet which disproves any of his criticisms. It certainly seems as though Adelman had his mind made up not to utilize him, but it's not like, since he got here, that he's done anything his critics said that he can't do.

Don't agree with this at all... and not just because he's coming off a career night. Outside of him being the greatest from 3 pt range, he's looked great. All i hear about was how he stops the ball on offense and can't play defense. Since he's been here he's improved our passing and our D. That being said, a rock probably could have done that considering what we've been dealing with.

 

[ParniValjak]

What I think the starting 5 will be:

C: Cousins
PF: Williams
SF: Gay
SG: McLemore
PG: Thomas


What I think the starting 5 should be:

C: Cousins
PF: Thompson
SF: Gay
SG: McLemore
PG: Thomas

 

[Chupacabra]

If we don't start Thompson/Gay i'll be surprised. I don't think Malone will have it any other way. Throwing a big front court of Cousins/Thompson/Gay onto the floor is an advantage for us. To advocate for anything else is to be wrong.

 

[Entity]

do you guys realize that Rudy Gay is the first actual STAR that the kings have gotten via trade or free agency since Brad Miller. we got alot of guys since then but mostly just decent to good players. Never an actual star. also first time we have had 2 stars on the team since Webber was traded

 

[Sac.Kings]

What about:
-Thomas
-Rudy
-Williams
-JT
-Cousins

The concern here is that we do not have enough shooting, but Rudy actually has been quite decent from the 3 this season (considering his poor shooting, this is a welcomed surprise). However, that is a huge lineup and you could just pummel everyone with a starting five like that. Then you get the two rooks coming in off the bench for some firepower and when Landry comes back we will actually have a post presence.

 

[Hadlowe]

I wouldn't sleep on Quincy Acy making a case for playing time.

That clip misses a mean clothesline on Beno Udrih at the end of the game.

He's another undersized PF, but he's an intriguing one for me for what he does on the floor. He has played in limited minutes, against bench competition, and in the eastern conference, so there are a lot of caveats, but his rebound and block rate are in the Josh Smith neighborhood. He is a defensive and rebounding specialist, but has shown a decent stroke on the perimeter. A slightly worse rebounder and athlete than Kenneth Faried, but a better defender with an actual jump shot.

 

[KingMilz]

If Gay decides to be a team player one thing imo he will be really useful for is post entry passes, with his size he can easily pass it into Cousins over the defense something Mclemore seems to have trouble doing.

 

[FaStRmAn]

Honestly, I haven't seen anything from Williams yet which disproves any of his criticisms. It certainly seems as though Adelman had his mind made up not to utilize him, but it's not like, since he got here, that he's done anything his critics said that he can't do.

One of the biggest defects of Adelman's coaching prowess is the fact that he does NOT nurture young talent. He is all about veterans and meshing veterans into a unit that can compete. He has had a lot of good rookies that were not utilized properly until they were on different teams. So the fact that Williams didn't start for Adelman does not raise any red flags for me. In fact it is a sign that Williams may be a diamond in the rough that has not been allowed to polish his game. Playing behind Love, he was never going to get the playing time needed to improve his game. I think Malone is willing to gamble and give out the playing time to see if a player is going to help this team. The FO is taking risks and it is refreshing to see.

 

[chasen4r1]

The thing I'm wondering is, I keep hearing about how Williams couldnt get the time needed to develop coming off the bench behind Love. If he's coming off the bench behind Gay, isn't that close to the same thing?

I'll admit I don't know much about Minnesota's rotation so I'm willing to be wrong here. But it seems like benching Williams just puts him in the same place we just took him out of.

 

[ShastaKingsFan]

The thing I'm wondering is, I keep hearing about how Williams couldnt get the time needed to develop coming off the bench behind Love. If he's coming off the bench behind Gay, isn't that close to the same thing?

I'll admit I don't know much about Minnesota's rotation so I'm willing to be wrong here. But it seems like benching Williams just puts him in the same place we just took him out of.

The odds of that happening are slim to none, because of his good play already..and that Malone has stated multiple times that they are committed to giving him plenty of time to gain flow and confidence

 

[HighFlyingMonkey]

This is the way I see it.

