And don't forget, we are burning through his 45-days of 2-way call-up. [edit: actually maybe not, yet. has GLeague started???] [LTS mode on] Ideal scenario for Morey is Clemons burns up the 45-days with little to show for it, and accepts the Clark contract, then explodes. Versus explodes on the scene now, rides high on the 45, and takes the House route of negotiations. [/LTS mode off]
Honestly, they are relying too much on PJ Tucker right now. Starting PF, backup C, they NEED his shooting. Team feels like a house of cards if there are any issues with PJ.
There is a little bit of a stalemate at this point. The organization and coaching staff knows that they lack length at the 3/4 and 4/5........ the Rockets go small and they suffer on the boards and defensively...... when they go with a more traditional line up with height.... well those players just aren't very good. Look at it this way......... what MDA said was telling, he said that PJ Tucker is his best post defender....... PJ is like 6'5" and he is a better defender in the post than Clint Capela..... our 6'11" starting center. The guys at the end of the bench are not really a great fit or gifted.
I think Chandler is a fine backup C, but it was absolute malpractice how they handled the forward positions.
That is exactly what has happened. This team is incredibly reliant on 3 players....... Harden, Westbrook and Tucker. Lose any of those three and the loses will mount. PJ Tucker should be an elite bench player getting 25 minutes a night spelling at the 3-5. Instead he IS basically our post defense and switching defense inside. The other issue is that with ownership balking at taking back players like Patrick Patterson's contract......... we have an abnormally low amount of contracts to deal for improvements at the 3/4 or 4/5. All our guys either make too little or we rely on too much. There are no 10-12 million dollar contracts to trade. Which means if we add anything of substance it will be a guy making 3-4 million a year (which if he is good why would a team move him) or we have to move Capela and his salary. Like you said, Tucker cannot hold the water back from the dam for ever..... so I would not count on the buyout market resolving the issue. Especially with the Lakers and Clippers being attractive destinations. There are no internal options to get minutes and improve. The improvement will have to come from trade and likely will mean moving Capela, which then means we have to resolve the traditional center issue. It's a mess and we are essentially hoping for good luck to drop someone in our lap.
Mike will just roll with the guys he likes/trusts (Shumpert played like trash but he was still out there most of the times) or those who can make the occasional 3 even if they suck overall and bring nothing to the team (McLemore), that's how he always coached and that's not going to change. The guys we don't play might end up being not good, but we will mostly know when they're on other teams cause unless we'll have injuries they'll probably never play, and we're playing lottery teams to start the season.
But did we really picked up Tyson Chandler to give him 3-5 minutes a game because so far that's what he's getting. We need size and rather abuse tucker download than to give chandler more minutes as a back up center.
this is exactly what i'm thinking and exactly what morey must be thinking....he knows he got a steal in clemons and is hoping to get a parons-like deal to screw him over.....Best case scenario is to only play him in blow outs and then sign him to a three or four yeal deal near league minimum and then increase his minutes after making a trade! We are lucky that we are deep at guard and Westbrook is balling and that he's short!
Tyson needs as many minutes as he can handle. I expected improvement from Capela but I see none so far. It’s like he’s gotten softer and softer. Long season though so hopefully it picks up.
This is a good point. I think it’s MDA’s job as a coach to put these guys into positions to succeed. This is dependent on their strengths and weaknesses and that night’s matchup.
