Too Many Question Marks

[Handlogten's Heros]

It's not him ALONE. It's him paired with Donovan in the backcourt as well as Bojan in the starting lineup. A compound effect.

Mike is just the biggest stumbling block with our planning imo. I don't think he's washed, useless, any of that... Just wish we were willing to pivot. History with DL has told me we won't even consider it.

 

[NUMBERICA]

The Jazz were a better team withOUT Conley, and that’s with our horrendous depth.

I just can’t conceive of how anyone can spin this yarn about the greatness of Mountain Mike. It seems quite obvious the problems are very significant if they are to offset his strengths which ARE legit.

 

[infection]

Conley is being hidden. The vast majority of the time, that means he’s taken off the ball. And, given Mitchell’s load offensively, he usually isn’t assigned to the primary ball handler. So, the whole defense is shifted further in the direction of poor matchups OR we just bleed and try to out score the opponent.

Your stubbornness in acknowledging these dynamics has been.... funny?

This might be crazy, but hear me out: what if instead of having a primary ball handler who’s small and relegated to the role of a spot-up guy, you instead had a guy who shoots as many threes but is a career 40%+ shooter from deep (OPJ), and on the other side of the ball, instead of hiding a 6’, you instead have a versatile 6’8” guy who can guard multiple positions and is a better defender than anyone on our team not named Gobert (also OPJ)?

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

This might be crazy, but hear me out: what if instead of having a primary ball handler who’s small and relegated to the role of a spot-up guy, you instead had a guy who shoots as many threes but is a career 40%+ shooter from deep (OPJ), and on the other side of the ball, instead of hiding a 6’, you instead have a versatile 6’8” guy who can guard multiple positions and is a better defender than anyone on our team not named Gobert (also OPJ)?

Don't be silly... its Mike EFFING Conley... lolz roflmao smdh

 

[NUMBERICA]

Don't be silly... its Mike EFFING Conley... lolz roflmao smdh

The extent of the case for Conley at this point.

And I’m not even hating. I think he can help teams, and I think he can help this team, just by no means as a starter/closer, and not at $34 ****ing million.

 

[LogGrad98]

How are DL and Quin supposed to know if Morgan/Brantley/Oni are worth keeping if they didn't get any playing time? G-League is fine but limited. Understanding if they are good enough to be relied on is important because... once we sign JC we are going to be at the tax level (based on the basic projections). So we have to do some gymnastics to unload TB and Ed (doable but it will costs seconds and cash). So then you bring in two defensive specialists with the limited cap exceptions... those will then almost surely play over the unproven guys that you keep around. The cycle continues.

Having one of our project guys show enough promise to fill a small roster hole really helps us figure out the budget for the current year. We won't go into the tax, which means we are letting JC walk or not using our exceptions. Even if we find a way to dump TB and Ed, which will require some cash, is DL going to find something so good with his exceptions that he can ask the millers to invest more in the team?

I wouldn't hold it against Quin for not playing the G League guys if hadn't allocated 4 roster spots and both of our two-way deals to them. If Niang and TB were setting the world on fire I get why you don't experiment a little, but they were clearly lacking and weren't going to be playable together in the playoffs. We had some interesting options but instead of just for instance, rolling with Oni as a backup wing in the bubble... we insisted on giving Mudiay time to do something he can't. If the guys fail you can move on from them. Quin is painfully slow to change his rotations with some guys and others can produce and it doesn't seem to matter.

Just seems like there is a disconnect there if we are dedicating 4 roster spots to guys we won't consider playing, 2 two-way deals to guys we won't play, and 2 roster spots to Mudiay and TB who we know are still not super trustworthy... I didn't mention Niang because I think he's an established commodity and just a backend of the roster type. Playable in spots but should not be in your 8-9 man rotation.

Quin be like...

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

This might be crazy, but hear me out: what if instead of having a primary ball handler who’s small and relegated to the role of a spot-up guy, you instead had a guy who shoots as many threes but is a career 40%+ shooter from deep (OPJ), and on the other side of the ball, instead of hiding a 6’, you instead have a versatile 6’8” guy who can guard multiple positions and is a better defender than anyone on our team not named Gobert (also OPJ)?

What if... we started the guy who is 6'7" and seems to be really good with the starters and gets our best defensive player going. Also, this starting lineup had one of the best net ratings in the NBA. A lineup the coach really wanted to start but the GM wouldn't let him.

Then... what if we moved Mike for something else we needed and maybe got ourselves a little breathing room between us and the tax to let us address other issues.

Just a thought. We should probably just stick with what we are doing.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

The extent of the case for Conley at this point.

And I’m not even hating. I think he can help teams, and I think he can help this team, just by no means as a starter/closer, and not at $34 ****ing million.

His best role would be the JC role... except we can get and keep JC in that role for a billion dollars less.

 

[LogGrad98]

I didn't want to say it but this. He also could have used a couple coaches challenges at some point. He could have tried to throw a change up or two in games 1-6 when covering the Jokic Murray actions?

Did he use a single challenge in the last 3 games? I don't know why he doesn't use any of them, even if it is on some BS just to slow the other team's roll for a few minutes. They go on a run, turn things around, take a 6 point lead or whatever and then call a challenge on the next foul. It can be used as a tool beyond being absolutely certain you will win. Use it when he would take a time out anyway so he doesn't have to worry about losing the TO for a miss. But leaving that on the table is stupid IMO.

 

[infection]

Did he use a single challenge in the last 3 games? I don't know why he doesn't use any of them, even if it is on some BS just to slow the other team's roll for a few minutes. They go on a run, turn things around, take a 6 point lead or whatever and then call a challenge on the next foul. It can be used as a tool beyond being absolutely certain you will win. Use it when he would take a time out anyway so he doesn't have to worry about losing the TO for a miss. But leaving that on the table is stupid IMO.

This kind of ignorant fan thinking is always so short sided and stupid. People fail to realize and appreciate that at the end of the season, all those unused challenges that DL takes them and re-invests them into the program. It’s not like they’re just wasted. You don’t need to use a challenge every game, and when DL parlays them into a few mini-camps, y’all will be sitting on your *** worshipping him.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

Did he use a single challenge in the last 3 games? I don't know why he doesn't use any of them, even if it is on some BS just to slow the other team's roll for a few minutes. They go on a run, turn things around, take a 6 point lead or whatever and then call a challenge on the next foul. It can be used as a tool beyond being absolutely certain you will win. Use it when he would take a time out anyway so he doesn't have to worry about losing the TO for a miss. But leaving that on the table is stupid IMO.

He should have run to the ref on the Ingles charge to challenge in game 7. Only cost us a point but was in the 4th quarter and was questionable. He tried to challenge but was too late. I think his algorithms tell him that you should only challenge on a certain plays in certain situations when you are for sure correct. The expected value of the time out vs a challenge provides a .0172% better winning percentage when you compare it across all the data... so clearly it was correct to stuff that **** in his pocket.

 

[infection]