He was an active defender that played within the offense before Sabonis arrived in Sacramento, so I always kind of liked him. He played so few minutes last season I didn't even see him play, so I don't know if he's washed up or not. The fact that he hasn't been able to carve out a role in Dallas could be a bad sign.
I wish the FO would just go ahead and fix the problem. Its rare that this board is unanimous regarding anything, but even Landale supporters admit he hasnt been good to this point and the rest have little to no confidence that he ever will be. Add to it, it puts pressure on the team to play Jeff Green more and sometimes in situations that are not good for him. Jeff is only 6'8" and while he plays big, he is undersized when playing a big man role. It makes our team small whenever Alpi or Bari go out without recourse, sorry Boban. And at some point, if not already, it puts pressure on Alpi or Bari to play hurt given there is no big to back them up. Lastly, it may have cost us wins. When you lose by small margins, a guy who made just a couple shots, got a couple rebounds or changed an opponents shot a time or two may have made the difference.
Just spitballing here, what about Jericho Sims? He is behind Robinson and Harty in NY. He's super athletic and young, but I don't know his game well enough to really advocate for him. Can't be worse than Landale.
Would watch the Mavs situation. They don't need all 4 of Kleber, Powell, Lively and Holmes. Happy to take one of those as our 3rd C. Still think Landale will be fine very soon.
After all restrictions expire 1/4: Landale, Oladipo, Bullock, and some sort of tempting sweetener to the NYK for Harty. But I'm cool with Boban and Uncle Jeff getting more minutes at the center position. Has Jeff Green not been this season's biggest upside surprise?
I'm pretty confident Landale isn't all the way healthy. At least I hope he isn't. His career numbers don't align with his performance this season and he's barely 28 years old. I can't imagine that he's completely lost his game, but I guess it's possible that he got paid and decided to say "to hell with it". I don't think that's it though. He is a problem right now either way, but I expect him to improve from what he has shown so far. Not ready to give up on him yet.
Only for this year. 2026-27 is a team option. 2024-25 and 2025-26 are not guaranteed. https://www.basketball-reference.com/contracts/HOU.html
Okay, all the more reason why his performance indicates that he may not be right physically. I'm sure he wants to get paid. He's never been a problem player anywhere. Unless he just doesn't fit this system, which is possible I guess, his play tells me that he's probably not completely healthy.
His NBA career only spans two years (123 games) and two teams deep. Not a long track record to establish who he really is as an NBA player. While this year may be the outlier, its possible his first two were as well. I said before I would give him till the end of the year. Meanwhile, we should be looking diligently for a replacement if he doesnt find his game.
Agreed. I know it would be unconventional, but why not let him get some GL reps? He can go drop 30-15 a few times there to get some of that confidence back...