If JT is the odd man out:

• JT allows 40 FG% at the rim (on the same level as guys like Asik and Howard) while Rudy Gay allows 59 FG% at the rim (on the same level as PPat) on the same number of attempts (~3.6). The defense will be worse. I don't want to hear nothing about They can switch faster! No. The defense will be worse.
  
• I'd be willing to bet that Cousins's foul rate goes up when Thompson is out.
  
• Too many players together who want the ball. IT, Gay, and Cousins.
• Nobody off the bench who can score with the ball in their hands. People say Derrick Williams can do this, but he can't. You saw last night that he scores best sort of off the ball as a recipient of passes from other players. He doesn't look anywhere near as good trying to create for himself. Thornton can't. Jimmer can't. Thompson can't. Gray can't, etc.

If Williams is the odd man out:

• Too many players together who want the ball. IT, Gay, and Cousins.
• Nobody off the bench who can score with the ball in their hands. People say Derrick Williams can do this, but he can't. You saw last night that he scores best sort of off the ball as a recipient of passes from other players. He doesn't look anywhere near as good trying to create for himself. Thornton can't. Jimmer can't. Thompson can't. Gray can't, etc.
  
• Ben loses the guy who wants to get him the ball.

If Gay is the odd man out:

• Balanced and complementary (chemistry, defense, offense) starting lineup.
  
• Somebody off the bench who can score with the ball in their hands.

This is exactly my line of thinking as well.

I was really excited about the IT/McLemore/Williams/JT/Cousins lineup. I think it could be a recipe of sustained success. Obviously we won't see results like the Mavericks game nightly, but thats a nicely balanced lineup.

I don't trust Rudy Gay. I think its a tall order to expect someone who's been an isolation player his entire career to all of a sudden become a cutting/spot-up player. A player like Derrick Williams who's talented but young without much playing time is someone you can mold. But Rudy's been in the league since 2006. He's been in this rodeo before.

I say start JT. Rudy can still get his 30 mpg coming off the bench at the 3/4 spots. Let Rudy be Rudy, don't try to force a player into a role he's never played.

IT(36 min)/McCallam(12 min)
McLemore (30 min)/Thornton (18 min)
Williams (32 min)/Gay (16 min)
Thompson (32 min)/Gay (16 min)
Cousins (36 min)/Gray (12 min)

You can mix and match the frontcourt. Start Williams/Thompson/Cousins. Sub in Gay and go Gay/Thompson/Cousins. Then you can bring in Gray to give Cuz a breather, but bring back Williams at the 4 for some offense in a Gay/Williams/Gray frontcourt. Then finish the game off with whoever's playing strong.

 

[Kingster]

Malone is going to put the five best players on the floor: Cuz, IT, Williams, Gay, McLemore. Then he's going to have to disperse some of those starters in the second unit at various times. I think it's already been reported Williams will play the 4. If a team proves they can post up Williams regularly and successfully, then Malone will adjust with Thompson, Acy, or Gray. Tonight is a good test with Favors starting for Utah.

 

[Bricklayer]

The thing I'm wondering is, I keep hearing about how Williams couldnt get the time needed to develop coming off the bench behind Love. If he's coming off the bench behind Gay, isn't that close to the same thing?

I'll admit I don't know much about Minnesota's rotation so I'm willing to be wrong here. But it seems like benching Williams just puts him in the same place we just took him out of.

You hear that more by people trying to make excuses for his Minny play than anything else. Williams got plenty of chances in Minny. Averaged more minutes in his years there than Ben is averaging for us now. When Love was healthy his minutes were cut, but then again, how often was that?

 

[macadocious]

FWIW, here is a convo I had with a buddy from Minn yesterday about Williams. So this is their perspective on him.

Macadocious: Hi

MINNFAN: yo

Macadocious: Thank you for Derick Williams

MINNFAN: enjoy the good games

Macadocious: Did you see last night?

MINNFAN: yes

as i said

enjoy the good games

Macadocious: assuming they will be far and few between?

