The Tankathon Thread (since that's apparently what this is now)
- Thread starter Tetsujin
- Start date
I actually think so for sure.
Barnes is fairly passive a lot of the time and is pretty content hanging around 11 shots per game. Weirdly, here's his 4 years with us:
18: 11.1 FGA
19: 11.0 FGA
20: 11.1 FGA
21: 11.1 FGA
I think the big thing with Barnes is just letting him fire more from 3pt land in C&S. I wouldn't call him a ball-dominant player at all. Just crazy effective/efficient. And we only have Barnes for one more season before he heads to UFA. Are we going to want to re-up 31 year old Barnes? Murray could just slide right in as Barnes 2.0. 19% USG this season
-Davion is making a case to be the third banana scorer, but he's also showing to be a willing passer/playmaker too. And his mentality is so good, he's the kind of guy who will make the sacrifices. 20.5% USG and 20.9% AST
-DDV is much better as a support player: secondary ball-handler/passer/defense/energy/transition/C&S spacer guy. Being good at all the little things adding up to a very good player. But certainly not a feature scorer. 18.1% USG and 19.1% AST with the Kings
-Sabonis is an excellent scorer, but I think he'd classify himself as a playmaker first; then a scorer. Almost to a fault does he not look for his offense enough. He's the #2, but a #2 that's more than willing to create for others over himself.
So that just leaves Fox as the only real alpha scorer type among the long-term core. Especially if the plan was to bring Mitchell off the bench and let him control the game there, I think you can pretty easily fit another USG scorer with the starters:
Fox
DDV
Barnes
Murray
Sabonis
All kinds of offensive goodness and complimentary talent there. Probably still couldn't stop a pinecone on D, but that's a top 10 offensive unit. I'm a believer in the Murray defense though, even if it doesn't show right away.
Barnes is fairly passive a lot of the time and is pretty content hanging around 11 shots per game. Weirdly, here's his 4 years with us:
18: 11.1 FGA
19: 11.0 FGA
20: 11.1 FGA
21: 11.1 FGA
I think the big thing with Barnes is just letting him fire more from 3pt land in C&S. I wouldn't call him a ball-dominant player at all. Just crazy effective/efficient. And we only have Barnes for one more season before he heads to UFA. Are we going to want to re-up 31 year old Barnes? Murray could just slide right in as Barnes 2.0. 19% USG this season
-Davion is making a case to be the third banana scorer, but he's also showing to be a willing passer/playmaker too. And his mentality is so good, he's the kind of guy who will make the sacrifices. 20.5% USG and 20.9% AST
-DDV is much better as a support player: secondary ball-handler/passer/defense/energy/transition/C&S spacer guy. Being good at all the little things adding up to a very good player. But certainly not a feature scorer. 18.1% USG and 19.1% AST with the Kings
-Sabonis is an excellent scorer, but I think he'd classify himself as a playmaker first; then a scorer. Almost to a fault does he not look for his offense enough. He's the #2, but a #2 that's more than willing to create for others over himself.
So that just leaves Fox as the only real alpha scorer type among the long-term core. Especially if the plan was to bring Mitchell off the bench and let him control the game there, I think you can pretty easily fit another USG scorer with the starters:
Fox
DDV
Barnes
Murray
Sabonis
All kinds of offensive goodness and complimentary talent there. Probably still couldn't stop a pinecone on D, but that's a top 10 offensive unit. I'm a believer in the Murray defense though, even if it doesn't show right away.
I think he's a 4 to start off that can run some 5 in certain match-ups. It's also one of those things where it'd be helpful to just see what happens when he's checking NBA centers. We all think he's gonna get pushed into the 6th row, but maybe he just makes it work with his length/intelligence around the rim. It helps he's not a Dragan Bender-esq weenie too, where he's very willing to mix it up and get physical with guys.
Perhaps not, but I think he'll be in a much better position to succeed as a weak-side shot blocker and just using his length to challenge shots on the perimeter in on-ball defense than have to dive right into the Jokic/Embiid/Nurk/Gobert/Capela grown ass centers on the interior. He's not a stiff athletically where he won't at least be able to contest on the perimeter imo.
He has the blocks, but he doesn’t look exceptionally long for his height. A lot of his blocks were against shorter opponents, who tried to bully him or to out quick him in the interior. His wingspan will be one of the things to key in on, because I don’t see him as someone who’s going to have the agility to peel off his man on the perimeter and to have the length to be a weak side blocking beast in the NBA on his first contract.
Who Holmgren not long? Narrow shoulders but he can practically dunk without jumping. His standing reach is probably insane which is why his shotblocking is what it is. Wingspan is horizontal, standing reach is vertical. Defense aside, this right here is the thing that will set him apart in the NBA.
That's the same type of thing that made Scottie Barnes different than a lot of his peers last year IMO. Long steps mean a lot in the NBA since the paint is so open. A 7 footer taking it coast to coast and 2 stepping from the 3 point line to the rim? You don't pass that up. EVER. If he busts he busts.
That's the same type of thing that made Scottie Barnes different than a lot of his peers last year IMO. Long steps mean a lot in the NBA since the paint is so open. A 7 footer taking it coast to coast and 2 stepping from the 3 point line to the rim? You don't pass that up. EVER. If he busts he busts.
That's the thing though, are the Kings a good C&S player away from the playoffs? I think they need someone on the Fox/Sabonis level to add to this roster to be able to get there. Griffin just doesn't seem to have that kind of ceiling to me. Even though we need 3&D players, I've never wanted the Kings to use a lottery pick on that archetype because it just seems like they're further away than simply needing a guy who can shoot and hold his own on defense to turn things around.
As I said, I don’t think he’s exceptionally long for his height. The question pertains to whether he can play the 4 and be a consistent weak side defender. I don’t know about that. Majority of his blocks were due to dudes trying to bully him and finding out that he’s tough enough to defend them. Look at the Memphis film. I think he’s going to be a 5 long term. He can grab a board and go, but he can’t face up and drive/create in the half court like Banchero. Maybe in his second contract, but not the first,
Yeah, I think so actually. Like, if you hire Kenny Atkinson, and sign Caleb Martin and Chris Boucher to the current core? I'd bet on that team getting to an 8 seed with some chance of getting to a 6. Now, in terms of ceiling and being a top 4 conference? eh, probably not unless things just ran as close to perfect as it could go. We'd need someone else to pop and become a 3rd star.
I'm team BPA though and always have been. You don't use a lotto pick on fit, you always swing for the best possible player and figure it out later. Just like we did with Hali.
So the Lakers getting waxed and basically eliminated, but thankfully have a game against OKC left who might legitimately throw out the towel boy for 25 minutes to get a loss. So we have to win out and the Lakers have to lose out for us to tie and go to a coin-flip. Some bad luck the Warriors are fighting to hold the 3 seed and the Nuggets are trying to get the 5 seed from the Jazz so they're going to try.
Gentry predictably didn't follow us word with Davion getting 39 minutes (although 17 assists is really fun) and actually extended the rotation outside of him.
At this point, let's get the G-League guys up. Make sure you secure the 7th odds.
Gentry predictably didn't follow us word with Davion getting 39 minutes (although 17 assists is really fun) and actually extended the rotation outside of him.
At this point, let's get the G-League guys up. Make sure you secure the 7th odds.