There has been a lot of talk about expanding the rotation ( even before we lost ) and rightfully so . Mike complains about slow starts and effort , but he gives his players no incentive to do so. He won't let you rest even if we are up 20+ with 6 min to go in the 4th . Let's talk about the guys that haven't been getting minutes and what they can contribute . Becuase , with this many players hurt there is no good reason not to play them . 1) Bobby brown - veteran , guard , shooter !! This guy seems like a great fit . Why doesn't he ever get pt ? 2) tarick black - veteran , center , strong finisher !! This guy is a proven NBA player. Please Mike , give him more than 5 minutes a game . Of course he lacks chemistry , HE NEVER ****ING PLAYS !! He had solid 4th quarter minutes the other night and was rewarded with 4 minutes vs the lakers 3) Zhou Qi - young , skinny , skilled . I can understand not wanting to play him . From what I've seen , he's not ready . This in contrast to how Mike raved about him During camp and pre-season . Maybe he just needs to build confidence . 4&5) Demetrius Jackson and brisket Weber. Young , defense oriented guards . Well , it's a long shot for these guys to play much for us . They can't shoot that well and Mike won't play forwards that can't shoot much less guards . That being said , giving one of these dudes 5 minutes a half to try and make hustle plays isn't a bad idea. 6) Troy Williams . Altheticism, injured ? , perpetual doghouse . This dude must've killed Mike's puppies or something . You would think after he showed some promise last year , he would've been in line for aggressive garbage time minutes and play when any of our forwards are out . Right now I think he is injured , but we might as well get someone else because he's never to play . In all , not great options ... But Bobby and tarick should definitely be able to pick up the slack for a few games . If Bobby isn't delivering the effort then play one of our young guys. I dunno why it's so hard to look at these guys and think " hey as long as they are on the floor with my actual rotation players , we should be OK ." Instead he thinks " nah , not gonna risk it lets play 7 and complain about lack of effort"
Can someone let Zhou know that we aren't paying him to be a ball boy? Someone pointed out the other night how Zhou does not warm up during half time and instead is just catching all the missed shots and giving his teammates the ball. When I went to yesterday's game I noticed that Zhou was just in the paint collecting rebounds and giving the ball back to his teammates. What the **** is that all about?
All of the players you wrote about suck. ... What them go on to be mid teens scorers for some other organization....
In 14-15 we played : tarick black , Joey Dorsey , Kostas papanikolau , nick Johnson , Isaiah Canaan , and Francisco Garcia and managed to win games . There are a few more guys on that list as well . The point of this thread is to discuss the 6 guys we already have . Who are we going to trade to get a "mid teens scorer " ?? One of our guys that suck ? Last year Harrell consistently scored for us . Can tarick black not play the same role ?
i wouldn't say harrell was consistent. not even really close to that. a lot of people only want to remember good games these guys have and he did have some of those but thats why hes a bench player. hes inconsistent.
I would say Harrell could consistently finish . Some games he didn't get minutes , some games he didn't get the ball ; but in games that he did get minutes , he generally was able to score when given the opportunity. At the end of the day , yes , he was a bench player and was inconsistent in certain aspects of his game . But also , at the end of the day would you not say he deserved his minutes and helped us win games last year ? Why can't we give Tarick black his role ? Isn't tarick better than Harrell ? Why is he barely playing ?
i think they're comparable. can't really say who's better than the other bc its probably a wash. do i think he should probably be playing more than what hes shown. yeah. but I think were about to find out if hes in line for more minutes as the year goes out with capela being out. If he can't show to be a + contributor in a forced situation, im not sure this bodes well for him later in the year
Ideas that will be criticized but have risk-reward potential: 1. Give Troy Williams some of Moute/Tucker/Ariza's minutes when a wing is injured 2. Cut Bobby Brown and acquire a Troy Daniels or, even more cheaply, Jimmer Fredette 3. Play Tarik Black more than never, especially when Nene is getting "flat tires" much more often and Capela is injured 4. Cut any one of the no-names (Onuaku, Weber, Jackson) and replace with Josh Smith or a similar utility big man 5. Qi needs to be playing purely in G-league to get the North American game, not sitting and waving a towel 6. Sign Jeff Withey (this one is actually a joke)
I'm not a fan of Bobby, i think he doesn't exactly play smart basketball even though we basically saw him just in garbage time...which may still be a good indication btw. I also think he would get eat alive on defense by every team, at that point i'd just play Weber or Jackson to see what they can do. Jackson wasn't exactly amazing the two/three times he played, but i'm not sure you can cut out a guy for playing "meh" few minutes in his first true games in the nba, i think you should give a young guy more than a couple of chances. Other than that i don't know, Troy imo should get some minutes but i guess he's still injured. I would've also let Zhou play few more times than what D'Antoni did, especially when he let the starters play the last minutes in games they were up 20. One thing that comes to my mind is D.Mo, McHale didn't play him much in his first two/three seasons, and the few times he did, as soon as D.Mo commited a dumb foul or turned the ball over, he benched him...i also remember his agent saying he wanted to play or would've ask to be traded at some point. After that Dwight and Jones got injured and we were basically forced to play D.Mo, after a couple of mediocre games he started to play very well. Now, not saying we have a similar situation as today, Zhou is not as ready as D.Mo was in his third season obviously, not sure about Troy, but generally, i'd still like to give young guys a bit more minutes evertime there's a chance, i don't see how that can hurt, while i see how it can when you play your starters until the last 50 seconds in a game you're up 15/20.
I'm open to most guys to fill out the end of the bench, but Monta Ellis makes Lou Williams look like Hakeem Olajuwon on defense.
The only players serviceable from that list is Tarik Black (who needs a Harden or CP3 to feed him) and Troy Williams (who is/was injured, MCL) Bobby Brown can't run the offense... he can only shoot pull up 3s, which is fine but that means we still need someone to run the offense besides Harden and CP3 (who is injured now). Basically, like many here in CF has been saying for awhile now, we need another backup PG who can run the offense to a respectable level.
James Harden can play with anyone. He has played with garbage players before. We aren't asking these guys to be all-stars. Just be a guy and give people rest.
