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Message: [QUOTE="pokercuse08, post: 5008465, member: 6535"] This is going to be a very interesting offseason, because we have a lot of pieces that could be back and make sense, but other than Maliq no piece that is a sure-fire returning starter on a good team. If JJ can continue to improve his 3-point shot, he could be the 5th best starter on a good team. If Bell could learn to shoot off a screen the way he shoots standing still OR improve his D/rebounding, he could be the 4th or 5th best starter on a good team. We have too many guys with fatal flaws and you can't put them on the court together and expect a good result. What I would do... Maliq - Stays, and hopefully primarily plays the 4. Judah - Gone. He can't/won't pass (mix of both), can't shoot the 3, and takes too many bad shots. So... you sag off him, dare him to shoot, and don't let him beat you off the dribble. He's also way too reliant on getting to the line, and horrendous at working the officials. He gets them so pissed they're looking to stick it to him, not do him favors. Hima - "Retires" due to injuries. Westry - Stays, hopefully he's as good as the hype. Patterson - Stays, let's see what we've got. Q - Stays, ideally he's the sixth man and learns how to play a little more within himself. The exciting part to me is that we've seen flashes of what he can become, and the natural progression is to play more controlled and within yourself as you get more experience. Those are the easy ones to me. So that opens up one portal. I would like to open up two additional portals from the guys below. I wouldn't be devastated if any of them left, nor would I be devastated if any of them stayed. But I'm hoping two are gone and Red can go after three portals. Bell - Stays, and does nothing but shooting off screens in the gym all summer. If he can develop that part of his game and hustle more on defense he's a very valuable piece. If he can develop that part of his game and doesn't hustle, he's still worth having on the floor when he's hot. JJ - Stays, and works on his 3 and his defense. Ideally becomes our 5th/6th man. Cuffe - Stays, depth, can push for playing time. Taylor - Goes, but I would feel pretty gross pushing him out because he's a serviceable depth player you can use in defensive situations and he sets a good example and works hard. I hate to force that type of guy out when he hasn't done anything wrong other than not be good enough. But, hopefully he wants to move down a level and play a bigger role somewhere else. McLeod - Stays, depth player Carey - Goes. I don't think he's put on enough weight, but I could be convinced he has potential. Just haven't seen enough to know. If one of the "stays" in this group leave, then no reason to push him out - seems unlikely we're going to get four portals. Portal: A true PG, an experienced starting caliber C, and a 3-point shooter who's at least average defensively and/or can do more than just shoot 3's on offense. New Rotation 1 - Portal PG/Q/Westry 2 - JJ/Q/Westry/Moore 3 - Freeman/Bell/Q/Westry 4 - Brown/Freeman 5 - Portal C/Patterson/Brown Ideal Minutes Portal PG 28 Q 22 JJ 22 Westry 22 Moore 6 Freeman 22 Bell 20 Brown 25 Portal C 23 Patterson 10 If you can get a third portal player who's starter caliber or close, obviously you plug them in there and that's perfect. They're going to eat into some of Bell's minutes. Then see how guys develop into their roles and adjust the rotation/minutes accordingly. One thing I'm looking forward to is having enough depth that if someone is zoning out on defense, whining to Red during the course of play or yelling at the refs constantly, getting too out of control, or just plain doesn't have it that night, he can put them on the bench and not have the team suffer as a result. This also allows the guys to play more aggressive defensively and push the tempo more. Let's see 100% effort for 20-25 minutes, not 80% effort for 38 minutes. Also lets you do some fun things against the right opponents... A small look... 1 - Portal PG 2 - JJ/Westry/Q/Moore 3 - JJ/Westry/Q/Moore 4 - Bell 5 - Brown/Freeman A big look... 1 - Portal PG 2 - Q/Bell 3 - Freeman 4 - Brown 5 - Portal C A 3 and rebound look... 1 - Portal PG 2 - Moore 3 - Bell 4 & 5 - Two of Brown/Patterson/Portal C Imagine running screens and just cycling the ball around to get the 3-point shooters decent looks, and having two very tall, very good rebounders camped out on the glass ready to clean it up or kick it back out. Hopefully some of the player movement I'm hoping for pans out and we can dream up different rotations and lineups to match up with different opponents. The exact opposite of this year's team that had too many fatal flaws and had to get the right matchup to have a chance. [/QUOTE]

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