re: Demps - Asking AD to Move Mountains

Although health is a huge concern for us, I want to see this team with "a year" of gentryfication under their belts. Realistically, if we sign Ryno to a max, we can trade him still and regardless he will still be a commodity if we lock him up.

The question is how much will EG run and what price are we willing to pay him for just solely 3pt shooting. Adding a competent SG in the draft makes that less of a need, but we still lack at SF.

I won't deny, I really dislike Tyreke when he turns on his tunnel vision, but he's a contributor on this team so we may as try to maximize his efficiency.

Running it back and hoping for health is extremely short sighted. That is just wasting another year of a short window we have to become competitve. Our pieces do not work. We need to break this team down and rebuild with pieces that fit. We do not need to be competitive next year. We need to be competitive in 3 years.

If we waste a year or two and flexibility trying to run it back and that experiment fails again, there is little hope of keeping AD. We cannot be rebuilding or retooling when he enters year 3 of his new deal.

Re-upping Anderson and Gordon (eliminating any cap space) while hoping the team stays healthy and adjusts to the system is insanity. Maxing Anderson with the hope of being able to trade him later is a total Dell move and one of the reasons he needs to go.

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Does it? I don't understand that logic. You would think bringing in young veterans would help AD carry more of the load, than Nerlens Noel and Devin Booker fresh out of college. We are talking about Eric Gordon, Ryan Anderson, Tyreke Evans, Jrue Holiday, Quincy Pondexter, Omer Asik, and Norris Cole. Another thing is Jrue is not near his "PEAK." Most of the individuals on our team still have a bright future ahead, you are acting like they are over 40 when most aren't 30, some not even 25.

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In terms of health and efficiency, EG won't ever be a better defender due to his knees and his 3pt shooting at 45% is pretty much a peak for most people not named curry. He can't drive and slash consistently any longer and has become a pure 3pt shooter. How can he get any better when his body won't allow it to?

Ryan Anderson has continued to improve his offensive skillset, but he's never showed any signs of being a better defender. Even with Howard as an anchor he was a poor defender, we don't have anything remotely close to that in the middle. He is a limited player.

Tyreke has improved his jumpshot and shooting % from 16ft and out, but his shots <16ft has declined drastically, especially within 10ft. His defense also fluctuates, which is correctable. He is arguably our 2nd best player, but this isn't a guy who's going to take a Jimmy Butler or Kawhi Leonard type leap, lets be completely honest.

Jrue was an 18/8 guy in his last year in philly, 14/8 guy in his first year here, and been on a nice tear in his last 2 months fully healthy in who knows how long. He's an efficient point guard who is a damn good defender, but do you ever see him being any more efficient than he has been the past two months? 18.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 7.2 apg, and 2.4 tov. That is arguably his best 2 month stretch of his tenure here and him shooting ~10% below his normal 3pt percentage. Give him that 10% he's roughly 20PPG. That is his ceiling.

Omer Asik won't be more than a defensive anchor that boxes out and grabs boards. He's older and he's not going to be an offensive powerhouse in his career and that is okay.

QPon was never better or more efficient than his 45 games last year in any time of his career. He's a good defender, solid 3pt shooter (career 36.5%, last year 43.3%), but he's not going to ever become a 15ppg type player with how many guards we have and AD. He doesn't have the length to grab those boards that these lanky SFs grab either.

Cole is just bad.

I've never understood the jrue=ball dominant myth.

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You do know OKC didn't make the playoffs last season, right? If you followed the Pels you would have seen that we took the 8th seed from them.

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Seriously? You do realize that was not the same OKC last year right. They were missing KD and Russell for long stretches. The pels would not survive a 7 game series against a healthy OKC not a chance. This team is poorly constructed and poorly coached. Its so frustrating knowing that a top 5 talent is on the team and there is nothing that will come of it.

To be real the moves made this smer dictates on if AD stays or not.


The most important needs.

A second consistent star next to AD

Health

Wing talent

Capable C

Bench play


We need to go big this summer sell the top FA like Horrors and Durant on a complete rebuild of the team focused around them and a you'd generational talent. If we're able to grab a top FA I'm all for trading our next season pick plus player to clear cap to bring in another good role players that defends like Bazemore.

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Ryno is 27. He is not going to become an average defender, nor is he going to become a better distributor. He may continue to add some offensive moves, but he is for the most part the player he will be.

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trust me, its wishful thinking on everyone's part that Erman may be able to turn him into a just below-average defender.

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trust me, its wishful thinking on everyone's part that Erman may be able to turn him into a just below-average defender

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That is more than wishful thinking. That is expecting a miracle. He wasn't even an average defender in most seasons when he had a prime Dwight covering for him in an SVG system. To expect him to become slightly below average as he ages past 27 is a crazy bet for a max contract. I think the odds of Ryno regressing or getting injured again are greater than the odds of him becoming an average defender.

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Then how exactly do you fix it?

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Hire Travis Schlenk to break it down and rebuild it.