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Who will be our opening night starting lineup?

Besides Lauri and Kessler, who will be in our opening night starting lineup (Pick 3)?

  • Nurk

  • Anderson

  • Ace

  • Keyonte

  • Collier

  • Clayton Jr.

  • Taylor

  • Flip

  • Brice

  • Cody

Results are only viewable after voting.
I think I've settled on the idea that Anderson should start. I think he is a great connective piece, won't take up shots, and can actually defend. There are definitely spacing concerns with Anderson, but I think I prefer bad spacing over bad ball movement.
 
SoberasHotRod said:
I think I've settled on the idea that Anderson should start. I think he is a great connective piece, won't take up shots, and can actually defend. There are definitely spacing concerns with Anderson, but I think I prefer bad spacing over bad ball movement.
Click to expand...

I would go Keyonte, Anderson, Ace, Lauri, Kessler. Then we would have a second unit of WCJ, Brice, Hendricks, Flip, Nurk.

Collier and Cody to the Gleague. Svi and Love on the deep bench. Niang gets minutes for whoever is injured at the time. I would keep Harkless up as the 11th guy to come in and absolutely harass the best guard on the other team for 10 minutes a game.
 
Seems like Key, Ace, Lauri, Kessler should start
The fifth spot is up for grabs
Seems like Key has to start for his mental health
Key will not be happy coming off the bench
Ace has to start somewhere He is the future star
 
I think after 2 preseason games my depth chart looks like this

Collier, key, harkless
Sensabaugh, clayton, svi
Bailey, Williams, niang, tonje
Lauri, Hendricks, love
Kessler, Filipowski, nurkic

- I like the pairing of Collier and sensabaugh because BS shooting compensates for Colliers lack but Collier is the best playmaker to key the others with the ball.

- Key is the spark in the second unit. I like Clayton and key in the back court. Neither is really a great passer but together they can keep the ball moving.

- I like the depth of Bailey and williams at the 3. Niang might get some playing time when he is healthy to increase his trade value.

- I dont want svi any where near the court.

- I cant believe the depth at the 4 the jazz have. I went with Hendricks over love because of defense but man love is looking old but he still got game. I expect he will play to and be traded. Filipowski could play some 4 also. That is 3 solid back ups at the 4.

- center is interesting. Nurkic has looked decent in the pre season. I think he tries to force to many passes but filipowski needs burn also. I would love to see what Oscar has also.

- I did toy around with the idea of going

Collier, Bailey, Hendricks, Lauri Kessler starting, but I decided BS shooting was better for Ace and Lauri to get scoring lanes. It also opens up Collier to kick out more.

I hope Collier is also the better defensive option a long with a better shooting stroke. If Collier can play solid man defense and hit closer to league average from 3 he could be a serviceable PG in the NBA.
 
KqWIN said:
I actually think he's on a path to be a quite good offensive player. He could easily get to that Monk/Sexton level and potentially even beyond that. It's the defensive side of the ball I'm worried about, and I'm not sure that can show at this time of the year. While defense takes effort and more effort would serve Key well, I'm a big believer that defense is a lot more than just effort. It takes talent, skill, IQ, and instincts. I have doubts that Key can develop those things on the defensive side of the ball.

Think he could be our third best player next year. I guess if we're strictly talking about our five best players, I would think it would be:

Key
WCJ
Lauri
Flip
Kessler
Click to expand...

I'd put Ace over Key right now. Key shows he can be a great player and wants it bad but isn't willing to put in the effort on D and falls apart when things don't go his way to the point he becomes a distraction. Hopefully he handles the pressure he puts on himself as he matures. Very excited about WCJ, Brice and Ace though. Hope they are with us until we win a championship.

EDIT: I realize they are different positions so Ace wouldn't be a substitute for Key, but my point is that Ace needs to be on the court with our best lineup.
 
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Part of the question is who's healthy. Lauri and Walker start if they're healthy, obviously. Taylor might start because he defends and he's relatively low-usage next to Lauri and Ace.

Keyonte has been starting all preseason, so that likely continues.
 
SoberasHotRod said:
I think I've settled on the idea that Anderson should start. I think he is a great connective piece, won't take up shots, and can actually defend. There are definitely spacing concerns with Anderson, but I think I prefer bad spacing over bad ball movement.
Click to expand...

