Against Toronto, who we wouldn't play very often and almost certainly wouldn't play in the postseason. Overall, I'm with you on preferring not to add unvaxxed athletes, and I'd probably prefer a first and expirings over Thybulle. But the kid can play D and could be a versatile guy to add to the roster, so I could understand the justification if that was the trade.
So a couple of things as I can understand from a basketball standpoint a player being unavailable due to vaccine mandates, which is a legitimate concern. Don't want to get too deep as it can go into a D&D topic quickly, (I'm vaccinated btw, but not wanting to debate/discuss it in the GARM personally) so I'll just keep it basketball here. Although it is possible with the right young talent, we're first not likely to make the playoffs for a couple of years in our development. Second, unless we make and meet them in the finals, we're not playing Canada (Toronto Raptors) in a playoff series, and will only see them twice a year in the regular season. Also, NYC has lifted its vaccine mandate and Irving was allowed to play again, Texas is different than both Canada and NYC so it won't affect our team nearly as much right now. See the NYT link below for more info. New York Times: '‘Kyrie Carve Out’ in Vaccine Mandate Frees Irving to Play in New York March 23, 2022 "Mayor Eric Adams plans to announce on Thursday that professional athletes and performers working in New York City will no longer be required to show proof of vaccination against Covid-19, according to a person familiar with his plans. This means that Kyrie Irving, the Nets’ star point guard who has refused to get vaccinated, will be able to take the floor at Barclays Center in Brooklyn for the first time this season."
That's some nice PER you brought up there, but Thybulle is no Marcus Smart. That said, he could be extremely valuable If he learns to shoot. I would rather play Josh.
I love players who play great defense. But defensive players with almost zero offensive game is not going to help in today's NBA. In the old days of illegal defense rule, defensive specialists could draw a man out simply by standing away from the play and let his team play 4 on 4. Now, you can't have two non shooters at the same time without ruining your spacing. If you have a great offensive player poor at defense, you can try to hide him in defensive schemes if you get some very good defenders around him. You can't hide a poor offensive player on offense anymore.
. He's not Marcus Smart as a passer and will be extremely valuable with a strengthened shot agreed, but he's arguably just as good or better than Smart defensively at the same age. These are your feelings and subjective opinion, and everyone including myself has a right to one so we'll agree to disagree. But for strength of argument, here are more objective facts and numbers (you can watch game film to back this up also), which I have as stronger than one's personal feelings or opinion. Josh is a Rookie and will improve of course, maybe Tate will as well. But let's not overrate Marcus Smart's ability to shoot. Here are Smart, Tate, Thybulle, and Josh's career shooting numbers, all are young players with room to improve. Especially Josh as a rookie of course, but these aren't world-beater numbers. With the exception of Smart, Matisse is much better defensively than all the others on the list. I'd rather go with the proven defensive star for a terrible defensive team like the Rockets (second to last in the league) and try to develop his shot like we are currently hoping Josh and Tate do, who have less defensive potential. Josh will likely play PG or SG as well so Thybulle can be SG and SF as far as development, he can also teach Eason as he grows.
Can you prove me wrong? We don't have an offensive system and we don't have a point guard. My statement stands true. No fan should be disappointed at those numbers.
Imagine having 2 players that you can ignore as jump shooters and one of them is a max guy and the other is getting eligible for a huge pay increase. That is not a pleasant image at all. Oh yeah, the Max guy is a huge headcase. Yikes!
MT is no Smart who had a greatly developed offensive game when drafted, that's the difference between the 2. Can MT play pg?
Personally think Knicks could send a draft pick over if KJ martin is involved. Seems like a trade where rockets get Walker expiring contract and get first as well back from Knicks.. Knicks can send over the mavs pick 20 in 2023??? Maybe another pick involved (2nd rd)? Would Knicks be willing to trade for Tobias Harris in exchange for Julius Randle. Getting Martin would soften any blow to the trade. Knicks would get the better of the deal. http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=24vqwq7w
a lot of guys gotta eat on this squad so I would not be disappointed with those numbers as long as he still passes the eye test and doesn’t have horrific shooting percentages Mobley and Barnes both averaged 15 and 8 last year…granted they were both on good teams I’m looking for around those same numbers for Jabari…15, 8, and 2 on solid percentages and efficiency for a rookie
Unlike other teams, Rockets have time to develop young promising players. Only 24, I'd still take a chance. Elite at anything is a good thing. Especially defense. Still prefer Thybulle over Tate or KJ.