02-16-2020, 06:45 PM
(02-16-2020, 06:11 PM)Fuerza1 Wrote: Well, Brunson is at a +6.4 on/off court the last 15 games, maybe he's finally getting in a groove too?
Probably not. Carlisle has to play the older, higher paid Delon Wright more minutes despite him being a -17.5 on/off court the last 15 games. But I digress . . .
Brunson + Luka have only played 195 minutes together this season. That is about 3.5 minutes per game, the equivalent of 7-8 NBA games!
Luka + KP, Seth, Kleber, DFS, etc. had highly NEGATIVE net ratings in similar minutes to start the season too. Should we have panicked and dumped them out of town based on such a small sample size? No, we gave them time to mesh and figure it out.
So the other 800+ minutes with Brunson + Luka came last season on a mediocre lottery team turned top 5 worst team in the NBA post-KP trade. They were both rookies. I think it's too soon to declare any verdict around "fit."
Brunson is shooting 44% on catch 'n shoot 3's this season, 49% since December. He is our second best rim attacker after Luka. He knows how to run an offense. Theoretically, they can work perfectly with one another (they already do fine), I just don't think they've gotten a real opportunity together thus far.
I believe Brunson's floor is Ricky Rubio, a solid starting PG on a 2nd round playoff team. Rubio was making $14M/yr in MIN/UTA and just signed for $17M/yr in PHX. Brunson is making less than $2M/yr and is locked in until 2022, and we have his RFA rights; that's huge value.
I wouldn't mind trading Brunson but I think you have to give him plus Luka more time together before casting judgement. I would hate to see Brunson flourish elsewhere then 4-5 years down the line we are begging for another "playmaker" next to Luka.
Hah! I can't disagree with just about anything you said.