Potential Free Agent/Trade/Sign Tracker, '25-'26 Season

[Jdbraver137]

After watching him in summer league, I should think small forward would be a natural position for Clifford. According to ESPN, he is the same height as DeRozan, 6' 6", but weighs twenty pounds less at 200. (Without shoes, 6' 6.25".) His vertical leap at the combine was 31".

Deronzan isn’t a SF either.

 

[Jdbraver137]

What's his wingspan again? Meanwhile Davion signed an contract extension. Talent is talent.

Davion isn’t better than enough guards here to get consistent minutes.

 

[hrdboild]

Davion isn’t better than enough guards here to get consistent minutes.

He'd be easily the best defensive guard on the team. Some teams actually care enough about that to keep guys like Davion on their roster (and actually play them).

 

[Jdbraver137]

He'd be easily the best defensive guard on the team. Some teams actually care enough about that to keep guys like Davion on their roster (and actually play them).

He is undersized and uh no he isn’t a batter defensive guard than Keon. But nice try

 

[TheMobb]

He is undersized and uh no he isn’t a batter defensive guard than Keon. But nice try

I think they’re different and each have their own strengths. Keon is obviously longer, fights thru screens much better, plays passing lanes and contests shots better, Davion has the edge in lateral quickness and bodying up guards. I think Keon is probably more impactful overall but not by much.

 

[dude12]

Keon and Davion are about same level of effectiveness on D which they are both good at but Davion lack of length hurts at times and Keon’s lack of bulk also hurts at times.

But what most can agree on is that OMax, despite being touted as one that we gave away and we’re going to regret it because of his length, actually sucks.

 

[Jdbraver137]

I think they’re different and each have their own strengths. Keon is obviously longer, fights thru screens much better, plays passing lanes and contests shots better, Davion has the edge in lateral quickness and bodying up guards. I think Keon is probably more impactful overall but not by much.

All those things Keon does wins games, like Doug Christie. Davion is an under 6ft guard, sure he can body guards but most guards can shoot over him. He is a good player but he isn’t starter quality.

 

[sactowndog]

All those things Keon does wins games, like Doug Christie. Davion is an under 6ft guard, sure he can body guards but most guards can shoot over him. He is a good player but he isn’t starter quality.

Davion’s great at stopping the point of attack but when switched onto a longer player it’s pretty easy to shoot over him like he is a chair.

 

[ESP47]

I think Keon is twice the defender Davion is. Davion's skillset isn't all that useful in the NBA. I was hoping it would translate but players don't play 1 on 1 all that often so as soon as a screen is set or a switch is made, his skillset is mostly nullified.

 

[kingsboi]

Davion’s great at stopping the point of attack but when switched onto a longer player it’s pretty easy to shoot over him like he is a chair.

a good comparison would be Cason Wallace, it's those few inches that makes the difference in the NBA

 

[notoriousBEN3]

Keon and Davion are about same level of effectiveness on D which they are both good at but Davion lack of length hurts at times and Keon’s lack of bulk also hurts at times.

But what most can agree on is that OMax, despite being touted as one that we gave away and we’re going to regret it because of his length, actually sucks.

Keons offensive game is WAY better than Davion’s though. Davion had a great first step but couldn’t finish and wasn’t a consistent shooter. Keon has become a very reliable 3 point shooter, and always seems to play within the offense.

Keon has physical limitations, but his IQ on both sides of the ball is what has helped him get to the next level. My hope is that Carter can turn into a better version of Keon, but time will tell.

 

[sactowndog]

a good comparison would be Cason Wallace, it's those few inches that makes the difference in the NBA

Five inches is quite a bit. Davion has a 8’ 0.5” standing reach and Wallace has a 8’5” standing reach. One inch less than Keon at 8’6”.

 

[hrdboild]

He is undersized and uh no he isn’t a batter defensive guard than Keon. But nice try

Okay so I briefly forgot that Keon was even on the team for some reason... Ooops! But even so, they're different types of defenders -- I don't think Keon is clearly better than Davion. They just have different skillsets. Davion is way stronger than Keon for one thing, is really hard to move off his spot because he has fantastic lower body strength and balance, and he's also one of the best in the league at closing out on shooters without fouling them or flying by and leaving them wide open. On a team full of guards with hardly any wings, Keon looks like a damned unicorn but that doesn't mean he's twice the defender that Davion is, it's all contextual.

