Alec Burks has a smooth game. Shades of Tyreke, shades of John Salmons. Unless he becomes a blackhole like Salmons, he's going to boost our bench and allow us to push Bogie to the floor more often. Dudes also a much better defender than I assumed. He can legit guard 1 to 3 (except for the jumbo threes--thats where Barnes comes in).
Barnes is what we thought he was. Just a solid, all around player. Balances the perimeter defense, because of his size. We've been missing that quite a bit and it wasn't surprising to see Wade struggle immediately once Barnes was on him. Plus the switching.
I think our primary lineup will be Fox, Hield, Bogs, Barnes, and WCS/Bags/Giles at the 5 spot. Not the starting lineup, but the lineup that will see the most minutes going forward--and certainly at crunch time. Shump was traded, because the Fox, Hield, Bogs, Shump, WCS/Bags/Giles lineup needed another player (besides whoever is on the floor amongst WCS/Bags/Giles) to guard the four spot. Barnes can.
I love Miami's defense. They exploited our young bigs, contained Fox, and took advantage of having two new players on the floor at any given time. Switching from man, to full court press, to a 2-3 then a 3-2 zone. Surprised they stopped throwing the zone, because we never really exploited the high post area. WCS sucks when he has to operate from there, Bags is too raw, and Giles was a bad matchup against Whiteside on the opposite side of the floor.
Fox needs to shoot, at a minimum, 3 threes per game. Hopefully hitting at least one. Opposing defenses are pushing him right and shading the entire defense that way. Richardson looked like a star defender, but it wasn't really him. It was Whiteside playing goalie and the heat shading him. Utah will employ that philosophy and the Clips used to before they traded Bradley and Boban. Speaking of Bradley, I love that dudes defense.
Barring injury or an unforseen personality issue, I can see the Kings signing both Burks and Barnes beyond this season. Barnes if he restructures and Burks, because the Kings control his rights.
Good times. And looking at a bright future.
Barnes is what we thought he was. Just a solid, all around player. Balances the perimeter defense, because of his size. We've been missing that quite a bit and it wasn't surprising to see Wade struggle immediately once Barnes was on him. Plus the switching.
I think our primary lineup will be Fox, Hield, Bogs, Barnes, and WCS/Bags/Giles at the 5 spot. Not the starting lineup, but the lineup that will see the most minutes going forward--and certainly at crunch time. Shump was traded, because the Fox, Hield, Bogs, Shump, WCS/Bags/Giles lineup needed another player (besides whoever is on the floor amongst WCS/Bags/Giles) to guard the four spot. Barnes can.
I love Miami's defense. They exploited our young bigs, contained Fox, and took advantage of having two new players on the floor at any given time. Switching from man, to full court press, to a 2-3 then a 3-2 zone. Surprised they stopped throwing the zone, because we never really exploited the high post area. WCS sucks when he has to operate from there, Bags is too raw, and Giles was a bad matchup against Whiteside on the opposite side of the floor.
Fox needs to shoot, at a minimum, 3 threes per game. Hopefully hitting at least one. Opposing defenses are pushing him right and shading the entire defense that way. Richardson looked like a star defender, but it wasn't really him. It was Whiteside playing goalie and the heat shading him. Utah will employ that philosophy and the Clips used to before they traded Bradley and Boban. Speaking of Bradley, I love that dudes defense.
Barring injury or an unforseen personality issue, I can see the Kings signing both Burks and Barnes beyond this season. Barnes if he restructures and Burks, because the Kings control his rights.
Good times. And looking at a bright future.