I wish Thibs would try a small line up - we have at times and there have been stretches of play that look good.

Kemba wasn't the problem - he may have problems.

Honestly - Thibs should have made Rose the starter, and had Kemba off the bench.

Fine. That ship has sailed.

Can we try Kemba & IQ with RJ, Randle and Noel? IQ brings the energy- that is what the starting line up needed.

Burks, Rose & Obi off the bench with a smattering of Mitch when he is healthy/not winded and needed.

Honestly, we have too many half way decent parts. I suspect that is why Kemba got glued to the bench when he fell out of the rotation. I just left Fournier out of my proposed rotation.

I think we need to go small for the sake of motion, ball movement on outside shooting.

Start Randle at C, RJ as your PF and then IQ, Kemba and Fournier.

blkexec wrote:

martin wrote:

blkexec wrote:I think we have playmaker PGs who can also score. I rather groom a scorer looking to become a playmaker than to start with elf or Ben simons who doesn’t want to shoot. In todays game, it’s all about pace and space. IQ and Rose are the 2 PGs on our team with that skill set. McBride is 3rd strong. Trade Kemba for picks and keep it moving. Slide Burks to SG or SF and bring EF off the bench.

“Bada boom bada bing”

So the question that all of us should be asking is: Why hasn't Thibs and coaching staff moved IQ to the starting lineup? I think we can all agree Rose is set as the PG off the bench for a variety of reasons.

Maybe we should also ask, is IQ ready for the starting spot or is he better developed off the bench? So far, the coaching staff thinks so.

You mean the same staff that thought Burks was the answer at PG? Our staff and COY are great but nobody is perfect but God. I know McBride looked like our best defender on PGs from the beginning. And so far McBride looks like he’s more than just s solid defender. But wasn’t that the reason for this staff to remove Kemba completely? I can see sending him to the bench and not playing him vs announcing hes out of the rotation? Talk about public relations kill. That’s not a good look. Yes this same staff that we are marveling over are also prone to mistakes and that was another mistake. Unless Kemba is a locker room cancer we don’t know about. The same dude that coaches and players on our current team and other teams rave about? No…..it was a basketball decision.

I don’t have all the answers and I believe in letting the experts drive these major decisions. But if I was a rookie on staff, I would be hounding them like wtf. Burks at PG? When we have a backlog jam of PGs on this team. Kemba out for good? I’m just saying. I believe our record would’ve been better than 1-5. Kemba can carry a team with his offense alone, when he gets hot. Something Burks can’t do. And Burks playmaking doesn’t exist plus teams are starting to press him full court now. Another way to reduce the time it takes Randle to iso dribble. Basically teams that usually double Randle will also play Burks full court, which makes our offense look unstable and inconsistent. And reduces our scoring output. If our defense is weak, we better at lease turnip that offense for now. And Burks decrease the pace of the offense. That fine if we had that 1990s defense that Thibs remember.

I was down for Burks in the lineup, but for EF not Kemba. Just to see if it makes a difference, and reduces the public back lash. But let’s see what they do now? Bring Kemba back? If they trade him, needs to be a team of his preference. Because better believe other stars are at how we handle Kemba. Some probably scratched us off their list with that move from our COY. But let’s see. He hasn’t let me down last year.

Dude, trust me, Burks was not put in the starting line up for his PG skills or running any offence, it was strictly for defensive purposes, that is THIBS priority.

He harp on that as the main reason for the switch, he always thinking Defense, Defense, defense.

As far as offense, that's whatever mannn, just make the right reads and i know you heard him say that in his press conferences.

Why you think he won't play OBI more despite his offensive talents

Why you think he ignored mitchs lack of impact on the offense end, and the lack of spacing.

Why you think it was important to get guys that can create their on shots like Burks, Kemba, Fournier, Rose...he barely ever calls plays

blkexec wrote:

martin wrote:

blkexec wrote:I think we have playmaker PGs who can also score. I rather groom a scorer looking to become a playmaker than to start with elf or Ben simons who doesn’t want to shoot. In todays game, it’s all about pace and space. IQ and Rose are the 2 PGs on our team with that skill set. McBride is 3rd strong. Trade Kemba for picks and keep it moving. Slide Burks to SG or SF and bring EF off the bench.

“Bada boom bada bing”

So the question that all of us should be asking is: Why hasn't Thibs and coaching staff moved IQ to the starting lineup? I think we can all agree Rose is set as the PG off the bench for a variety of reasons.