MINNFAN: theres going to be super impressive games that justify his #2 pick

then theres going to be the craptiest of the crap

where he drives out of control, loses every dribble, does stupid crap around the rim and chuck shots while being trip[le defended around the rim

Macadocious: well in 5 games he's only done that once, so hopefully thats a sign that hes coachable and listening

MINNFAN: i mean

wolves have adelman

so the whole 'coachable' thing kinda loses a bit of luster as he didn't develop much in his time in minny

Macadocious: Ya, but Rick handles young guys different. And he has a playoff potential team

MINNFAN: this year

but last year when love went down dwill was the primary 4 for minnesota

Macadocious: I love Rick, but obviously there was something there that didn't work between them

Well, he's not a 4, he's a 3.

MINNFAN: lol

he cant defend the 3

ppl an claim all they want hes a 3

but hes an atrocious 3

hes a 4

Macadocious: He has in the last 5 games, I obviously didnt watch him in Minn, but he's played very above average D so far

MINNFAN: wolves tried FOREVER to get him to a 3

but hes just too overmatched at the 3

Macadocious: I have not seen that so far

MINNFAN: if he had a future at the 3 the wolves would have NOT traded him. pretty simply stated

because wolves are pretty weak at the 3

he was traded because he was buried behind love at the only position he truly can be efficient at which is the 4

you can use your 5 game samples but i had 2+ years of watching him so ill go off that for now

maybe sac has magic water or something

Macadocious: He'Since he's been here he has guarded Barnes, Durant, Marion, and whoever the Lakers and Jazz have and he's done really well against all of them so far.

Thats why I am talking to you, what I see so far is not what was portrayed in Minn

obv sample size is small, but if he can do it for 5 games I am hopefull that if he plays within himself he can find some success

MINNFAN: well so far his drtg is the same 105 that it was in minnesota (actually was 106 in minnesota i guess so SLIGHT improvement) but hardly one to get worked up over

ill have to actually watch some games

Macadocious: drtg?

MINNFAN: defensive rating

100 being the basic

Macadocious: How is that calculated?

MINNFAN: its not a very great defensive metric but its something

sec

http://www.basketball-reference.com/about/ratings.html

Macadocious: hmmm, ya that for sure isn't capturing what I have seen. He did have a zero rebound game, which I am sure kills that rtg and he has no blocks so far

MINNFAN: http://vvcap.net/db/F6RaQppLzE6WEnDKojjN.htp

as for offense

outside of shooting pretty high for his games so far

most his numbers are pretty close to career numbers

you can see he started 56 games for love in loves absence last year

these are his per 36s

playin 28mpg in sac so far and played 24.6 last year in minny

Macadocious: ya, so I will 100% take 17/8 for 36min from him

that is perfect

i guess the questions with him are 1. Can he guard SF (I'm sure he'll have trouble with the SG/SF combo guys) and 2. Can he limit the hero shots/dribble into traffic stuff

MINNFAN: 1. i doubt it he is too slow 2. he probably could but that is all up to him in his mind. history shows no...he will likely regress and not be this 58% shooter from 2 that he is now, but theres always a chance i guess

but #1 isn't mental, its just him being oversized for the 3, even with the weight he dropped this offseason. i dont hold out much hope for him

Macadocious: He's had like 20 dunks since he's been in Sac, which is skewing his FG%

MINNFAN: and btw

with gay coming

williams is moving back to 4

Macadocious: they are going to play Gay at 4

MINNFAN: lol no way

 

[ShastaKingsFan]

A lot of it with regard to Williams, is in the perspective chosen. You can focus on his advantages against other 3's or keep trying to find what he may not have compared to some others. I prefer a physical player at the 3, instead of trying to "slide" a shooting guard there.

I've seen nothing but positive signs and improvement from him at the 3. His shooting stroke is looking good and he's gaining confidence in it. His defense and rebounding have been very solid for that position

 

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

Williams has been good for us so far. No one can deny that.

6 games, 12 PPG, 5 REB, .528 shooting. That is great production for us at the SF position considering what we've had there in years past.

Am I afraid a benching will destroy him here? yea. You have to be. He's playing the best stretch of basketball at the 3 in his career. Am I afraid making him swing back to 4 full time will destroy him here? also, yes. I have no idea how he's going to respond to either situation.

