if you look at the roster, we don't have many assets. gerbil likes to collect 2nd rd picks + trade exceptions which is practically useless.
Right, so let's trade them for veterans who can help us win now because we know what will happen if we're not competitive very soon, or do we need to go over that again?
ben is a system player. put him on the spurs or any team that runs a structured offense and he'll shine.
Unfortunately, we are not the Spurs. Doesn't mean we can't develop a structured system where McLemore can "shine," but how shiny would he be really?
a good 3&d player is valuable. ben can be that player as we got a small sample of it in the beginning of the year.
Right, so let's go sign one this year in FA. So instead of risking it to see if McLemore becomes a consistent 3 and D player next year, let's try and get one we know who can already do that. McLemore is too inconsistent right now to have a significant role on a competitive team. If we were in a position to sit around and develop players, sure, let's hold on to him and see what happens. Unfortunately, we need to start winning now. Coddling young talent is 2nd priority to winning at this point.
i don't see gibson as the savior as you see him.
Please reference where I said Gibson is the savior? No, really I'm interested in where I said those words. I don't know why anyone would think a roleplaying PF would be a savior of a team. That term is reserved for guys like, oh I don't know, Cousins perhaps?
i'd rather ride it out w/ thompson and WCS. players need to get actual playing time to be any good. having gibson/thompson in front of him isn't going to help that cause.
That's hogwash. Players develop all the time behind the scenes. Why do players even bother practicing on their own time when all you need is playing time to be any good. I guess we found the secret ingredient to become a good basketball player! Just give them playing time!! Or perhaps the reason players get minutes is because they show that they have what it takes in practice? Make them play their way into the rotation. Give them incentive to work hard and improve their game.
Besides, he will get some playing time behind Gibson & Thompson. Take a look at our minute distribution among our big men this year:
Cousins - 1,856 mins
Thompson - 1,696 mins
Landry - 1007 mins
Evans - 703 mins
Hollins - 363 mins
Moreland - 2 mins
Considering Cauley-Stein would be our 4th big off the bench, I'm going to give him all minutes that belonged to Evans, Hollins, and Moreland. That's a total of 1,068 minutes on the season through 71 games (1,068 minutes / 71 games = 15 minutes per game). 15 minutes per game to a rookie big is more than enough (and my calculation doesn't even account for all of the minutes Williams & Gay have spent at the 4 this year). Rookie bigs often times take longer to adjust to the NBA and you have to be patient with them. I'm not sure why we would bank on a rookie big to be our third guy off the bench while we're trying to be competitive. It's too risky. Too much is at stake.
Now, he might turn out to be a very good big, be able to adapt right away, and give us excellent production. At that point, you can look to trade Thompson away to create some space on your roster to give him more minutes, but that's a good problem to have.
If Cousins was still on his rookie deal and we had guys like McCallum, McLemore, Stauskas, & Cauley-Stein on the team, then yeah let's hold onto them and try to develop them. We can be more patient with our guys and try to develop them into good players, but again, the clock is ticking on Cousins. We need to start being competitive if we want to have any shot at keeping him. With that in mind, would you rather risk it on unproven, inconsistent, young players, or would you rather have savvy vets who you can rely on game-in and game-out? I know which side I'm on. Do you?