Maybe we should also ask, is IQ ready for the starting spot or is he better developed off the bench? So far, the coaching staff thinks so.

You mean the same staff that thought Burks was the answer at PG? Our staff and COY are great but nobody is perfect but God. I know McBride looked like our best defender on PGs from the beginning. And so far McBride looks like he’s more than just s solid defender. But wasn’t that the reason for this staff to remove Kemba completely? I can see sending him to the bench and not playing him vs announcing hes out of the rotation? Talk about public relations kill. That’s not a good look. Yes this same staff that we are marveling over are also prone to mistakes and that was another mistake. Unless Kemba is a locker room cancer we don’t know about. The same dude that coaches and players on our current team and other teams rave about? No…..it was a basketball decision.

I don’t have all the answers and I believe in letting the experts drive these major decisions. But if I was a rookie on staff, I would be hounding them like wtf. Burks at PG? When we have a backlog jam of PGs on this team. Kemba out for good? I’m just saying. I believe our record would’ve been better than 1-5. Kemba can carry a team with his offense alone, when he gets hot. Something Burks can’t do. And Burks playmaking doesn’t exist plus teams are starting to press him full court now. Another way to reduce the time it takes Randle to iso dribble. Basically teams that usually double Randle will also play Burks full court, which makes our offense look unstable and inconsistent. And reduces our scoring output. If our defense is weak, we better at lease turnip that offense for now. And Burks decrease the pace of the offense. That fine if we had that 1990s defense that Thibs remember.

I was down for Burks in the lineup, but for EF not Kemba. Just to see if it makes a difference, and reduces the public back lash. But let’s see what they do now? Bring Kemba back? If they trade him, needs to be a team of his preference. Because better believe other stars are at how we handle Kemba. Some probably scratched us off their list with that move from our COY. But let’s see. He hasn’t let me down last year.

But this is not really a black and white thing right? Just because they chose Burks to replace Kemba doesn't also mean they think he is the answer at PG, just that he may be better than Kemba at helping out with either the defense or offense.

We should all assume that Burks is just the for-now solution... for now, not that he was their end-all solution as you have framed it.

Kemba was really bad at corralling the offense and a target on D. He was failing and doing it collectively the worst. Do they have good PG options after Kemba? Not really, so they try Burks. And they try Burks because they don't want to kill Rose starting and probably don't think IQ is ready and doing better at development off bench for now. IQ was struggling shooting with the added PG handling for the first 10 games and is doing better since. I don't think he is ready for full time PG duties.

Subbing in Burks for Fournier does nothing more than shift each of their minutes from SL to bench and vice versa, it does nothing to address the biggest ON/OFF problem Kemba and the Knicks team had.

Philc1 wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:We have no system that requires a PG, because at the end of the day your going right back to the "Randle Way".

In order to be a successful team guys have to know their roles, guys have to be willing to sacrifice their shots for better shots, do little things...we are not about that life yet

Kidd use to tell Melo give up the rock, cut , move around the ball will find you again (see curry) and when he started doing that he was 3rd in MVP votes, avg career high in points.

How often do you see a successful PnR in this offense, especially with Mitch or Randle....maybe once every other game

That's not a PG issue, it's a spacing issue

The pg situation is a moot point while we still have Randle trying to do a Carmelo impersonation

Philc1 wrote:

Nalod wrote:

blkexec wrote:

martin wrote:

blkexec wrote:I think we have playmaker PGs who can also score. I rather groom a scorer looking to become a playmaker than to start with elf or Ben simons who doesn’t want to shoot. In todays game, it’s all about pace and space. IQ and Rose are the 2 PGs on our team with that skill set. McBride is 3rd strong. Trade Kemba for picks and keep it moving. Slide Burks to SG or SF and bring EF off the bench.

“Bada boom bada bing”

So the question that all of us should be asking is: Why hasn't Thibs and coaching staff moved IQ to the starting lineup? I think we can all agree Rose is set as the PG off the bench for a variety of reasons.

Maybe we should also ask, is IQ ready for the starting spot or is he better developed off the bench? So far, the coaching staff thinks so.

You mean the same staff that thought Burks was the answer at PG? Our staff and COY are great but nobody is perfect but God. I know McBride looked like our best defender on PGs from the beginning. And so far McBride looks like he’s more than just s solid defender. But wasn’t that the reason for this staff to remove Kemba completely? I can see sending him to the bench and not playing him vs announcing hes out of the rotation? Talk about public relations kill. That’s not a good look. Yes this same staff that we are marveling over are also prone to mistakes and that was another mistake. Unless Kemba is a locker room cancer we don’t know about. The same dude that coaches and players on our current team and other teams rave about? No…..it was a basketball decision.