It's going to be interesting.

I'm in favor of Thompson as the starting PF, I've said that before, but the one thing we have that the GSW / Denvers of the world don't have is DeMarcus Cousins. Denver had no post threat last year when they had the best offense in the league. They couldn't play in the half court. GSW DID have some inside scoring with Lee, but they relied too heavily on the 3pt shot which is a wildly inconsistent way to win.

Cousins is the X factor here if we do indeed go down this road. Thomas/McLemore/Gay/Williams can run and gun, and Cousins can dominate the half court game.

Again, not saying i'm for it, just saying that Cousins is the one wrinkle we have that makes our situation slightly different than those two.

 

[pshn80]

I'm not sure what your point is here, but I can assure you small ball by design/intent(sans Lebron) not winning when it counts is far from "looking out for the boogie man".

I'd go so far as to say expecting to take the small ball, run & gun style and do serious damage with it is far more similar to "looking out for the boogie man". Why? Because it's been done successfully(sans Lebron) about as many times as a young kid has caught the boogie man under his bed and snapped a photo.

I bow to your experience here except that doesn't "small ball"' etc. imply or require that there is a weakness somewhere else ? Don't most top flight teams as well as all the rest use small ball to there great advantage? Don't you mean lack of a effective half court/big man/ low post game?

 

[MizzouKing]

And in another positive sign (getting back to the issues of Williams consistency) look at what Malone has done for OUTLAW's consistency. He'd been pretty much written off before the season started.

 

[Glenn]

Williams has been good for us so far. No one can deny that.

6 games, 12 PPG, 5 REB, .528 shooting. That is great production for us at the SF position considering what we've had there in years past.

Am I afraid a benching will destroy him here? yea. You have to be. He's playing the best stretch of basketball at the 3 in his career. Am I afraid making him swing back to 4 full time will destroy him here? also, yes. I have no idea how he's going to respond to either situation.

It's going to be interesting.

I'm in favor of Thompson as the starting PF, I've said that before, but the one thing we have that the GSW / Denvers of the world don't have is DeMarcus Cousins. Denver had no post threat last year when they had the best offense in the league. They couldn't play in the half court. GSW DID have some inside scoring with Lee, but they relied too heavily on the 3pt shot which is a wildly inconsistent way to win.

Cousins is the X factor here if we do indeed go down this road. Thomas/McLemore/Gay/Williams can run and gun, and Cousins can dominate the half court game.

Again, not saying i'm for it, just saying that Cousins is the one wrinkle we have that makes our situation slightly different than those two.

I am fascinated with the high school attitude that coming off the bench is a demotion. In the NBA you play guys to get the most out of what the player is and part of that has to do with how each player fits with the other 4. The arguments that "benching" IT and Williams is demoting them as lesser quality than a starter is short sighted by the fan and if it is the attitude of the player, immature. And no I don't think Williams will be "destroyed" by coming off the bench. DESTROYED?" What does that mean? I can't even respond to a comment like that.

We need to play our players in the best way to win. If players don't understand that we are playing with winning in mind and not to massage their multi-millionaire egos, they can try another way to make a living. Do what the coach wants and shut up.

 

[hrdboild]

Williams didn't work out in Minnesota, so it's pretty obvious the fans there are going to emphasize his faults. None of those Minnesota teams had a post threat anything like Cousins though. Love has more of an inside-outside game. He's also the best rebounder in the league which mitigates one of Williams' strengths. But why should we care about the Minnesota perspective anyway? He just had a career game, in his 6th game in Sacramento. If you're still looking backwards, you're missing the point I think.

As for defensive rating, it's a lazy stat for people who don't watch basketball. Look at who leads the league so far in defensive rating this season. The top 7 consists of 4 Indiana Pacers and 3 San Antonio Spurs. Try and tell me that these two teams have compiled the greatest collection of individual defensive talent in the league and the stat isn't just a derivation of team defensive stats. At some point perhaps you get enough data to glean something useful out of a stat like that -- over the course of a player's career for instance -- but 6 games is nothing. Once you account for varying levels of competition, teammates, pace factor, coaching styles, and the small sample size, the standard deviation on this wipes it out entirely.

