re: Open Practice

Possibly. But you are only thinking about one end of the court.

Imagine him and Frazier start- he will have to cover the best guard. On top of that, he will be playing against MUCH better offensive players

Conversely, on the second unit, Galloway can defend the best guard and he will be covering Trey Burke instead of John Wall. And the second unit could be pretty nice offensively, especially when QPon returns

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especially when QPon returns

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I am beginning to wonder if it is more like IF he returns.

Because he has infinitely more talent than the guys they are looking for who are available for the minimum. Worth a shot, but I would choose the lesser talented Gee and just give bigger roles to others

He is the guy I have wanted for a long time. I think he fits so well with Gentry. My one fear is that regret not giving him more year, which we could have done if we hadn't spent so much on Hill. People tend to just look at other SF's we could have gotten, but that contract had other opportunity costs. Theoretically, in a world where we spent 5 mil on a SF instead of 12, we could have locked Galloway and maybe even Jones down longer.

Hopefully, Hill lives up to the deal. But these are the type of opportunity costs that aren't always so clear when we evaluate moves.

We don't know the future so any argument can be "right" at this point. I just see very few scenarios in which Hill outperforms that contract. Small chance he lives up to it. Most likely, he underperforms, and you forgo several other opportunities by signing him.

But I am certainly hoping he outperforms it. He sure talks a good game

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We don't know the future so any argument can be "right" at this point. I just see very few scenarios in which Hill outperforms that contract. Small chance he lives up to it. Most likely, he underperforms, and you forgo several other opportunities by signing him.

But I am certainly hoping he outperforms it. He sure talks a good game

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This is kind of taken as a "big picture" argument (what is truly cost us long term) as I'm reading it, instead of the contract in a vacuum. He ostensibly signed a $7-8m/yr deal under the old conditions, which makes the deals for Moore/Galloway (wow)/Frazier (wow) just mind bogglingly competent by Demps.

I surely hope he can live up to the James Posey/Trevor Ariza esque deals we've given in the past. Looking long term:

Frazier - Backup PGs historically haven't really cost much in this league. If Frazier can carve his niche as a back up/serviceable starter if Jrue goes down, he should be affordable moving forward. I am really high on the kid. I think you are exaggerating his defensive inefficiencies. Maybe it's because Ish was SO BAD, but I rarely noticed Frazier being the cause for things going off the track on that end last year. I really like this kid, and his advanced stats back that up. One of only 3 Pelicans to have a positive Drating/Orating differential (Ennis/Davis) other two. His DRating wasn't that bad either (top 7 or so on team) considering he was playing with the B team the majority of his run. He's also 3rd on the team (again behind Ennis/Davis) in WS/48 last year and the gulf between him and #4 is as wide as the gulf between him and Davis.

Galloway - As it's been well established, he has the local ties to the area and seems content being back home and embracing his role in the area. I don't think he's going to gouge us moving forward as long as we're fair.

Jones - You talk about extending him long term. His career trajectory has definitely been going the wrong direction. This is clearly a tryout year for him. My hope is that he develops a chemistry alongside AD, returns somewhat to form, and the team can solve this amicably.

Back to the starting lineup "dilemma". Since I don't consider Frazier such a liability, I'm still rolling Hield IF Asik is your starter. Too many holes if you are trotting our Frazier/2 guard/Hill/Davis/Asik on offense. Hield seems to be the easy choice in that lineup. I'd even roll that way if Jones slides into the lineup for Asik. I also prefer this lineup as I don't think they will put too much stress on Hield early to create alongside Davis while allowing Davis to create himself.

If you are trotting out Frazier/2 guard/Hill/Davis/Ajinca, I'm putting my best perimeter defender (Galloway or Moore) at the 2 guard to mitigate the lack of positional awareness by Ajinca. This should be able to dumb it down for him instead of leaving him on an island with the ball handler instead of the roll man.

I'm personally going option 1. I don't like the lack of outside shooting ability (Moore and Galloway are spot up shooters). I'd like to try to keep our guys fresh with this depth for once. Let's be honest, we don't have starters to stagger.

Galloway/Moore/Stephenson/Jones/Ajinca would be my preferred second unit until Jrue/QPon returns. Just trot the whole damn unit out there. There are enough shoulder chips and blue collar workers to get excited about watching these guys against traditional 2nd team, and there are enough defenders to guard any staggered starters.

TL:DR - Underselling Frazier as all-around player. Hield should start with Asik/Jones. Moore/Galloway with Ajinca. Assuming we don't suffer 5 injuries before opening tip, stagger this depth to play a true second unit and give the starters actual rest. Play the hot hands at the end of a game.

Also, I'd keep Mind-Right-Stephenson over Gee every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

I would have seen if I could have gotten Dunleavy in the salary dump or gotten a guy like B Rush for a year - basically guys I knew were far worse than Hill's ceiling, but with similar floors -- and I would have only committed to them for a year. I would have signed Galloway to a similar deal as Moore and then would have attempted to get my long term SF next year if QPon showed me he couldn't be that.

But I am hoping Hill can become Demarre or better. I just wouldn't have bet on it. I would have bet on Galloway in Gentry's offense, however. I love that fit.

But the offseason has passed. I hope they nailed every FA signing and draft pick

Any insight into Diallo? I know that camp has just started, but is there any chatter about him getting minutes?

Will check this out, thanks.

Would rather hang onto Jones, because I don't think Gee has the tools to be a legit contributor, but I guess that makes sense.

Are you thinking of returning to the podcasts for good? No offense to the other guys, but it's just better with the original cast.