I just like Garuba because it reminds me of that Beach Boys song called "Kokomo" "Garuba Jamaica OoOoOo I wanna take ya To Bermuda, Bahama"....I can't do this. We suck ass.
I agree on the KPJ and Green skills overlapping. That said it's not just overlapping as much as the skills are not very deep. If a team has two Klays clones, where skills might overlap, an NBA coach could probably still make that work. KPJ is better on D, Green is used more off-ball. At the end of day, if the athleticism is not translating to production (last in Offense), how useful is it. The other thing I don't see often stated, our backcourt is supposedly tall/big by NBA standards, is this giving us a defensive advantage? Green is speedy, and can jump, why can't he use it on defense more?
I'm 99% sure Silas saw he was a white guy and thought it was Sengun. That's literally the only way that game makes sense.
Sengun and Martin were my choices. With those 2 you get effort every time they check in. Unfortunately the Rockets are usually down by 20 at that point. I was holding out hope for Wood but he seems like a contributor on a good team, not a cornerstone to rebuild around. Flashes of what could be but nightly he disappears for long periods of time and just seems overmatched or uninterested.
Let me guess, another one of your takes that is too intelligent for the mere stupid mortals of clutchfans to understand? Can't wait for you to "spell this out" for us imbecile clutchfans members
88.6% Alperen Sengun 67.1% Jae'Sean Tate 60.6% KJ Martin 37.8% Eric Gordon 30.1% Jalen Green 14.2% Daniel Theiss 7.3% Kevin Porter Jr. 6.9% Christian Wood 6.1% Stephen Silas 1.2% Danuel House Jr Looks like only one guy got a “passing” grade.
Seems about right. Based on preseason expectations, I would say only 3 guys (when given minutes) are at least meeting or slightly exceeding those expectations and that would be Sengun, Tate, and KJ Martin. Sengun and KJ Martin are barely even in the rotation some games with Sengun averaging 18 minutes per game and KJ only 14 so we don't even really have a proper or fair sample size to make a true assessment to see if they can sustain their level of play with extended minutes. Smh
He hasn't been on one team and one locker room enough to find a foundation and have his teammates and coaches work some of those bad tendencies out of his personality. Unfortunately it may be a little too late now at 26. He will be better served being molded on a veteran team instead of "leading" a team of bumbling rookies.
And sadly we don't even get to see Garuba for 10 minutes over some of the absolute abominations on this list.
The part that matters too is that only Tate plays against starters. Sengun and Martin typically only play against 2nd units. I dont really see the gap between Green and Sengun to be that big if at all like other members seem to. Green has to typically deal with the best defender on the other team night in and night out. Sengun usually deals with backup centers and the only time he deals with starters he gets abused (Jokic, Nurkic). Green made Dort look silly a lot on the last game. Al-P struggles to finish at the rim, gambles on those dumb behind the back passes, and fouls a ton. Can't stay on the court if you're always in foul trouble. KJ is probably a little inflated as well due to small sample size. I'd like to see him start at the 4 and play 25-30 minutes to see what he does with it. Like Sengun he racks up decent showing against less than stellar competition. But he deserves more minutes. Objectively from an actual NBA talent standpoint, only Tate has looked good. As long as he stops trying trying lead fast breaks. Sengun and Green are still raw but show enough flashes. Martin needs more minutes and I'd like to see him play vs starters (I know he can't start because then Wood would call Silas a casual and it'd hurt Silas' feelings).
So on average people are happy with only 3.2 out of these 10 guys. Here's my argument for why I went all the way up to five. Sengun - The poll suggests this needs little explanation. Alpy is a dynamic offensive drink-stirrer whose defense has been better than advertised, and while his erratic game has contributed to the turnover problems, he shows signs of being a great X-factor once he gets some seasoning. Martin - Has continued to step up as a defensive playmaker, and flashed improved touch around the rim. When you've got a young guy who can dunk everything, one of the biggest growth opportunities is to stop trying to dunk everything and develop a little finesse, and KJ has done that. He needs to become a shooter to be a useful rotation player, and we've seen a small step backwards in that regard but he's not hopeless. Tate - Tate is never going to be an NBA star. He may never be an above-average starter. But with a team this young, the mandate is not to already be at the goal, the mandate is to move towards it. You want to see growth more than you want to see competence. Tate has grown as a ballhandler, giving him more positional flexibility; he's passing the ball a bit better IMO even though it hasn't showed up in the stat sheet because we can't score. He's taking shots at the rim more confidently and I've been impressed how easily he gets to that little lefty hook even when guarded by guy with 6 inches on him. Gordon - EG has been a good stabilizing force on the offense. It helps that he's shooting the lights out, but he's also one of the few guys physical enough to both penetrate and finish, which essentially no one else on the team does both of. I hope he gets traded to somewhere he can succeed but right now he's been very key in keeping our league-worst offense far, far away from all-time worst territory. Of our 20 most used three-man combos, 9 of the 10 most successful and zero of the 10 least successful have Gordon in them. Theis - OKAY. I know this one is controversial. We haven't been very good with him on the court, and we all want more Sengun instead. This is a matter of expectations. My expectations for Daniel Theis were that he would help us not be the league's worst defense, that he would hit enough threes to keep his man out of the paint, that he would be a character guy that helps everyone learn, and that he would be tradable at the 2023 trade deadline. All of those goals are intact and being accomplished so far, regardless of his on-off numbers. I did not include Green as someone I'm happy with, but I include him as someone I'm extending patience to.
