Justin Jaudon

I still don't understand why Doncic should upset anyone on this board. There was nothing we could do to get him. It's not even like we weren't tanking the end of that year. Short of literally forfeiting the game, I don't see how we could have done more to lose. This is a wierd running thing with this board that I don't understand. Isn't there enough to complain about with the terrible moves this team has actually made without blaming them for something they couldn't control?

We could have offered anything we wanted, anything they wanted, the Devos family jewels, even the rights to Fran Vasquez, and it wouldn't have mattered. Dallas made us completely irrelevant in that trade. They had the pick ahead of us. There was nothing we could do.

It was in no way sarcasm. Clearly the major difference with Evan Fournier and Terrence Ross, compared to Kobe Bryant, is that Kobe was a team player. Evan, Ross, and Kobe...all 6'7", 205-210 lbs. That's just science. They should be just as good. And they would be, except they clearly only care about themselves. I mean, look at Kobe's record as a team mate. Look at Durant's. Look at Jordan's. Jordan cared about his team so much he came back after they started to struggle when he quit on them to go play baseball (it had nothing to do with the fact that he sucked at baseball). And then when the owner threatened to do something he didn't like a few years later, he quit again. For the team. All for one and one for all, that was MJ. Durant? Oh my Lord, this guy was so team oriented he waited until the last two teams he quit on actually lost a series BEFORE he quit. Nothing says team player like waiting until your team is wrecked by injuries to tell them you found someone else. Also, Durant:6'9", Aaron Gordon:6'9". Gordon should be ashamed of himself. And Kobe? This man loved his team so much he chased off the most dominant big man in a generation. For the team. I mean, sure Shaq was still a dominant monster who was at times basically un-guardable. But he was also fat, and stealing Kobe's thunder. And clearly the best thing for the team was for Kobe to be the star. Kobe wasn't fat. It's hard to watch the selfishness of guys like Fournier and Ross taking wide open shots and missing them sometimes, when guys like Kobe, Durant, and Jordan have shown us all that team players make all their wide open shots. I too have seen those guys miss shots at the end of games. But they were being fouled, by three players at a time, and they each had a hangnail, and the flu, and diabetes, and - if I remember correctly - Jordan only had one eye. And still, nine times out of ten, they put in the effort and found a way to make those shots. Our guys are a bunch of lazy, selfish, jerks. Imagine if you had Kobe, along with the best Center of the generation, and All-NBA veterans at PF and PG. With Kobe's team-oriented leadership, you couldn't lose. You certainly couldn't fail twice.

Yes, clearly missing shots is indicative of not being a team player. If they were putting the team first, they'd never miss at the end of games. I mean, Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, what comes to mind? That's right, great team players. That's why they were so clutch. Durant? Clutch as hell. And no one is more about the team than Durant.

Don't play with my emotions.

This is some serious Gordon hate right here. Gordon has been fine during this stretch. He hasn't had a legitimately bad game since, like, Milwaukee. He had an 18-13-7 line against Philly. If you think Gordon is supposed to get 20 every night, then... sure, he's terrible... let's trade him for a bag of chips. Seriously, what is wrong with you?

This. For sure. I expect to see him run things more as the season progresses and the team is more comfortable that he can run the offense without his youth costing us games.

Because some people really, really dislike Aaron Gordon.

Aminu is exactly what we need coming off the bench for Gordon and Isaac. It's very clear we put a high value on defensive versatility at the Forward spots. And a lot of teams are structured the same way, which is why Aminu has so much trade value for a bench guy. He was a good pickup.

You bastard! Stop playing with my emotions like that. That's bloody brilliant!

I can't figure out how I feel about a DeRozan trade idea. I think he'd be an upgrade in a vacuum over Fournier. But can you cover for a Fultz/DeRozan backcourt with the average shooters we have elsewhere in the starting lineup? If Fultz was even an average shooter, I think it could work. But he's not. Do you bench him? DJ/DeRozan/Isaac/Gordon/Vucevic has got to be a playoff roster, right? You're not really giving up on Fultz, just putting him where he can best succeed, with the second unit. Don't even change their minutes. But can he come back from that? Is it worth the possibility of hurting Fultz to get the team another year of playoff experience. And who would the trade be for? I would assume Fournier, but what filler even works? Aminu? Who could we reasonably get to replace Aminu?

Don't play with my emotions.

