Knixkik wrote:Thibs circle of trust is as well-defined as any in the league. You can see even with the injuries guys like Donte, Achiuwa and Deuce are his guys. Bogy and Burks 2.0 are not. Bogdanovic will get opportunities even with a healthy rotation but they will be limited to short bursts hoping for a quick offensive spark. His role is probably a less harmful Fournier which keeps him in spot minutes. Burks just doesn’t seem to have it anymore and deuce just keeps getting better and more confident. OG will be back and Achiuwa has given thibs a great utility guy. That has become the perfect thibs trade. Honestly though, if the team is fully healthy, thibs may hope that a bench rotation of Hartenstein or Mitch at center, Achiuwa in the non-Randle minutes, OG, hart and Deuce can completely prevent teams from scoring so the lack of offense is no concern while Brunson and Randle sit. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit. That group was just so good in January, even with the scoring concerns off the bench, I think it was sustainable. We will see. One thing for sure though is thibs has his guys and will stick with them.

Thibs just likes aggressive bulls. You are either a bull on one end or a bull on the other or a bull on both. But finesse scorers have a short leash if they aren't a bull. You can tell he feels he needs to always be able to fall back on his defense, that's baked into his philosophy. Play some defense and the offense will come in open court, it's why he sticks with the current starting lineup even when the O turns dreadful sometimes. You can see what happens when they start getting stops.

If you gave Thibs a team that could get stops but couldn't score, or a team that could score but can't get stops, he would take the former every time. And it makes sense because defensive stops will give you easy opportunities on the other end eventually.

Great game last night. The sum of the parts is greater than the individual.

Panos wrote:

Nalod wrote:
In a perfect world Bogs and Burks sit. Why? We at full strength and kicking ass!
I take it Bogs can play both PF and SF, even SG. How minutes depends on many factors.
I think new team and intensity required on Defense takes time for players to get into the “Circle of Trust”.

Great game last night. The sum of the parts is greater than the individual.

Bogs will get torched on D if at SG. Maybe even SF. He gets any slower, he's going to look like Gallinari out there.

He’s a combo forward but I’d say his best position has to be backup 4 at this point. It’s insane because the conversation a lot of the year was not having a backup PF to Randle. Now we have Achiuwa as a true backup 4, bogdanovic who’s best at the 4, and OG who plays mostly backup 4 when he’s healthy and with the second unit.

martin wrote:

Knixkik wrote:

Panos wrote:

Nalod wrote:
In a perfect world Bogs and Burks sit. Why? We at full strength and kicking ass!
I take it Bogs can play both PF and SF, even SG. How minutes depends on many factors.
I think new team and intensity required on Defense takes time for players to get into the “Circle of Trust”.

Great game last night. The sum of the parts is greater than the individual.

Bogs will get torched on D if at SG. Maybe even SF. He gets any slower, he's going to look like Gallinari out there.

He’s a combo forward but I’d say his best position has to be backup 4 at this point. It’s insane because the conversation a lot of the year was not having a backup PF to Randle. Now we have Achiuwa as a true backup 4, bogdanovic who’s best at the 4, and OG who plays mostly backup 4 when he’s healthy and with the second unit.

Team is better balanced these days. Just need to get healthy.

Guards: Brunson, Deuce, DDV, Burks.
Wings: Hart, OG, Bogs
PFs: Randle, Precious
Centers: iHart, Mitch, Jericho

It’s pretty solid if not almost elite, at full health. Definitely need to upgrade bench PG skill.

Room to grow, room to upgrade. 2 first round picks #19, #21 right now and #39. Rokas.

For me, sneaky long term potential is with iHart, both in terms of health and skill. If he shines, the whole team projection is sky high. I can’t imagine the team with him at full health and what he can bring defensively and offensively.

Also agree with all those saying a backup playmaker is what backup power forward was for us previously. Those picks, Rokas, the ingenuity of the FO make it feel like good times. Anyone remember 5 years ago?

Knixkik wrote:Thibs circle of trust is as well-defined as any in the league. You can see even with the injuries guys like Donte, Achiuwa and Deuce are his guys. Bogy and Burks 2.0 are not. Bogdanovic will get opportunities even with a healthy rotation but they will be limited to short bursts hoping for a quick offensive spark. His role is probably a less harmful Fournier which keeps him in spot minutes. Burks just doesn’t seem to have it anymore and deuce just keeps getting better and more confident. OG will be back and Achiuwa has given thibs a great utility guy. That has become the perfect thibs trade. Honestly though, if the team is fully healthy, thibs may hope that a bench rotation of Hartenstein or Mitch at center, Achiuwa in the non-Randle minutes, OG, hart and Deuce can completely prevent teams from scoring so the lack of offense is no concern while Brunson and Randle sit. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit. That group was just so good in January, even with the scoring concerns off the bench, I think it was sustainable. We will see. One thing for sure though is thibs has his guys and will stick with them.

The circle of trust is pretty big now that I re-read what you started with.

Quite frankly, I'd be AOK as a fan rolling with the guys that are on the roster for another full year and wait on Donovan or Mikal to shake loose.

Is Isaiah Collier someone you trade up for and let him simmer in the Deuce role for a year or 2?

Panos wrote:

Nalod wrote:
In a perfect world Bogs and Burks sit. Why? We at full strength and kicking ass!
I take it Bogs can play both PF and SF, even SG. How minutes depends on many factors.
I think new team and intensity required on Defense takes time for players to get into the “Circle of Trust”.

Great game last night. The sum of the parts is greater than the individual.

Bogs will get torched on D if at SG. Maybe even SF. He gets any slower, he's going to look like Gallinari out there.

I mean. I think you simply can say he will get torched on D. Somedays he will be on fire offensively and make up for that. Most of the time, he will be break even or worse. Not happy with this trade in retrospect.