re: Pelicans offseason thread: Pels hire SVG/draft Kira Lewis, trade rest of picks

MM also made a point about Hart not being much of a fall off from Jrue. I think Hart gives you 80% of Jrue. He guards multiple positions at a high level, can hit the 3 and drive. You don't want Hart running the offense, but we've decided we don't want Jrue doing that either. The main problem with that is more PG duties fall on Lonzo...

You have to imagine if you get a quality player and a draft pick, the pick is going to be heavily lottery protected. And if Brooklyn somehow manages to hit those protections, I bet the picks will become 2nd round picks further down the line. I like the 2021 pick due to the quality and depth of that draft and the likelihood of it landing.

Either way, I don’t expect any pick coming out of Brooklyn to have anything less than top 14 protection.

Yeah, I'd be sad to see Jrue go, but a LeVert/Allen/Garrett Temple package would be very intriguing and would fill a few roles on our roster that need addressing.

Hart would have to show that he is a consistent deep threat for me to even imagine him in the starting lineup. His offense is not consistent enough right now. He’s kind of streaky.

Yeah, digging a little deeper into his defensive reputation, he appears to be all over the place, but that may be expected with how often he's been injured.

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Fine-tuning that glance into undivided analysis will paint a very different picture of the 25-year-old’s fourth season; from February 1 onward, Caris – crown jewel of Sean Marks’ superstar-seducing rebuilding process – rose to the occasion as the Nets on-court leader, tossing up a cool 23 points, 5.1 assists, 4.7 rebounds, 44 percent from the field and a supremely notable 41.5 percent from the three during that time. All the while, LeVert more than held down the fort defensively, as opponents shot just 42.2 percent from the field with the shooting guard defending – the lowest figure of any Brooklyn starter.

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Prior to February’s breakout run, Brooklyn was 3.4 points per 100 possessions better on defense when LeVert was off the floor (106.7 DFRT) versus on it (110.1) – that difference is akin to comparing the Clippers 5th-ranked defense to Dallas’s 17th-ranked D. Now, Brooklyn’s defense is actually 0.6 points (per 100) better with LeVert in the fold. Again, a hell of a turnaround.

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Though there are times the Nets can’t get out of their own way on offense, they’ve been among the NBA’s best on the other end of the floor. And Caris LeVert is the heart of that increasingly elite defense that’s going to have to be their path to victory.

“Absolutely. Absolutely. And I feel like myself I’m very capable of that, being the leader of that defensive core,” said LeVert, who has helped the Nets to the league’s third-best defensive rating since December. “I feel like when people see me locking in on defense, it kind of challenged everybody else to do the same thing. That’s kind of what I try to do out there.”

With Kyrie Irving out for the rest of the season, LeVert has helped lead the Nets to a 5-2 mark since he returned to the lineup. The starters have a stellar 98.6 defensive rating in that resurgence, with Saturday in Charlotte among their best performances yet.

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And apparently Zach Lowe said in 2018 that he sees LeVert as a future all defensive team player.

Then you find an article where Atkinson benched him at the end of games at the beginning of the season for defensive reasons. BUT, Dinwiddie was his replacement and he's darn good on that end of the floor.

I did stumble upon this in one of the articles though:

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In Atkinson’s first three years at the helm, Brooklyn has steadily improved in Defensive Rating, from 23rd to 21st to 15th last season. They’re seventh going into Monday’s game versus Orlando, and rising fast as the veterans help LeVert reach his defensive best.

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I agree. There's a lot to work with already for Caris.

Unrelated, are we pretty much locked in at pick 13 for the draft? I haven't kept up with how they are handling that this season.

Gotcha. Thanks

Also those downvoting me about Dinwiddie he’s one of the guys that tried and successfully pushed Atkinson out. He also does weird shite like having gofundmes and having teams fans donate to him and whoever has the most donations he said he’d join that team. Whether it’s a joke or not (which it’s a joke more than likely) it’s still weird.

I’m not really intrigued by a nets offer. Allen is a worse version of what we hope Hayes can be (better now obviously) but he’s a dying breed center that hasnt shown much ability to change his game.

Levert and Dinwiddie both seem like they wont be able to mesh with a guy like Ingram. They’re guards that cant do anything without the ball and aren’t exceptionally good at passing. Feel like there are much better offers out there somewhere