re: Zach Lowe/Bill Simmons Top Concerns for the Season.

Nowhere in my post did I suggest that the Pelicans should have kept JV. He was not a good fit with Zion and Willie wouldn't play him. We had to move on from JV. However, to suggest that Daniel Theis will be in any way an upgrade over JV and that he is a suitable replacement in the starting lineup is ludicrous.

Theis played 16.9 mpg and averaged 1.2 3pt fga per game hitting a whopping .4 of those. He actually averaged less 3pt fga per game than JV playing 6 less minutes per game. That in no way is going to provide spacing for Zion. He also had a rebounding percentage of 11.7% compared to JV's 18.9%. One could argue that the single weakest part of Zion's game is defensive rebounding and now we are going to put out the shortest 4/5 combo in the league with a 5 who's incapable of rim protection or rebounding.

Theis is a better screener than JV. But in a lineup featuring zero plus shooters how is this a benefit worth even talking about. What team is going to worry about BI, DM, or Herb killing them with volume shooting instead of crashing down on Zion? You pointed out that CJ is a great player off of screens. As this roster is currently constructed, CJ won't be playing with Theis. Theis will be playing with two guards who love the mid range and Zion.

I can't believe you even suggested that Theis' screening would have effected the OKC series. BI doesn't shoot off of screens unless it is a down screen and curls into a mid range jumper. Lou Dort and the rest of OKC would still have given him fits. And guess what? He is still on the roster and still going to be eating 30+ minutes and 1/4 of possessions.

Theis played in 1 of 6 playoff games for 4 minutes for the Clippers and if the Pels wouldn't have offered him a contract he would be in Europe this season. Now he is penciled in as a starter. Zion is now featured in a starting lineup with zero volume 3 point shooters, 2 volume mid range shooters, and a 6'8" center who is a below average rebounder. This is not an upgrade.

Cowherd has admitted he was wrong about the Saints. That doesn’t make him smart, though….

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It just blows my mind that we're still seeing all this nostalgia for JV. It was definitely fun watching him beat up on guys like Sabonis, but he wasn't a good starting center for us, and Theis is a better starting center for us with the guys we have on our roster.

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Fairly obvious what the Pels are hoping to get...outta Theis. Question is...can Theis adapt and "evolve" into a C who can stretch the court a bit for Zion? Neither of an "evolved" Horford or Brook Lopez are walking thru that door...but Theis is definitely worth a shot since it is also quite obvious the Pels wanted NO part of Val returning to the Pels this season...rightfully so in my opinion.

I imagine Theis will be quite busy this pre-season...working on his C&S 3-pt shot. Then again...that's just my opinion...and I COULD be wrong.

This is a cogent and persuasive response to my post, but of course it is wrong.

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Theis played 16.9 mpg and averaged 1.2 3pt fga per game hitting a whopping .4 of those. He actually averaged less 3pt fga per game than JV playing 6 less minutes per game. That in no way is going to provide spacing for Zion. He also had a rebounding percentage of 11.7% compared to JV's 18.9%

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I don't know why you using only last season's numbers for Theis. The Clippers were a bad fit for him, which is why they didn't try to bring him back, but the Olympics showed that Theis is not in any way washed up or too old.

But if we are going to focus on last season's numbers, then the critical numbers you left out were that Theis shot 36.7% from 3 last season, while JV only shot 30.8%. A JV attempt from 3 was an inefficient shot for us last season, while a Theis 3 was a quality shot attempt.

And if JV can't shoot 3s efficiently and can't set a good screen, then the obvious place for him is in the post, so that he can get rebounds -- but that also put him in Zion's way. It's certainly true that JV is a superior rebounder than Theis, but the raw numbers are warped by the fact that Theis is going to get fewer OREBs because he's not playing as close to the basket, precisely because of where his offensive value is.

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One could argue that the single weakest part of Zion's game is defensive rebounding and now we are going to put out the shortest 4/5 combo in the league with a 5 who's incapable of rim protection or rebounding.

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One could argue that if one weren't paying attention at the end of last season, when we saw significant improvement in Zion's rebounding. And the best rim protection is not allowing the ball to get to the rim, and Theis has quicker feet and is a better defender than JV. Again, my argument wasn't that Daniel Theis is a potential all-star -- my argument is that he's a better fit than JV and his skills will upgrade our starting lineup, which (again) was a negative lineup for us. How many times last season did we repeatedly groan in the first few minutes of the game as quick opposing guards worked over JV in the P&R for easy layups and dunks?

Straight up question -- do you think that our starting lineup this season will have a negative net rating the way that last season's did?

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Theis is a better screener than JV. But in a lineup featuring zero plus shooters how is this a benefit worth even talking about. What team is going to worry about BI, DM, or Herb killing them with volume shooting instead of crashing down on Zion? You pointed out that CJ is a great player off of screens. As this roster is currently constructed, CJ won't be playing with Theis. Theis will be playing with two guards who love the mid range and Zion.

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CJ won't be playing with Theis? What? Where are you getting that from? That's hogwash.

CJ is going to play with Theis, because their skills complement each other beautifully, and then they will come off together so that our "small-ball" lineup can dominate.

We had 630 possessions last season when JV, Larry, Cody, and JRE were all off the floor, and our net rating during those minutes was in the 93rd percentile. Now, substitute a taller Murray (and better defender) for CJ in those lineups and add in the improved rebounding from a more experienced TMII and a more athletic Zion, and you have the makings of a dominant closing lineup.

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Zion is now featured in a starting lineup with zero volume 3 point shooters, 2 volume mid range shooters, and a 6'8" center who is a below average rebounder. This is not an upgrade.

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Again, you are assuming that CJ will not start, but then you inadvertently explain exactly why he will start. You're just wrong.

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I think a starting lineup of DM/Herb/BI/Zion/Theis is set up to fail and it definitely does nothing to make life on our best player easier. So yes, I think there is a good chance that lineup is a failure.

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My response was based on the above starting lineup of DM/Herb/BI/Z/Theis. Theis should not play more than 20mpg. If he plays 6 minutes at the beginning of each half with the presumed starting lineup that leaves a total of 8 game minutes that he plays with CJ. If Theis starts, then the majority of his minutes will be with Zion and no volume 3 point shooters.

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Again, thanks for the great reasons why CJ will start with Theis.

I mean, that's just the basketball reasons. There are others, including CJ's leadership and national prominence. He's simply not a guy we could bench, even if we wanted to do so (we don't!).

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And the best rim protection is not allowing the ball to get to the rim, and Theis has quicker feet and is a better defender than JV.

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100% agree.

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Straight up question -- do you think that our starting lineup this season will have a negative net rating the way that last season's did?

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You can blame Zion's fatass for that negative rating last year starting the season like a blob.
After the in-season tournament beatdown, the starting lineup had a netrtg of +2.3 in 29 games played together. They were a -6.4 in the 12 games they played together before that.

The starting lineup only played 10 games together in 2023, and they were a +6.3 in those 10 games.

The starting lineup wasn't bad. It's the fact that they rarely played together over the last 2 years.

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OKC/DEN/MIN/LAC/DAL/PHO/MEM may be better than us.

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With kawhis knee and them losing pg13 i think you can take them out of this equation

You never cease to amaze me

The Clippers got worse and it will be not in his prime Harden with Powell and Zubac until Kawhi gets back, if he gets back.

The west got better. The Clippers will be the team to regress.

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Boomshockalocka

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