As I said before, I don't think whether Williams starts or comes off the bench is going to be that big of a deal this season. He should be getting about 30-35 minutes a night regardless. Whether inserting a high usage player like Gay into the lineup is going to have deleterious effects on the team chemistry we saw developing in the Dallas game is a legitimate concern, but this is something we have no control over so I'm resigned to sitting back and watching while Coach Malone does his job. He's earned that level of trust from me at least. Bringing in both Williams and Rudy to compete for more or less the same spot in the rotation is a bold move by PDA, but it's not like we had anything to lose by giving it a try.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

As for defensive rating, it's a lazy stat for people who don't watch basketball. Look at who leads the league so far in defensive rating this season. The top 7 consists of 4 Indiana Pacers and 3 San Antonio Spurs. Try and tell me that these two teams have compiled the greatest collection of individual defensive talent in the league and the stat isn't just a derivation of team defensive stats.

You're absolutely right, which is why I've taken to completely ignoring DRtg altogether. There's a long article on the calculation of DRtg here (link), but it all comes down to this:

DRtg = Team_Defensive_Rating + 0.2 * (100 * D_Pts_per_ScPoss * (1 - Stop%) - Team_Defensive_Rating)

Team_Defensive_Rating (TDR) is a team stat and is on the order of 100 because it's in points per 100 possessions. It turns out that D_Pts_per_ScPoss (hereafter DP) is also a team stat and is on the order of 1.0 because it's in points per (scoring) possession. 100*DP would be TDP and is on the same scale as TDR. So we can rewrite this equation:

DRtg = TDR + 0.2 *(TDP(1-Stop%) - TDR)

or

DRtg = TDR + 0.2TDP*(1-Stop%) - 0.2TDR

or

DRtg = 0.8TDR + 0.2TDP*(1-Stop%)

As you can see, DRtg is 80% unadulterated team stat, and 20% team stat modified by an individual stat (Stop%). Stop% is probably an interesting number, but DRtg makes no sense when not compared within (Tim Duncan vs. Manu Ginobili could tell you something, but Tim Duncan vs. DeMarcus Cousins can't), and it doesn't take into account how often a defender is involved in a defensive play, instead assuming they are involved in 1/5 of all plays (a terrible assumption).

I'd ignore it completely. I wish BBR would publish Stop% instead.

 

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

I am fascinated with the high school attitude that coming off the bench is a demotion. In the NBA you play guys to get the most out of what the player is and part of that has to do with how each player fits with the other 4. The arguments that "benching" IT and Williams is demoting them as lesser quality than a starter is short sighted by the fan and if it is the attitude of the player, immature. And no I don't think Williams will be "destroyed" by coming off the bench. DESTROYED?" What does that mean? I can't even respond to a comment like that.

We need to play our players in the best way to win. If players don't understand that we are playing with winning in mind and not to massage their multi-millionaire egos, they can try another way to make a living. Do what the coach wants and shut up.

Is it right? No.
Is it reality? Yes.

A lot of NBA players are immature.

NBA teams and coaches 'massage their multi-millionaire egos' all the time! Again, not right or ideal, but more prevalent in the NBA than in any other sport. So many of these guys need to coddled. Derrick Williams have never been effective as a bench player. He was terrible on the Wolves as a bench player this season. Of course, small sample size / minutes played and all that. Point being, we have no idea if he will revert to Timberwolves Derrick Williams as a bench player, or Timberwolves Derrick Williams as a small forward.

Thomas clearly has the mindset and mentality to play either role. He proved that in his two previous season in the NBA because he's played well in both. Williams hasn't. Thornton is another guy who was in the middle of a very successful career until we turned him into a bench player, and he's never been the same since. Even a guy like JJ Hickson who we tried to use as a bench big is going on year 2 of being a double-double guy. We tried to make Carl Landry a starter when we first traded for him a few years ago. Dumb move. He can't do that. For a while there (back when we were cycling between John Salmons and Francisco Garcia as the starting small forward) Garcia could clearly play as a starter or bench player, while Salmons production tanked as a bench player.

