(02-17-2025, 11:38 PM)Reunion Mav Wrote: However, our hope was only hope, not a guarantee. Perhaps it turns out we already got what turns out to be Luka’s best years. Perhaps Luka’s extreme percentage of the luxury tax would have turned us into Phoenix. We will never know now. That in itself hurts. Fortunately we do have a lot of top level talent still to root for. PJ and Powell will be back soon. Yea. I guess.   But no roasting for seeing a silver lining that is actually quite nice to see.

(02-17-2025, 12:01 PM)SleepingHero Wrote: https://archive.is/nPj7u

Here is the entire article without the paywall.

(02-17-2025, 11:38 PM)Reunion Mav Wrote: I’m not doing any roasting tonight. If we do get a reasonably healthy AD and Max continues his very welcome upward arc then we successfully use the first in a solid trade then we will have gotten a top 5-7 player, a solid 2 way wing starter and an upgrade through trade. That is a lot of value. Unfortunately we still probably lose the trade. Luka was that good and Maxi will look better with the no big men Lakers. Our problem is that we lost 10 years of hope for an annual contender that seemed pretty realistic. Hope is a huge loss!

However, our hope was only hope, not a guarantee. Perhaps it turns out we already got what turns out to be Luka’s best years. Perhaps Luka’s extreme percentage of the luxury tax would have turned us into Phoenix. We will never know now. That in itself hurts. Fortunately we do have a lot of top level talent still to root for. PJ and Powell will be back soon. Yea. I guess.   But no roasting for seeing a silver lining that is actually quite nice to see.

(02-18-2025, 09:45 PM)Winter Wrote: It wouldn't surprise me if Edwards gets more minutes that Powell. That may say more about Powell's conditioning when he returns, but I think that center position may be an experiment that PJW and Edwards could fill just as well if not better.

(02-18-2025, 09:56 PM)Smitty Wrote: Interesting. I felt like Omax played more “Center” than Edwards in the stretch without any  Bigs. Either way, Edwards has really shown something and in my opinion is more NBA ready than Omax.

Powell has actually been pretty good this season. I’ve given him a lot of grief the last few years but if he comes back and plays like he had been, he definitely helps you at the center position. More so than Edwards or Omax. Just my 2 cents.

(02-18-2025, 10:14 PM)F Gump Wrote: With the encouraging news that DP and Martin will be back soon, we lose sight of the bigger impact looming of PJW returning. They've been without any of their real PF's, as well as C's. And PJW is a starter.

FWIW, I think PJW will play his natural position of PF, the vast majority of the time. I think DP will start at C. After the 1st quarter, and how they handle the rest of the minutes at those 2 positions (perhaps another 35 or 40 that neither PJW nor DP will get?) will be a scramble. But I wouldn't be surprised if we see some periods of small ball, maybe with PJW at C --- or maybe not. They've been playing small with NEITHER and it wouldn't surprise me if they use some of those lineups again just because of all the smaller guys they want to use; and if Martin is back in the mix, that's yet another SG-sized player with talent that will DEFINITELY get minutes.

(02-18-2025, 10:38 PM)LukaMVP Wrote: with davis back we may try starting pj and davis at 4 and 5. that's 5-out lineup as well, and that means Christie may be promoted to the starting five alongside Klay and Irving. I think this starting five may work well for certain matchups.

(02-18-2025, 10:28 PM)Smitty Wrote: Any time he’s not sharing the floor with Powell, he’ll be the teams “Center”. He’s played plenty of 5 in his career.

(02-19-2025, 06:50 AM)Chicagojk Wrote: I am expecting a rough 3 weeks after the all star break.  I am sure they will play hard and maybe they continue to suprise.  I just think after everyone comes back rested after the all star game that the lack of bigs is going to be a killer.  I hope I am wrong. 

4 games over .500 without Luka for a lot of the season and all the injuries is about as best you could have hoped.  I just don't know if they can keep 4 games over .500 as the season moves forward.

(02-19-2025, 12:21 AM)F Gump Wrote: Perhaps. That's logical, since DP is really the only true C they have (I'm not counting Kelley). No one should.

OTOH if we see a lineup with PJW and Edwards (or OMax), wouldn't that be PJW at the 4 with the other being labeled the 5? Both are taller. No, not in my opinion. But again, it's semantics really.

If he wanted to, Kidd could certainly fill all the C/PF minutes, with something like DP and PJW playing longer minutes, and the rest being manned by Edwards (with perhaps some left over for OMax). I see it pretty clearly that Powell and PJ will get all 48 minutes at 5. Then PJ will get whatever's left at 4, that gets him to 36 minutes. In my breakdown it was Powell 22 minutes | PJW 26 minutes. That left 10 minutes (5 min each) at the start of the first and third for him to play the 4 alongside DP. I also think we'll consider Martin a 4 in this unique mix of players, at least defensively. He can guard up well, better than Naji and Klay.

But I'm wondering if we may see lineups with smaller players instead, including some with neither DP nor PJW, using the rest of the roster (PG, SG, SF guys) to fill at least 4 positions and maybe 5, and that we would see that used fairly early (say, early 2nd quarter) and perhaps more? That set of PG, SG, SF guys is now the strength of this team, with at least 4 who are starter caliber, and I'm thinking JK will try to lean into it. FWIW it's an old Nellie-type move that often had surprisingly-effective results. I think you're right. We'll definitely see different lineups throughout the next few weeks. I don't expect anything to be consistent or normal around here as they limp to the finish line. My attempt at a rotation was more or less showing how each player I thought worthy, could get real rotational minutes and offer some lineup combinations I thought would be effective until the Bigs come back, if ever. 

(02-18-2025, 10:38 PM)LukaMVP Wrote: with davis back we may try starting pj and davis at 4 and 5. that's 5-out lineup as well, and that means Christie may be promoted to the starting five alongside Klay and Irving. I think this starting five may work well for certain matchups.