Trade & FA 2024-25:

[KillerLeft]

Thompson is making (basically) THJ money. Yes, I'm sure they promised him a starting role, but he/they also understand winning is the goal. If it doesn't work, they can reduce his minutes, have him come off the bench or even trade him. None of that would be as traumatic as what he went through these past couple of years in GS, because he didn't help lead this franchise to four championships. I'm sure he has a realistic view of what he's up against with his aging these next few years. It's not like he's written in as a 30 minute-starter in blood. I'm sure they have a plan to make it work, and I'm sure they'll try like heck to keep his role as big as possible in order to reap the benefits of playing him on offense. But, push come to shove, they're gong to care about winning more than they care about whether Thompson is happy.

Further, both Marshall AND Grimes seem to be not only good defenders, but TWO-WAY players, meaning the choice to play them isn't a tough one between offense and defense. I think there's a chance, depending on how the rotation works and how well those guys fit in, that the team improves, defensively. I feel almost certain that the offense has improved quite a bit, and it seems like maybe they're not done yet.

It's true that they might not currently have a perimeter defender as impactful as DJJ was last season, but it's ALSO true that playing him made life pretty tough in the half-court, offensively. At this point, we just need to trust that they have a vision for how this fits together, and they've given us very little reason (recently) to doubt them.