All of these things are a factor. Team, fit, minutes, bench player, starter ... they all matter.

And I'm not using that as an excuse or reason to make any decision, I'm just saying it is something to worry about. I don't know what to expect out of Derrick Williams if we turn him into a bench player. He's finally playing confident basketball, and a 'demotion' (wether it is or it isn't, players will look at it that way) could hurt that.

 

[Warhawk]

You're absolutely right, which is why I've taken to completely ignoring DRtg altogether. There's a long article on the calculation of DRtg here (link), but it all comes down to this:

DRtg = Team_Defensive_Rating + 0.2 * (100 * D_Pts_per_ScPoss * (1 - Stop%) - Team_Defensive_Rating)

Team_Defensive_Rating (TDR) is a team stat and is on the order of 100 because it's in points per 100 possessions. It turns out that D_Pts_per_ScPoss (hereafter DP) is also a team stat and is on the order of 1.0 because it's in points per (scoring) possession. 100*DP would be TDP and is on the same scale as TDR. So we can rewrite this equation:

DRtg = TDR + 0.2 *(TDP(1-Stop%) - TDR)

or

DRtg = TDR + 0.2TDP*(1-Stop%) - 0.2TDR

or

DRtg = 0.8TDR + 0.2TDP*(1-Stop%)

As you can see, DRtg is 80% unadulterated team stat, and 20% team stat modified by an individual stat (Stop%). Stop% is probably an interesting number, but DRtg makes no sense when not compared within (Tim Duncan vs. Manu Ginobili could tell you something, but Tim Duncan vs. DeMarcus Cousins can't), and it doesn't take into account how often a defender is involved in a defensive play, instead assuming they are involved in 1/5 of all plays (a terrible assumption).

I'd ignore it completely. I wish BBR would publish Stop% instead.

I KNEW there was a reason we keep you around!

Thanks for the info!

 

[gunks]

Skimmed through the replies so I'm probably being redundant.

BUT....

I see Williams moving to the bench where he will back up Gay, but also take on the departed PPat's role as a stretch 4. If we move JT, I can see Williams being a starter again at the 4 (which would suck, I want a full sized lineup).

Pretty sure the acquisition of Gay is just going to put a little dent in William's PT. He's going to get all of PPat and Salmon's minutes off the bench. Still probably good for 26mpg or so.

What would be interesting (but wouldnt happen in a million years) would be to try Gay off the bench as a super sub. Our high usage guys in the starting unit can still get theirs, and Gay can be as big a black hole as he wants to as our one man bench wrecking crew.

 

[Glenn]

Perhaps part of the new culture is that we don't kiss the arse of guys who might not even start by virtue of their size and skill. Williams has had one great game and I wouldn't shuffle my line-up to please him. The lunatics aren't running the asylum in my version of the Kings organization. I would bend over backwards for only one player and the rest have to show they can fit with him.

 

[MassachusettsKingsFan]

Jason Jones tweeting out that Cousins/Thompson/Gay/McLemore/Thomas are the starters.

There you go. The best option I suppose. So much for those reporters writing that we would be using Gay as a stretch 4.

 

[Uncia03]

Jason Jones tweeting out that Cousins/Thompson/Gay/McLemore/Thomas are the starters.

There you go. The best option I suppose. So much for those reporters writing that we would be using Gay as a stretch 4.

Wow that both surprises me and makes me absolutely ecstatic.

It's surprising to me because I truly felt that FO wouldn't be able to resist throwing both Williams & Gay into the starting line for all the excitement and athleticism that it would provide.
It makes me ecstatic because that's absolutely the starting line-up that you want, with JT in there to be the other big for all of the reasons which have been discussed in this thread. So I'm pleased that they're going about this the right way and putting together a starting line-up that is configured to win in the long-term. Now all we need is to find a better big to replace JT so that JT can properly fulfill his role as a great 3rd big.

 

[Chupacabra]

This doesn't surprise me. The coach makes the final call. 2 things that coach is crazy about are defense and rebounding. Who out of Thompson/Gay/Williams is the best defending+rebounding 4?