re: Spacing on this team is terrible.

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And my guess would be that the number you come up with would be notably lower than 74%. For instance it’s not a clean breakdown, but last year Zion shot 54% on driving layups, 48% on layups in general. Of course that doesn’t split off those that were actual drives or were simply Kobe passes from some guard that he cleaned up, or offensive boards.

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that's the problem with these statistics. The situations need to be filtered with the lineups. Did Zion start getting driving lanes when JJ was actually hitting 3s? For all the heck we know, when JJ shot, 45%, Zion was a mack truck on the freeway and shot 100%. The point is that these stats don't exist as a monolith or in a vacuum.

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But his laziness,

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out of shape.

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lack of hustle,

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out of shape

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turnovers,

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young, being doubled.

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loose handle

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horrible FT shooting

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scary,

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constantly getting blocked at the rim

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why he needs space. He's in the NBA now and everyone is longer than him and can jump.

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lack of court vision...

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well... i get it. he's being doubled pre-catch. It's an adjustment. But not one the staff is helping him make.

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it is all very very slightly concerning.

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it would be very hard to watch him and not make tweaks to his potential upside based on what we're seeing. there are some deep potential flaws to his game that would keep him from becoming an All NBA player if not rectified.

He’s 20, which you are right we should keep in mind, but also this is the reason Lowe and people like me and a few others feel Zion/Ingram needs a different set of complimentary players.

No one is concerned with Bledsoe or Lonzo gutting you from three or slicing up your defense through dribble drive penetration or as a 3 level scorer. So double Ingram and Zion in the half court to make their lives miserable and dare everyone else to beat you.

He does need to improve his passing/court vision, but technically he did improve it over last season(a slight bit). He has more potential assists this season than last, but fewer people are scoring off those assists, so he has a net decrease in his overall assist numbers.

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Part of it is bball IQ. He has to be aware of options, see the play before it develops. Right now he just has a one track mind and that’s scoring the ball

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i mean, yes, but also those guys really do have the size and length to be able to see passing lanes that don't exist for zion. The court geometry is different.

They have Kris Dunn. He can bring that defense.

Hunter can guard the guards of the league, and he's been lights out from 3, as expected he would be in the NBA, just like Saddiq Bey is to be expected to be a good 3&D wing. He allows them to play big. Reddish has been surprisingly good on defense as well.

and they also have Rondo to let Trae play off the ball, even though i think that's silly and Trae will have the ball in his hands more often than not, so why would you want to pair him with someone that can't shoot? He needs to be able to pass to guys that can either hit an open 3 or rim run like Capella.

I don't see where adding Bledsoe makes them better.
They have surrounded their star with shooters, and he's getting open lanes to get fouled at a ridiculous rate b/c of it.


and the salaries don't come close to working. Bledsoe for Gallo/Huerter is us taking on $5.3M
We can't take back more than we send out. period. We've have to add Jaxson to that, or Melli/Thornwell

Gallo is washed up, or will be soon.
ATL was stupid to give him a 3 year contract at $20M/yr.
I don't want him. He misses 20 games every year, and he's not getting younger.
I'd much rather take on Markannen and give him that money than get Gallo.

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Gallo is washed up, or will be soon.
ATL was stupid to give him a 3 year contract at $20M/yr.

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6'10 guys who shoot the way gallo shoots don't just wash. He's only 32. He's only a year older than Bledsoe. We're literally asking him to stand away from the basket, receive passes and bomb. His gravity helps this team's problem's immensely.

And his contract is not even that bad. 3 years. That is far more likely to age better than a non-shooting, losing athleticism point guard aging out of his prime. And Bledsoe has the SAME amount left on his contract, and hasn't been the picture of health in his career.

Gallo had a TS of .612 last year which would make him the best shooter on the team by far, 30% better than what ingram is doing now.

And that's not including Huerter who has been at least 38% from 3 in each of his seasons. That's not even considering how open he'll be.

Would I rather Markannen. But this is a MUCH more likely trade possibility.

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For instance if you could somehow turn Lonzo into CJ McCollum, is the net gain on offense worth the decrease in defense?

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DO you think Lonzo is that much better than McCollum on defense?
I don't.
McCollum would be great to have, not only as a good 3 point shooter, but someone who can create on his own and take the pressure off of BI.