Fultz4thewin

Hey Luke kennard is available.

I think there's a pretty good chance he's cleared early March

We can probably rule out injury to the biceps tendon, right? They would have just called it a hamstring injury?

Well we assume we know what the injury is. It's not like they explicitly stated it. But if it is a grade 2 lcl we'll probably see him out of a knee brace around February 12th, right?

We need to look at this from a different perspective. Instead asking what the injury is maybe we can figure out what his treatment/recovery is and deduce the injury from that.

Also to add to this, my entire basis of trust with this front office is built on the idea that they went into last summer and Vucevic's agent came to them with multiple offers from other teams and basically said "Vucevic wants to stay here, he'll take a slight discount because he has a newborn and doesn't want to leave Orlando" and the front office used that as an indicator of future trade value because there was an actual market for Vucevic at his salary figure. So we're able to retain a tradable asset to keep us afloat with the fultz uncertainty and Bamba coming off injury. Everything about this front office suggests a well thought out, methodical, patient approach to every single thing they do so I think they've earned that trust.

I don't know. Vucevic at his best on offense is like prime Dirk and Vucevic on his best on defense blows up pick and rolls and does a pretty good job job at rim protection. The problem is he never does both at the same time and hasn't done either more than 20 games total in a season.

Basketball reference defensive rating is not real defensive rating. It takes how the team does on defense when he's on the court and adds in defensive box score stats for adjustments. So in NBA.com defensive rating if all of the starters played the exact same minutes at the exact same time everyone would have the exact same defensive rating. But in basketball reference they try to assign credit or blame for what happens on the court related to who gets blocks, steals, and defensive rebounds. So because Vucevic gets a ton of defensive rebounds he's always going to be looked at favorably in basketball reference defensive metrics.

This year he's shooting 34% on open and wide open two point jumpers and 35% on open and wide open three point jumpers. Last year he shot 46% and 36% respectively. That's the difference.

Your main premise is "the team as it's currently constructed is going nowhere" that's inherently a short term problem because the hope of this franchise and everything from a long term perspective is fultz and Isaac (and Bamba once he shows ability to be a starting player). Those are all guys on rookie contracts and a few years away from reliably carrying a team. So roster construction isn't all that important today because we're not sitting here thinking "we just need to add one piece to this team to become a contender". Our goals are entirely "get fultz and Isaac ready to carry us when it's time and build the best team around them as possible". Now there's two schools of thought here for how to accomplish this 1. Throw guys into the deep end and see if they'll sink or swim. Give them all the minutes they can handle and eliminate threats to those minutes. There's a lot of evidence lately that this method doesn't work and I think a lot of the flaws in Vucevic and fournier's games come from developing bad habits in losses. 2. Give guys small roles and let them earn more on good teams over time. Make them face consequences of failure. Lot of good players today coming out of this philosophy whether intentionally or as a matter of circumstance. Lowry, George, Kawhi, siakam, Butler, etc. So back to the first point. I don't expect Fournier and Vucevic to be on this team in two years. They're just a means to an end. It doesn't matter if the team as currently constructed is going nowhere because the team as currently constructed is a short term entity.

Also for what it's worth sabonis is an all star like Vucevic was an all star last year. Sabonis is good but let's not act like he's a franchise player now.

Sure but we were focusing on a rim protector. Sabonis isn't a rim protector. Sabonis is like the version of Vucevic that's actually ok with contact making his post moves more effective. We were looking at skal if we were going big and Wade Baldwin, Beasley, or hopefully dejounte Murray if we were going small

You can't guarantee that. You have no idea who we targeted

Ok

Apparently, with what happened last summer teams are open to working things out.

Woj is saying: Teams aren't sending out firsts for one year rentals due to the fact that teams this summer with cap space are young teams there's really no money out there for vets so the summer sign and trade market is expected to be big (might apply to Fournier)

I am.

I agree. The thought process is if we're just going to make him a 12 shot per game role player it doesn't matter if he's able to exploit mismatches and facilitate and grow. We're better off getting a guy who can play that small role with more efficiency if we can add another guy on top of it. I'd rather just dump Fournier and Vucevic. But yeah, it's dumb to trade him now when we know he's usually better, is young, is signed long term, etc.

He can always drop out. He can't jump in last minute

We have a ton of rest coming up. Maybe he's thinking he's going to be better by the time all star weekend comes around.

I don't think that's sustainable for a while season though. We just efforted our way through that one. I'm all for it but it's almost assuredly going to make us worse on offense but better on defense. That's actually kind of what we're trying to do long term though. Play like that but with better players in some of those roles.

He's well rounded and has shot creator upside though it's not definite that he gets there. He's a good defender. Defends point guards and forwards. Minnesota is much better when he plays which is unusual for a rookie. Very much like a rookie jaylen Brown but again I'm not sure if he becomes Brown or if he becomes Ronnie Brewer if his Utah numbers continued for several years.

Culver kind of fits that.

Why even throw in the Lakers 2nd lol? I'd do this BTW. Gordon is better than Covington but Covington is a lower ceiling version of Gordon that plays a limited role better. Culver gives us a replacement for Fournier. Makes sense.

You're kind of arguing both sides here though. Can't say "gotta trade him" in one post and "gotta fix the offense" in another.