12-18-2023, 11:09 PM
(12-18-2023, 05:25 PM)mvossman Wrote: I'm struggling a bit with the Stuart fit. He seems like a tweener to me. He does not protect the rim and he is not a plus perimeter defender. He is not a rim runner, and historically he has been a 33% shooter from three on moderate volume, with an uptick in the small sample of quarter season. Is the plan for him to be a backup center? Will he truly provide enough spacing for 5 out? Can he play next to Lively? Does he make sense as the backup PF? I can see the argument that he has versatility to play all of those roles, and the argument that he doesn't really fit in any of them very well.
The thing that I'm most interested in is the THJ for Bojan part of this. I don't want to pay an unprotected first for that, but if I can fill another hole simultaneously, I'm willing to talk. Someone like Stewart at age 22 gives you someone who will still be contributing when that pick is made (Bojan won't, but he'd help tremendously in the here and now).
As I was reading what you wrote above I was thinking that the same could be largely said about GWill. People cite him as a small-ball five, but he's not a rim protector and not great on the perimeter defensively either. If you consider Williams and Stewart to be a wash defensively (and I'm not sure that's true) you are basically trading Stewart's rebounding and beef for GWill's higher 3%.
I'm not saying you are wrong. In fact, your last sentence is well put. We just won't know what he looks like here until he's here. The stink of being on a Detroit team is pervasive. Stewart is rated as a good defender and his first two years he had a block rate higher than Maxi's best two years (and we consider Maxi a rim protector). If he can hit 37% of his 3's, he can absolutely play next to Lively. But, I'm not paying an unprotected pick for Stewart. I'm paying the pick because I get the Bojan upgrade AND Stewart.
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