Both guys are pests who apply constant ball pressure to make opposing guards uncomfortable. Where I see Davion as a notch above Keon is that he's way more disciplined about keeping his body between the ball and the basket. Keon is prone to gambling and going for those "poke from behind" steals -- which can result in big plays but also results in the occasional play where he looks a little buffoonish and we give up an easy basket. Davion's weakness is size, obviously, which limits his positional versatility but that wouldn't be hard for a defensive-minded coach to mitigate with sharper defensive rotations and more length at the wing positions.

The idea that Davion's skillset isn't effective in the NBA is crazy though and likely derives from the Kings' preference to only ever put one or two defenders on the court at once. That makes them easy to gameplan around. As long as you can force a switch their effectiveness is mostly nullified. Basketball is a team game on both ends of the floor, not just on offense. Use your players effectively and their relative strengths and weaknesses will cover for each other. Use them ineffectively though and you have a last place team which is equally capable of going on big scoring runs and giving up big scoring runs because they're never in control of the tempo.

 

[Joshyjosh31]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1962221227109482978

 

[kingsboi]

Five inches is quite a bit. Davion has a 8’ 0.5” standing reach and Wallace has a 8’5” standing reach. One inch less than Keon at 8’6”.

five inches in standing reach sure but I was referring more to height. according to basketball reference it's a two inch height difference but Davion doesn't seem 6'2. Google tells me 6 feet vs 6'3 for Cason.

 

[kingsboi]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1962221227109482978

time to go play for Tony Parkers team or maybe Marbury in the CBA

 

[kingsboi]

Okay so I briefly forgot that Keon was even on the team for some reason... Ooops! But even so, they're different types of defenders -- I don't think Keon is clearly better than Davion. They just have different skillsets. Davion is way stronger than Keon for one thing, is really hard to move off his spot because he has fantastic lower body strength and balance, and he's also one of the best in the league at closing out on shooters without fouling them or flying by and leaving them wide open. On a team full of guards with hardly any wings, Keon looks like a damned unicorn but that doesn't mean he's twice the defender that Davion is, it's all contextual.

Both guys are pests who apply constant ball pressure to make opposing guards uncomfortable. Where I see Davion as a notch above Keon is that he's way more disciplined about keeping his body between the ball and the basket. Keon is prone to gambling and going for those "poke from behind" steals -- which can result in big plays but also results in the occasional play where he looks a little buffoonish and we give up an easy basket. Davion's weakness is size, obviously, which limits his positional versatility but that wouldn't be hard for a defensive-minded coach to mitigate with sharper defensive rotations and more length at the wing positions.

The idea that Davion's skillset isn't effective in the NBA is crazy though and likely derives from the Kings' preference to only ever put one or two defenders on the court at once. That makes them easy to gameplan around. As long as you can force a switch their effectiveness is mostly nullified. Basketball is a team game on both ends of the floor, not just on offense. Use your players effectively and their relative strengths and weaknesses will cover for each other. Use them ineffectively though and you have a last place team which is equally capable of going on big scoring runs and giving up big scoring runs because they're never in control of the tempo.

Davion would be awesome applying constant full court pressure. don't know if he has the conditioning for it right now but that would be an interesting approach for the Heat

 

[sactowndog]

five inches in standing reach sure but I was referring more to height. according to basketball reference it's a two inch height difference but Davion doesn't seem 6'2. Google tells me 6 feet vs 6'3 for Cason.

Don’t the close out with their hands up?

 

[hrdboild]

Don’t the close out with their hands up?

If you're talking about NBA players, most of them close out like they've never been coached before. I don't think an extra 10 inches of reach will make you a better defender on closeouts if you run into the shooter, open up a free path to the basket with poor leg positioning, or (most typically) fail to commit either to the contest or to defending the drive and end up caught in the middle doing nothing.

My suspicion is that a lot of these guys are afraid of being called for the foul and/or they would rather be playing offense anyway so they go through the motions and pretend to contest shots by expending the minimum effort necessary to appease the coach. And it's hard to get better at a skill when you don't actually care about it so here we are in 2025 with shooting a bigger part of the game than it's ever been and most of these professional basketball players are absolutely awful at executing a basic skill.

 

[NewArena]

Davion is a liability to me for the simple fact that damn near everyone can shoot over him. That pretty much cancels out a lot of his impact for me, as much as I adore his abilities and effort. If he's a main cog on your squad and your best defender, I think you're in trouble and in for a long night. Sorry, I've seen enough of him to feel this way.

 

[kingsboi]

Don’t the close out with their hands up?

lateral shifting abilities matters too