Verdict is in. One of the stupidest choices Ainge has made in the draft.
A pick that nearly everyone was furious over for good reason.
We may lose this series because of it. Horford, Portis, Amir, Kelly, would be a nice Frontcourt.
Rozier gets no minutes, he's the Last thing we needed, but Ainge had to have his Binky.
Portis was easily the best player on the board.
Terrible.
It's not as bad as Giannis over KO, but I think we can all agree on this.
Smart over J Randle still seems to be a mistake as well.
I will assume this is a joke.
Silly assumption. One is a starter in this league and the other is the single worst shooter in it
The fact that Julius Randle starts for the 3rd worst team in the league while Smart is the 6th man for the 4th best, does not help your argument.
Randle would start for us. Smart would not start for the Lakers. Fact
Except Amir Johnson is better than Randle and would probably start. And there is a good chance Smart would start next to Russell in the backcourt. So it's definitely not a fact.
Amir Johnson is on his last legs. He can hardly keep KO off the court.
Brad doesnt play guys much if they are as lost on defense as Julius Randle is on a regular basis.
his rebounding prowess and ability to pass well would probably force him into the starting lineup eventually, but he would not get many minutes until he woke the **** up on defense.
Kelly and Amir are trash defensively at this point(physically) but they are intelligent enough to generally know where to be and to play solid team defense.
If you cant do that (randles shown no signs that he can) then you wont play much for any team that isnt just tanking (see Lakers, LA).
if we are gonna take this pointless hypothetical this literally you might as well factor that in.
Ok. I'm factoring that in. Randle would start for us. Smart wouldn't start for the Lakers.
yeah, I mean thats a fine opinion. I disagree with it completely, but we obviously arent going anywhere in this debate.
This is the difference....in the NBA you can start a young player that is ok on offense, rebounds, and gets lost on defense.
would now be a bad time to point out that Andre Roberson(career 26% 3 point shooter), a defensive specialist is starting and averaging 37mpg for the Thunder in the playoffs, while 6moty candidate Enes Kanter is coming off the bench for 12 minutes a game.
because while, Kanter can rebound and score decently well, he cant defend so when he is on the floor he gets attacked relentlessly. Roberson on the other hand can defend and for that reason hes been in their starting lineup for 2 years now.
if you want more examples of defensive specialists, how long has Tony Allen started for Memphis? how long has Lou Williams and Jamal Crawford come off the bench?
Greg Monroe and Jonas Valunciunas came off the bench today. Thon Maker started because he can defend. Malcom Brogdon? in there cus he defends. Norm Powell? defense. Tony Snell? in there for defense.
thats 4 young players getting the start because they defend while the 2 big men who can rebound well and score OK started on the bench, because defense gets you starts in the NBA when you actually care about winning.
Young players get minutes because of their defense. Either that or their team doesnt care about winning.
Hey if you think championship teams are built on the Tony Snells of the world more power to you. Give me Julius Randle.
not what I argued at all.
You stated you can start a young guy who sucks at D but can rebound and score decently.
I pointed out that historically winning teams have started their defensive specialists while theyve brought their scorers who cant defend off the bench.
If we can move away from this asinine "who would start argument" Id be happy to do so, but first youve just gotta admit that you were completely wrong that you can start a young dude that gets lost on defense. You can only do that if he is an absolutely elite offensive player. Randle isnt.
as for championships.
they are built on stars. Cle was based on Irving and James, GSW on Steph Klay and Dray, before them SAS was built on Kawhi and Timmy, keep going back and Miami was built on Lebron Wade and Bosh.
No championship is gonna be built on Julius Randle or Marcus Smart. They just arent superstars. Not even close.
who is more valuable to a championship team? a solid scorer who rebounds well and is lost on defense or an elite versatile defender?
I think the elite versatile defender is more valuable. It has been historicaly.
now if Randle improves his offense to the point where he becomes an elite scorer, then the dynamic changes. On the other hand, if Marcus can get to the point where he hits open catch and shoot threes, then the argument changes again.