MaTT4281 wrote:Obi was always going to command minutes, despite a continent of fans convinced that a slow start to a weird year makes him a bust. You could see his tools from the get go, and he progressed later in the season. Playoff Obi was another step in the right direction. Still don't like him getting complacent with that 3 pointer, but he did improve it.

You would hope minutes for Obi means tightening Randle's minutes, but Thibs will have to have some will power on that. We don't want another Secretariat season with the tank running empty come post season.

I agree with you, we're going to have to find a way to play the two of them together for small stretches. I'd like to see Obi get at least to the 20 minute mark.

20 minutes per game average will be touch unless julius gets injured, and we are a lotto team.

Sambakick wrote:Randle is 6'8 he can't be a center on defense. True centers would tag fouls on him and wear him down.

Just consider what top teams do with guys like Lebron or Kawhi when they want to "rest" them on defense. You can do the same with Randle - I think you can have him defend a non-slashing spacer/shooter for stretches. All-NBA Randle can line up on offense at any of the 5 positions and be effective now that he has a perimeter game.

Obi, at least based on last year, was most ideally suited to guard a PF. We'll see over the course of this summer league whether he looks like he's made some strides in terms of being able to guard other positions.

franco12 wrote:If D’Antoni were the coach, Randle and Obi would be starting up front!

And for those comments on Obi taking 3’s, seems like where the coaches have him standing on offense.

Maybe we can see some plays run to exploit him on offense, especially if he is going up against 2nd units and he has Rose or Kemba running point.

Do we miss D'Antoni now? I wouldn't say. In Thibs system, neither of them is the center, and in today’s NBA, neither Obi nor Julius is SF. We should definitely find minutes for Obi and I believe Randle will play a few minutes less this season, and maybe Thibs will try to play a few minutes with both on the floor as PF and C.

Either way, Obi should have 20 minutes per game. There’s just no excuse not to get that much.