ToddTT wrote:

Sweet baby Jesus.

ToddTT wrote:OG plays some sexy defense.

He’s sexy and you know it?

Clean wrote:One thing I need to admit is I never expected Donte to play this well. I never said anything bad or good about him because I have not watched him much. Like most postions on the team once the OG trade happened and Donte was able to stop being a POA defender eventhing just started to click every game. OG being a great 3pt shooter on the oposite side of the court from where Donte is best at also makes for great synergy. The OG trade just made the team so much better from synergy alone. If we can somehow fill the holes left by Mitch and Quick we will be a hard out in the playoffs.

Hopefully, Mitch can fill his own hole. Expect him back before the playoffs.

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nycericanguy wrote:

DLeethal wrote:Donte is just a joy to watch. Silky smooth out there. Has a great feel for the game and plays with a great swag / toughness. Watching him elevate for blocks/boards it a joy to watch.

I still don't think the starting lineup has enough top end talent to win it all, but I enjoy watching them play a lot, outside of the bonehead plays Randle makes too often. But maybe Brunson is a top 10 player and we just don't know it yet, and they ARE good enough with just some bench tweaks.

Brunson def has a case for top 10 this season.

We need DJM to even out this roster though and take some pressure off.

Could we improve the same or more by just finding the right bench guys though? Brogdon and Hayward for example.

Brunson - DDV - OG - Randle - iHart
Deuce - Brogs - Hart - Hayward - Precious

Our biggest holes right now are: Replacing IQ role everynight and legit backups/insurance to our top scorers whenever they sit or get injured. Everything else looks real solid.

I'm not even overly concerned about backup big. If we had more scoring the bench would be fine. Precious is a very mobile guy that Thibs seems to like to switch on perimeter, giving us a yang to the drop coverage yin. Mitch might be back by playoffs.

DLeethal wrote:

nycericanguy wrote:

DLeethal wrote:Donte is just a joy to watch. Silky smooth out there. Has a great feel for the game and plays with a great swag / toughness. Watching him elevate for blocks/boards it a joy to watch.

I still don't think the starting lineup has enough top end talent to win it all, but I enjoy watching them play a lot, outside of the bonehead plays Randle makes too often. But maybe Brunson is a top 10 player and we just don't know it yet, and they ARE good enough with just some bench tweaks.

Brunson def has a case for top 10 this season.

We need DJM to even out this roster though and take some pressure off.

Could we improve the same or more by just finding the right bench guys though? Brogdon and Hayward for example.

Brunson - DDV - OG - Randle - iHart
Deuce - Brogs - Hart - Hayward - Precious

Our biggest holes right now are: Replacing IQ role everynight and legit backups/insurance to our top scorers whenever they sit or get injured. Everything else looks real solid.

I'm not even overly concerned about backup big. If we had more scoring the bench would be fine. Precious is a very mobile guy that Thibs seems to like to switch on perimeter, giving us a yang to the drop coverage yin. Mitch might be back by playoffs.

you know i was a huge Brogs fan but I think that time has passed. He's not the same anymore. If we're going that route we might as well go all in for DJM.

Hayward is interesting, especially if its on a buyout. He can shoot, score, and create.

but this FO really hasn't shown a propensity to go after older players and stopgaps.

DJM is really the only long term piece that makes sense.

nycericanguy wrote:

DLeethal wrote:

nycericanguy wrote:

DLeethal wrote:Donte is just a joy to watch. Silky smooth out there. Has a great feel for the game and plays with a great swag / toughness. Watching him elevate for blocks/boards it a joy to watch.

I still don't think the starting lineup has enough top end talent to win it all, but I enjoy watching them play a lot, outside of the bonehead plays Randle makes too often. But maybe Brunson is a top 10 player and we just don't know it yet, and they ARE good enough with just some bench tweaks.

Brunson def has a case for top 10 this season.

We need DJM to even out this roster though and take some pressure off.

Could we improve the same or more by just finding the right bench guys though? Brogdon and Hayward for example.

Brunson - DDV - OG - Randle - iHart
Deuce - Brogs - Hart - Hayward - Precious

Our biggest holes right now are: Replacing IQ role everynight and legit backups/insurance to our top scorers whenever they sit or get injured. Everything else looks real solid.

I'm not even overly concerned about backup big. If we had more scoring the bench would be fine. Precious is a very mobile guy that Thibs seems to like to switch on perimeter, giving us a yang to the drop coverage yin. Mitch might be back by playoffs.

you know i was a huge Brogs fan but I think that time has passed. He's not the same anymore. If we're going that route we might as well go all in for DJM.

Hayward is interesting, especially if its on a buyout. He can shoot, score, and create.

but this FO really hasn't shown a propensity to go after older players and stopgaps.

DJM is really the only long term piece that makes sense.

I trust the FO at the end of the day. I'm fine making the Murray splash I'm also fine just filling out the bench and seeing what this starting lineup can do in the playoffs. I do think we need at minimum a legitimate bench scorer to replace IQ. That's non negotiable. I view Hayward almost as the Kevin Love role for Miami last year. He might not get a ton of PT every night but he would be Randle's backup and provide us with insurance if he goes down. Almost like the Bojan role we seem to be eyeing.

I think we are at the point where we can get some stopgaps now. We are a good team trying to make an ECF push. Vets go deep in the playoffs not youngins. We need as many steady hands as we can get to balance Randle. We've already seen how much we've improved replacing some high IQ players like OG/DDV/Hartenstein with RJ/Mitch around Randle. Ball flips around, guys cut, and we play smarter now.