I don’t have all the answers and I believe in letting the experts drive these major decisions. But if I was a rookie on staff, I would be hounding them like wtf. Burks at PG? When we have a backlog jam of PGs on this team. Kemba out for good? I’m just saying. I believe our record would’ve been better than 1-5. Kemba can carry a team with his offense alone, when he gets hot. Something Burks can’t do. And Burks playmaking doesn’t exist plus teams are starting to press him full court now. Another way to reduce the time it takes Randle to iso dribble. Basically teams that usually double Randle will also play Burks full court, which makes our offense look unstable and inconsistent. And reduces our scoring output. If our defense is weak, we better at lease turnip that offense for now. And Burks decrease the pace of the offense. That fine if we had that 1990s defense that Thibs remember.

I was down for Burks in the lineup, but for EF not Kemba. Just to see if it makes a difference, and reduces the public back lash. But let’s see what they do now? Bring Kemba back? If they trade him, needs to be a team of his preference. Because better believe other stars are at how we handle Kemba. Some probably scratched us off their list with that move from our COY. But let’s see. He hasn’t let me down last year.

Good points. The more you think about it the more complex it gets once the emotions are taken out. Was Burks a band aid until the trade deadline? What was plan be even if Kemba can’t go? Spot start IQ? He seems to be acclimating to playmaking and new rules but to what degree? Is mcBrides sojourn to G league a pre requisite to him moving into the rotation or even starting? He was seen as a bit of a project who in his intrviews was cool with riding the bench and gleague for a year or two. He really only surged in rankings one year in school. Its nice story mind you, but there is more than “give him a try”. Lets just say the staff has to be totally in step with promoting him into the rotation above spot play. Lin was a 4 year player in school and bounced around playing in the Dleague a while before his rise.
Im not saying I predict one thing or another. But there is a process. We could see another try for Kemba.
Trades can happen next week.
If wall takes a buy out, I’d bring him in as a band aid. Im not looking beyond this year BTW. I never have an issue with throwing in the towel for a tank but we just one game under .500. Thats premature.

We have no plan at pg. Burks killed it his first start versus the hawks so we kept it going. He’s not why we are losing but the recent history is showing Kemba was not the reason either

Continue to start Burks and have Kemba come off the bench. Our weakness again is perimeter shooting and Kemba can shoot. Rose is good for a few drive to the baskets still but he has never been a great shooter

Thibs has to figure out how to keep Randle’s ego in check. If he keeps up this nonsense he’s going to ball hog and brick this team out of a playoff spot

It’s like asking a pack leader to step down and let someone or a system lead. One way to control Randles ego is to bring in another alpha dog. This is where the debate of Westbrook comes in. Because he’s an alpha dog that the lakers want to move and Randle will defer his pack leader mentality and reduce all the iso turn over plays. But now you have to consume a large contract for a non shooter. I get it. U just have to build shooters around him like remove Mitch and input Turner. Turner gives you 3s and rim protection.

I hate Westbrook and his jumper is broken so I get it. But I’m a believer in building around someone’s weakness. cp3 ain’t coming here no time soon. And look around there aren’t too many available alpha dogs that Randle would defer to. But with this group? As soon as whatever system we have fails mid game, Randle goes into iso TO mode.

I think long term McBride is or can be that alpha PG we are looking for. He can’t break his man down, but he’s a problem on defense and he can hit open 3s, plus he plays with fire and energy which is contagious. And a better ball handler than Burk. But you can say that about all 4 of our PGs (rose, Kemba, IQ, McBride).

I think Burks is a stop gap and an experimental look at how a taller PG can succeed or a point guard less or position less basketball. So don’t look at Burks as a PG. Hes a G/F along with EF and RJ.

https://www.blazersedge.com/2021/12/9/22823776/has-dennis-smith-jr-made-the-most-portland-trail-blazers-opportunity

3 games and whatever limited minutes - not advocating that we should have kept him, but sometimes these guys, these 1st round talents, need to get bounced a round a little to wake them up.

jskinny35 wrote:In watching basketball for 40+ years I've never felt so certain that a player was a bust as DSJr but now I want to believe he was simply injured (while with NY) as he now looks like a decent reserve

Just because he can fill a box score means nothing. So did marbury. The blazers are 0-3 with DSJ starting for a reason