What's gonna happen when Holmes, Parker, Bagley come back?
- Thread starter Amiga
- Start date
If Jabari can come in and have a similar impact that Bazemore has had so far, things can get pretty interesting the last part of the season 
It’s great that we’re finding such chemistry again, but the crappy thing about this is that we have more guys coming back from injury that we have to incorporate all over again
I’d honestly sit Bagley out the rest of the season and see what happens. All these pieces swapping injuries has hurt us more than anything. I’d rather everyone have a full training camp together
Holmes will be easier to plug right in
I’d honestly sit Bagley out the rest of the season and see what happens. All these pieces swapping injuries has hurt us more than anything. I’d rather everyone have a full training camp together
Holmes will be easier to plug right in
Him being a guard that can switch up to SF and some PF does add a bit more to the table than Ariza being a PF able to switch down. Ariza did bring many positives though but Walton can kind of stick Baze with any lineup. He plays with Buddy and Bogdan. He plays at SG next to Fox. Next to Barnes at SF. He's being used like that true utility piece he was in Atlanta.
I'm not worried about any of the players individually, least of all Holmes, but more as a group. Although he has to let Holmes pressure to the perimeter like Bjelica does. That's the main difference we're seeing defensively when small. They are finally switching more, helping back less, and doing exactly what DC has been begging for all year in the broadcast booth by playing aggressive on ball defense. It will be interesting to see what Walton does. I really hope if tough decisions have to be made and some names at the PF/C spot get cut from the rotation until hopefully Vlade can ease some of the burden in the summer then so be it.
It's going to be tough if the Kings keep playing like this. Look at what is going on here lately. The rotation has been refined to your typical 8 1/2 to 9 man rotation basically. That's another big part of why we are seeing consistency. Maybe Walton could tinker with playing some guys some nights and not the others but that has been a huge fat FAIL when he's done it before. Also, Barnes is playing most of his minutes at PF, just like at GS. That's been a game changer defensively.
Yeah, Bjelly at C has to stay if we care about winning. It's opened up so much on the offensive end and made everyone's life easier. We are shooting the cover off the ball right now, so that will regress some, but it's still an awesome look to turn too when we need an offensive punch.
So if Holmes is 30+ minutes at C, Bjelly needs 10+ minutes there or so, doesn't leave all that much for Giles to get on the floor. But he's showing far too much for him to go back to getting DNP's. He needs to be 15+ minutes every night too.
Sounds like Vlade went and got Jabari Parker and I know we were linked to him before. Would be surprising if he just sat on the bench with DNP's, especially with Bagley out. So he's probably a minimum 18-20 MPG.
Also Barnes has shown signs of life getting more and more run at the 4, which is probably his real position at this point. And he's by far the best small-ball 4 option we have when we want to get Fox/Buddy/Bogi all on the floor together with Bjelly or Holmes at C.
Basically, I have no idea what you do. Sounds like we won't have to deal with Marvin for awhile as it sounds like he's going to be out awhile:
So if Holmes is 30+ minutes at C, Bjelly needs 10+ minutes there or so, doesn't leave all that much for Giles to get on the floor. But he's showing far too much for him to go back to getting DNP's. He needs to be 15+ minutes every night too.
Sounds like Vlade went and got Jabari Parker and I know we were linked to him before. Would be surprising if he just sat on the bench with DNP's, especially with Bagley out. So he's probably a minimum 18-20 MPG.
Also Barnes has shown signs of life getting more and more run at the 4, which is probably his real position at this point. And he's by far the best small-ball 4 option we have when we want to get Fox/Buddy/Bogi all on the floor together with Bjelly or Holmes at C.
Basically, I have no idea what you do. Sounds like we won't have to deal with Marvin for awhile as it sounds like he's going to be out awhile:
The same thing that occurs everytime we cut Bjelica's playing time we will suck, this was the problem the first time we were waiting for Bagley/whoever else to come back and takes his minutes, Luke has to realize that if the Kings want to win he can't cut the minutes of Bjelica or giving him the ball to play-make .
Here's how I would distribute the minutes when Holmes and Parker are ready to play:
28 Barnes
12 Bazemore
28 Bjelica
28 Bogdanovic
28 Fox
20 Giles
28 Hield
28 Holmes
20 Joseph
20 Parker
Anyone not mentioned here is simply in a backup role, waiting for their number to be called. This includes Len.
When Bags comes back, I would put him in the 20 min/gm category (2nd unit) and see if he can put together a string of games without further or additional injury.
I expect Holmes to integrate without issue. Less so for Parker and Bagley.
Should Bazemore get more minutes? Sure, but you could make that argument about 2/3 of the players here. The minutes distribution I'm suggesting is just a way to get started with the integration.
28 Barnes
12 Bazemore
28 Bjelica
28 Bogdanovic
28 Fox
20 Giles
28 Hield
28 Holmes
20 Joseph
20 Parker
Anyone not mentioned here is simply in a backup role, waiting for their number to be called. This includes Len.
When Bags comes back, I would put him in the 20 min/gm category (2nd unit) and see if he can put together a string of games without further or additional injury.
I expect Holmes to integrate without issue. Less so for Parker and Bagley.
Should Bazemore get more minutes? Sure, but you could make that argument about 2/3 of the players here. The minutes distribution I'm suggesting is just a way to get started with the integration.
Bagley doesn't fit. He's a black hole when he gets the ball and demands it on the block. He's not good on defense, and he's not good enough on the block to halt the offense for him. If he were a Webber type who could use a double team to get four or five dimes a game from it we might be having a different discussion.
And that’s the rub. As he is currently constructed, Bags is not a good fit in the current nba. However, he has the tools and needs time to see if he can become one. We are very likely a worse team when we give him court time to try to figure it out. Injuries don’t give him court time. Its really such a depressing topic to me.
The Kings streak is largely based on better defense, running the floor and sharing the ball.
I think Holmes will improve the interior defense and he is the consummate team player. No problem.
Bagley is kind of a black hole and a weak defender. Big problem.
Parker might be best off the bench, especially if he can't improve his defense.
I think Holmes will improve the interior defense and he is the consummate team player. No problem.
Bagley is kind of a black hole and a weak defender. Big problem.
Parker might be best off the bench, especially if he can't improve his defense.
That's why finding big time wing talent has been king over the last 10 years in the NBA. You can find guys like Bjelly and Holmes who are super impactful to winning as your bigs, but don't take away from your wing stars and disrupt the offense. Unless your big is a unicorn offensive player (KAT, Jokic, Embiid, AD), you're almost always better off building your team around wing talent because it's just flat out more effective putting the ball in the hands of a shot creator out on the wing to collapse the defense.
At this point, I think just shut Bags down and get him ready to roll next season. It's beyond obvious something is going on below the surface that we aren't privy too. Getting Bags to the point where he can start to develop without getting hurt should be the priority.
At this point, I think just shut Bags down and get him ready to roll next season. It's beyond obvious something is going on below the surface that we aren't privy too. Getting Bags to the point where he can start to develop without getting hurt should be the priority.