If he's going to play minutes at all I think the starting lineup is the best spot for them. There should always be a dribble handoff guy on the court....it seems central to what Hardy wants to do on offense. Kessler did a little bit more of that last year, so maybe he fills that gap.
 
I cant decide on the 3rd.

Do you guys think Flip can play with Kessler? I really liked him towards the end of last season and then he dominated the SL.. but the fit seems awkward.
 
Key -> Collier -> Clayton
Brice-> Svi -> Harkless
Ace -> Williams -> Niang -> Tonje
Lauri -> Hendricks -> Love
Kessler -> Flip -> Nurkic

Least confident about Hendricks- he could easily start, just think Ace it going to get the nod, but could see Ace dropping to SG and bumping Brice to make room. Brice has been as good as I'd hoped at the end of last season though, so it will be hard to send him to the bench, even as a sixth man.

Key seems to be a Hardy favorite so I think he gets the nod at PG to get the other pieces starting together and Collier didn't show enough during SL to earn the spot and being a no-show in pre-season will hurt him.

Vets will get plenty of minutes but I'd be surprised at them starting unless it's to advertise them for trades.

Players I've listed at PG may get SG minutes before those I've actually listed at SG as they are more valuable players and need development.

Flip will be fighting Taylor for the most minutes off the bench unless Brice becomes official 6th man.

Overlap between Nurkic and Love with Flip seems very high which is odd to me.

Most in danger of getting traded in order (of those who are otherwise long term pieces) :

Kessler
Lauri
Collier
Key
 
I don't expect this to be the starting lineup, but this is what I would do (if I felt that Hendricks was 100% and relatively rust-free)

Collier
Ace
Hendricks
Lauri
Kessler
 
NAOS_pt2 said:
I don't expect this to be the starting lineup, but this is what I would do (if I felt that Hendricks was 100% and relatively rust-free)

Collier
Ace
Hendricks
Lauri
Kessler
Click to expand...

There is like zero playmaking in this lineup other than Collier, lol.

Every Ace-Hendricks-Lauri-Kessler lineup runs into the issue that none of these guys can dribble or pass yet.

I would think Filipowski obviously starts over Hendricks just for that reason alone.

So I would go with

Key
Ace
Markkanen
Filipowski
Kessler

But we'll have like 15-20 starting lineups this year.
 
HadAnEffectHere said:
There is like zero playmaking in this lineup other than Collier, lol.

Every Ace-Hendricks-Lauri-Kessler lineup runs into the issue that none of these guys can dribble or pass yet.

I would think Filipowski obviously starts over Hendricks just for that reason alone.

So I would go with

Key
Ace
Markkanen
Filipowski
Kessler

But we'll have like 15-20 starting lineups this year.
Click to expand...

I don't know if it's ideal for everyone else, but that situation is ideal for him. One of the most ball dominant/reliant players in the league.

I initially had the lineup you quoted, but I've come around to the idea that your lineup is my favorite.
 
Another interesting question is who is out of the main rotation on opening night.

Assuming Nurk and Anderson are in the rotation, I think that means at least 2 rookie contract players will be out of the rotation. If Flip and Collier are injured I guess that's easy, but I thought they should be ready to go by opening day.

If all the young guys are ready by opening night I would guess that it's Cody and Collier that don't play on opening night. I think WCJ is the next most likely, but maybe it's our front court with the logjam and so Flip or Hendricks is out.
 
If I think about our frontcourt options I think with Kessler+Lauri you need shooting, passing and playmaking help and with Nurkic you need defensive help out there. So thus my initial 4/5 pairs in rotation would be Kessler + Flip and Nurkic + Hendricks.

1-3 is more fluid and Hardy has shown he can run some weird 3+ guard lineups... but the starters imo with Kessler/Flip pair would be Ace, Key and Lauri, since Flip helps with the playmaking enough to justify having both Lauri and Ace in the starting lineup. Flip and Lauri will be somewhat fluid around the forward positions, where Flip can set screens and space out in the corner, but he can also play with the ball above the break and help facilitate some plays.

Perimeter defense will be rough with the first unit but at least they should rebound like gods and be able to operate pretty well offensively.
 
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