Reed is a Jared McCain level backup. Who are the 2s your worried about a Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, FVV, or Scoot Henderson guarding? Those guys all have 3&D skills to pressure ball handlers and keep in front on the perimeter so we can get Amen closer to the basket defensively replacing the Jabari help, late switch, and rebounding position. Use his grab and go game to speed us up.
Steady Freddy ain't no Hakeem though And Hakeem also wasn't coming off an ACL Again, my fear is just that Fred is going to be cooked. I've always felt he was an underrated player who does, at his best, make a strong positive impact on his teams despite the surface-level numbers looking questionable. I just think the odds are very poor of him being even remotely close to the best version of himself at this stage.
I've been on the Ty Jerome bandwagon since last offseason - his last year with Cleveland he shot 51.5% from the floor and 44% from 3 on volume, 87.2% from the charity stripe and was THE most efficient pick and roll ball handler in the entire league - Those shooting numbers are KD like and top that off with being a solid defender, I was sure he would get at least the full MLE, maybe more. I was absolutely stunned when he signed with Memphis for only $8m..... When Stone signed Dorian F^c%ing Sucks for most of the NT-MLE I was pretty pissed off. This year with Memphis he shot 47.4% from the floor 42% on ~7 attempts and 87.5% from the stripe and was even more efficient as the pick and roll ball handler while nearly doubling his assist numbers. FFS .... people telling me Ty Jerome wouldn't have helped anything bla bla bla. I think Memphis will move him simply to cash in on the asset as they rebuild but he's going to come at a heavy price.
Honestly, as long as he's healthy, I'm alright with that ... would like an upgrade but that's difficult. But I do want to see them add a better 2guard / combo guard can shoot, defend and play the point for short stretches - it's a necessity.
I get it but you can't go chasing your 4th biggest need because "maybe FVV will be cooked". That's a maybe. Just not a priority. Would be nice, but we have already-confirmed fatal flaws. I don't see any indication the team plans to move on from Reed and Amen developing at PG. Would be weird for a team to give up on that after one season. No one learns the PG position in one season. That's already crowded. FVV could give us 25 minutes in the regular season and we'd be fine. It's the easiest PG job in the NBA. Hardly any other PG is on the floor with 3 other guys who can put up 5 assists. There's 48 minutes. FVV will get 28-30. You don't think Reed and Amen combined are going to eat up the other 20 minutes? I think you're mixing up their inability to start at PG in the playoffs with their ability to be be backups at the position. There's no doubt in my mind they are both adequate backups especially after one more summer of work.
Give me Dosummu and trade up up in the draft using Sengin and a future 1st for either Acuff Jr or Flemings. Wouldn't it be nice to have a young athletic backcourt that can shoot and then bring Reed off of the bench as a 6th man?
The 48 minute limitation your putting on quality guard play is wack. OKC gets over 100 minutes a game out of Shai, Cason, Mitchell, McCain. SA gets 100 minutes out of Fox, Castle, Harper The 24’ Celtics got 100 minutes out White, Holiday, Pritchard. Any “point guard” worth getting can play the 2 next to Fred and make us better. We’re getting to caught up on the position titles.
I think he is worthy of the Eason’s first offer and fills a bigger need. (Maybe a little more). The Magic may not match that offer as so much of their team matures off of rookie scale contracts. Black has not got that much on ball as he would with us but I okay with him as is with untapped potential for more. He was lights out with Arkansas when asked to do more because of team injuries. I believe in him and think there is more than Orlando has seen or developed.
I do think they are going to eat up the other 20 minutes. I believe that is exactly the point I was making... Our need for a backup PG is for someone who can play if [and only if] FVV is out. And this is demonstrable, because Reed can't bounce the ball over halfcourt or pass it to the open man when leading in the final seconds of a playoff game. And while, hopefully, that has been a learning experience, without doubt there will be more learning. What we need is FVV to handle the ball in these late crucial stages - or if he is out, fictional backup PG who is happy to sit unless required [I dunno who that is? Mike Conley???]
Man, I liked Black in the draft even though he isn't a good shooter (that doesn't happen often). He's a really good player, similar to Amen in he does everything else above average .... then there's the shooting, he's a career 33% shooter from distance. He's another of those "he'd be an allstar if he could shoot the 3" type guys. I don't think you can put him and Amen on the court together ....
his shooting improved last season. If he takes another shooting leap next season he won’t be attainable. He’s only 22. Nothing good comes without risk.
Depends on the price, but in that draft, of all the players we could get, I wanted him behind Amen and Ausar (maybe even ahead of Ausar). He's part of a big, passing, good IQ, athletic lineup that I would love to have, but he's also shown he's got flaws with shooting being among them. If you get him, it's almost like it's just another player you're saying "if only he could do ____________ he'd be a star". If Reed only had height, better handles, and better footspeed, if Amen only had better handles, if Black could only shoot, etc. That's 3 dudes that are "almost good pg's" in 3 attempts. I need one of them to be an absolute lock at passing/playmaking and helping to run the offense while maybe a bit weaker at defense or other things. I can't have 3 so-called PG's being average at running an offense. I don't know if Black fits into that latter category as I haven't watched him play much.
Totally get what you're saying but I think these are things that are not urgent or deadly. The "what if X gets injured" game is for people who have a team good enough to win it all and are now just perfecting their depth. That's not us imo. What if KD goes down, who'll give us 28 efficient points? What if Sengun goes down, who can score inside? What if Amen goes down, who's as good a defender? Again, acknowledging the problem you're talking about, there's a limit with salary cap and trades. Once you fix the actual major problems on the roster, we won't have enough assets to address problems like "what if FVV goes down"? I think the way we have to deal with that is if he goes down, we trade his contract plus a good asset for another PG. I just think it's a risk we have to take.
