SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
I like Harkless, but would support experimenting w/Buddy starting in his place. Buddy is a better rebounder and does his best defensive work in the post where he can use his strength. Would also be happy to see a bigger player have to chase Buddy around on the other end.
They do need a shot in the arm offensively. Part of that is simply Fox playing better, and part of them running more sets, if only to settle themselves down. They've been super-frenetic and perimeter-happy. 46 3PA out of 86 FGA against the Warriors. A little excessive.
Harkless is a liability offensively if he can't hit open 3's with consistency but even then teams are going to let him shoot all night long if need be at some point and that raises the question, what is your gameplan here? If that's the role of your SF this year then they are REALLY going to regret not upgrading that spot. The Warriors were leaving him WIDE open as the game went on and it allowed them to hound the ball on pick and roll and pack the driving lanes. So far the best lineup according to the 5 man stats (with a 5 minutes of game time qualifier since it's so early in the season obviously) is Fox/Haliburton/Buddy/Barnes/Holmes. The SAME lineup that was top 3 in the league at one point last year. The question now is why are they getting so little time???
https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/advanced/?Season=2021-22&SeasonType=Regular Season&TeamID=1610612758&sort=NET_RATING&dir=1&CF=MIN*GE*5