2021-2022 ROSTER TALK: [ARCHIVED]

[audiosway]

Let's talk about this.

Here are list of players for comparison. It has their salaries starting with next year to the end of the current contract. 

Bertans (just turned 29 years old, career 40.0% three point shooter)
$16M, $17M, $16M ($5M guaranteed, player option)

THJ (about to turn 30 years old, career 35.8% three point shooter)
$19.6M, $17.9M, $16.2M 

Duncan Robinson (about to turn 28 years old, career 40.8% three point shooter)
$16.9M, $18.1M, $19.4M, $19.9M

Buddy Hield (just turned 29 years old, career 40.0% three point shooter)
$20.5M, $18.6M

Yeah, I guess the assumption is that he has fallen out of favor in Washington because he's sooooo bad defensively that he's almost unplayable. And, that these days he's not even a good shooter anymore. 

If that's all true, the deal is plenty bad - worse than the others you highlight there, for sure. All those dudes are rotation players when healthy. 

But, if you and @"DanSchwartzgan" are right, and the guy is capable of decent team defense and about to start splashing corner 3's again, I agree that the deal is not nearly the albatross it's being made out to be. 

Regarding the shooting, many people around here got really mad at me once for comparing THJ to this guy as a shooter. I can't remember who it was, but somebody I respect told me he had an even quicker release, better relocation skills, etc. Basically, that he was in an entirely different class of shooting specialist. 

It's a wait and see thing for me.

My thinking with Bertans is that the real role for KP was found by Rick. He's an outside spot up that can stretch the floor. KP has reached a point where the knee injuries are taking their toll. It's not just that he's injured all the time. But, now we are seeing it become a detriment to his mobility on D. He's not the same player he was even in the Bubble at this point. He could still block shots due to height and play some anchor in spots. But, he wasn't consistently more than just help D.

Bertans is a better spot up shooter than KP. He isn't awful on D. He's probably average at best. However, he can play help D as shown in his time with the Spurs. Most importantly he knows his role.

I would much rather have a slightly overpaid role player that knows his role and doesn't complain about touches. KP was considerably overpaid and doesn't want to admit that he's a role player. He didn't like the role Rick put him in even though the team was better for it. He liked that Kidd considered him as part of the offense. But, the offense has struggled this year vs last.

Now with KP gone and Bertans in that spot up role that Rick had KP in they can move into more of a flowing offense that will stretch the floor and create space. The spacing this year has been tight because of KP. Defense is more about scheme and team than individual great defenders. Look at Pop's Spurs all these years. Even when they don't have great defenders they can still defend. Dallas has proven they can play D just fine without KP. Now they can also spread the floor and try to open up the Offense.