re: CJ is fine coming off the bench. Says it’s about winning

Asked a second time about the possibility of coming off the bench in 2024-25, a grinning McCollum responded, “I’m not going to volunteer (to be a reserve), but if that’s what the coach wants to do, that’s what he wants to do. The biggest thing for us is to play the game at a high level. I don’t get paid to coach. I get paid to go out and do what I’m told. That’s the mindset coming into this season. I’ve been a quality player for a long time and will continue to be that.”

That's BS

How do you mean?

CJ wants to win, but CJ is not fine with coming off the bench. CJ wants to be the guy or the guy next to the guy, and frankly those days are gone.

The staff and upper management caters to CJ because they feel they have to. Everyone knows that CJ shouldn't be starting.

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The staff and upper management caters to CJ because they feel they have to. Everyone knows that CJ shouldn't be starting

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How did you come to this conclusion?

McCollum is the best SG on the team. He is a top 10 shooter in the league. He would legit start for most teams in the league. He was our 2nd or 3rd best player last season and we are less talented.

If you want to elevate other players and give others more shine, then we should have moved him. We would be taking a step back, which is fine. But we wouldn't be better. Trying to force him or shoehorn him into a lesser role, without indepth conversations is beyond foolish. There should have been a succession plan.

McCollum is our leader. He's the first one everyone goes to and he is far more media savvy than any other player on the team. How are they catering to him?

There's more to this than the simple fact that everyone wants to see Trey and Herb start.

I want to see them start too but I also want to win a championship and have a sustainable franchise. That means trade value and leverage are very important for this situation.

It also looks just wonderful from an outside perspective having CJ (a high level player) want to come here, help build our franchise, and then get benched.

Yeah, we brought CJ here to be a PG. CJ had never been a PG, because Damian Lillard had always been the PG. But we thought he could be on on-ball guard.

We were wrong. And we are getting more wrong, as CJ's age means that he's always a little less effective taking guys off the dribble.

With Trey out to start the season, we absolutely need CJ on the floor with Zion to give Zion at least one real shooter to help with spacing, so CJ will start -- for now.

That means that the real choice facing Willie at the moment is whether the fifth starter is Herb or Theis.

But when Trey comes back, our best unit will be Murray, Herb, Trey, BI, and Zion. That's because we can truly switch 1-5 with that group. It's really a death lineup both offensively and defensively.

And yet, I still don't know if we want to start that unit very much in the regular season, because the wear and tear on Zion, BI, Herb and Trey guarding opposing bigs is not helpful over the course of a full season.

While that would likely be our normal closing unit, it might not start games for most of the regular season, simply because it might be better to sacrifice some efficiency to allow Theis to take the bruising inside and protect the health of our stars.

So, CJ might still start games most of the regular season with Theis. We might see: Murray, CJ, BI, Zion, and Theis as the starters, and then CJ and Theis would come off early for Herb and Trey. We'd play our small-ball lineup for a while, and then CJ and Theis would come back in and lead our 2nd unit when BI, Zion, and Murray sit.

But if everyone is healthy come playoff time, then Murray, Herb, Trey, BI, and Zion should be our best lineup, because that group should be elite both offensively and defensively.

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I don't see any way Pels don't start All-Pro Herb Jones.

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Because defense doesn't matter that much and it's situational. Teams don't pick defense over offense.

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Logically you rip the bandaid off and move CJ to the sixth-man role to start the season.

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Here is a ranking of the top 30 projected SGs for this coming season. LINK . McCollum is #11. You want him to be a bench player?

If you look at the SF list, Ingram is #9, Murphy is #16 and Jones is right behind him at #17.

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Logically you rip the bandaid off and move CJ to the sixth-man role to start the season. Pels would be pressed to move him once the season starts, it would be seen as a demotion. Additionally, CJ's game slots ideally into that role.

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So your most "logical" decision is to bench CJ which knowingly decreases his trade value and is seen as a demotion? While we already may have locker room issues with BI? And have to trade both of them???

Please give me a list of NBA players making 30+ mil as the teams #1 scorer coming off the bench.
(No bullshite arguments to say "why this situation is special" cause its not)

His ideal role is starting or traded. Y'all are ridiculous.

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What would make CJ unhappy more?

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B) Being the 6th man off the bench

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It's his spot and his job. He didn't lose it. You just want to take it from him and expect him to like it. At least put it up for competition and let someone else earn it.

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CJ is best as the 6th man on this team

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He's never been a 6th man. We have no idea. It's a whole other mind and skill set. You have to come in ready after sitting for extended periods. It's not a simple thing and most great starters don't become great bench players. That's not how things work.

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I think he knows it by the way he’s dodging the question and just doesn’t want to give it away that it’s already been talked about and worked out.

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I hope you are right and kudos to him, if he sacrificed and gambled his career on this gambit. I don't believe this is the case though..

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B) Being the 6th man off the bench, still getting 30 mpg and being able to get 15-20 shots up, and being in the closing 5 most nights (only out of it when he’s off or teams are playing multiple bigs)

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I do not think that CJ will normally close games. I think that the lineup of: Murray, Herb, Trey, BI, and Zion is by far our best lineup, because it's an elite lineup both offensively and defensively. Everyone in that lineup has a 6'10" or greater wingspan, so it will switch 1-5 and just make it extremely difficult for opponents to score. The combined length will also lead to a decent rebounding rate.

That simply does not work when CJ is part of that closing five, because he can't guard opposing bigs, so we can't switch -- or, if we can, we aren't as efficient.

So, if Murray, Herb, Trey, BI, and Zion is by far our best lineup, why wouldn't we start it?

Well, there are several reasons, but the most important are:

1) Over the course of the season, we may not want our "death lineup" taking the bumps and bruising that come with guarding opposing centers at the beginning of the games.

2) Forcing those guys to guard opposing centers at the beginning of the game might lead to them quickly getting into foul trouble.

That's the rationale for starting Theis. And if we're going to start Theis, then it also makes sense to start CJ, because Theis is an elite screener and CJ was top-ten in points off screens last season. Also, with Theis on the floor, we aren't switching everything, so CJ isn't hurting the defense, and then we can bring in Herb and Trey at the 6-minute mark and have that death lineup on the floor for the rest of the first quarter, whereupon Theis and CJ come back in when Zion, BI, and Murray come out.

In other words, if there are good reasons to start Theis, then starting CJ helps us get the most out of our "death lineup." It makes the rotations work.

Where am I wrong?