To be fair, our defense is usually scary good when Isaac and Gordon are on the floor together. That's why Aminu makes sense. We can play the same way without the massive dropoff. Gordon shouldn't be untouchable, but how he fits with Isaac makes him VERY valuable to this team. Fultz showed last night how well he can fit into that defensive potential. We need what we've all known we needed: upgrades at 2 and 5. But mostly at 2. Vuc can at least offset his defensive troubles with offense (now, if he can't figure out how to get back to last year's production on that end, he's an albatross, but hopefully he starts hitting 3's again, which will do the trick I think). Fournier needs to be our sixth man. I've been calling for that for years, and it needs to happen. He's a hard worker who CAN do a lot offensively, albeit inconsistently. He's better than Ross, I think, because of his more varied offensive game. We should have drafted Mikal Bridges. We might be beating teams 90-85, But that defense would be stifling. We'd be like the Thibs-era Bulls, but hopefully healthier. And with the Fultz/Rose comparisons...

I have a feeling he'll have more. Maybe not quite this good, but plenty more close. Dude is legit.

Getting close to real changes needed.

I don't think it's about the guy guarding Doncic. He's not killing that guy. He's killing the switch. We need to change our defensive game plan against that switch.

Got to figure out that Doncic pick and roll. Vuc has to defend. AG can't get back over when he goes so deep

I think he could be a long term starter on a lot of teams. Some of them even good teams. The real problem with Evan Fournier is not even really Evan Fournier. It's how this team uses him. He should be used more like Gordon, letting the game come to him mostly, and feeding him when he's hot. Instead, we let him run the offense. Hopefully Fultz will overtake that.

I get that everyone's angry after a loss, but really? AG is an energy role player OFF THE BENCH? He might be an energy role player, but he's far from a bench player. If he's just a role player, he's one of the better 'just a role player' guys in the league, starters included. Role players are important. His role, if he is completely done growing as a player, seems to be a defense and opportunistic offense guy, which is very valuable if he can do it effectively (all signs are that he can). Also, even Fournier is a solid bench player, not complete garbage (he was bad tonight, but that's why he shouldn't be starting; but he plays well enough consistently enough to earn solid minutes even on a good team).

I've said his whole career Fournier would be a great sixth man. I think he'd likely be better than Ross, because he CAN find different ways to contribute on offense. Ross is basically draining tough shots or actively hurting our offense.

The stats have never liked Fournier as a SF. Somewhat better offensively, but almost unplayable defending most SF.

Defense has to be better.

Wouldn't be the worst thing ever. But I don't think he's worth the money for us.

Jrue is a SG. Fultz is a PG. I don't think Jrue would solve any of our problems, but that has nothing to do with Fultz, and everything to do with him being a 30-year-old small SG who isn't that good of a scorer anyway. My opinion, for the record, is that Beal signing that extension sucks really bad, as he would be perfect in Orlando, and if Washington had any brains they'd commit to a rebuild.

Nuggets (yeah, I get that Jokic isn't their top scorer right now; but he was last year when they dominated, which speaks to your point, since that's still modern NBA team, plus I suspect Jokic leads by the end of the year). How many teams are considered good? 10? if so, that's 2 out of 10 whose likely top scorers are centers. 5 positions means that's about right. 12? Still pretty darn close. 16? Of the 16 playoff teams last year, the top PPG was a center for 3 of those teams: Philly, Orlando, and San Antonio. 3 out of 16 holds that pattern, close enough. Minnesota looks pretty good early riding KAT. AD could certainly be the starting C for the Lakers and they'd still be good. The idea that the NBA isn't friendly to high-scoring centers is just wrong. You can have plenty of success in the NBA with your top scorer as a Center, even today. It's different than it used to be, true. Modern 5's have to be mobile, be able to pass and shoot, and they must be able to competently switch without getting torched every time. Vuc is good for most of that, but he's inconsistent with scoring and defending (he's never particularly good at defending, but sometimes he's survivable with the massive defensive talent that we can surround him with). I'm not a big Vuc fan. But Vuc has not been the problem early in the year. Yes, his %s need to improve. That's the whole team. Everyone is shooting like crap right now. If and when that changes, this team could go on a pretty big run. What's encouraging to me is that I haven't noticed the team as a whole getting lazy on defense when the shots aren't falling. That shows they know their identity is defense. That's exactly what I want to see.