Dragic comes off the bench. How about doing the same with Walker?

[jambr380]

The one thing we can say about Kemba so far is that he looks fantastic physically. That was [rightfully] everybody's main concern with him coming back. Now it is just going to take a little time to get him more consistent and to get him in the right spots to succeed.

I agree that Tatum and Brown should be initiating more of the offense, but it's not like Kemba sucks off-ball either. I think it would be best to keep rolling with the three of them starting and ending each game with two of them on the court at all times the rest of the time. It becomes a lot less 'crowded' that way.

[wdleehi]

We have seen how good a lineup of Walker, Smart, Brown, Tatum and Theis can be.   Why mess with that starting lineup?

[Atzar]

We have seen how good a lineup of Walker, Smart, Brown, Tatum and Theis can be.   Why mess with that starting lineup?

We lost a couple of games, so we need to uproot the starting lineup, bench everybody who had a bad game, fire Stevens, fire Ainge, and suspend Tom Brady four games for being generally aware of the situation. 

[Who]

Dragic was moved to the bench because he was getting old and was no longer quick enough to stay in front of starting PGs on defense. It was a demotion due to a decline in talent.

This is not the same situation as we have with Kemba Walker. Kemba can still do his job at high level and does not deserve to be demoted.

[RodyTur10]

We have seen how good a lineup of Walker, Smart, Brown, Tatum and Theis can be.   Why mess with that starting lineup?

Last year that line-up had a net rating of +4.6. That's good, but not great.
Our best line-ups last year were the 'bench' units lead by Tatum with Kanter and Wanamaker.
But the line-up that outplayed other teams for long periods was Walker - Smart/Brown - Tatum - Hayward - Theis (+13.4 / +10.7).

This year, in of course small sample sizes, line-ups with the duo Tatum/R.Williams accompanied by above average defenders has yielded some crazy results so far.

Examples:

Teague/Smart/Brown/Tatum/R.Williams 140.0 OR / 70.8 DR / + 69.2 NR (11 minutes)
Pritchard/Ojeleye/Tatum/G.Williams/R.Williams 123.8 OR / 55.0 DR / + 68.8 NR (10 minutes)

[LilRip]

Pass on this idea

Kemba needs to start. But the coaching staff needs to do a better job at making him a threat off the ball. A fairly common occurrence I see happening is when Kemba doesn’t have the ball, he tries to shake his man loose with a series of jukes and if he catches it, great! If the ball goes elsewhere, he puts his head down and walks to the corner like “ok, I tried. Let’s iso somewhere else on the floor”.

With the rise of the Jays, Kemba needs to start filling in that Ray Allen/Klay Thompson role. They don’t always have the ball but it’s always scary when they’re on the floor and they still get their numbers.

[gouki88]

I think Kemba is perfectly suited to starting alongside our guys at this stage. Smart taking 15 shots is way more concerning than Kemba starting. Smart should quite literally never shoot more than 10 shots if Tatum, Brown and Kemba are playing.

[PAOBoston]

This is a ludicrous notion. Pritchard is not a starter. Kemba was an all star last year. All NBA the year before. He’s a starter. He’s a better player. This is crazy talk.

[Tr1boy]

This is a ludicrous notion. Pritchard is not a starter. Kemba was an all star last year. All NBA the year before. He’s a starter. He’s a better player. This is crazy talk.

Making the all star team has more to do with individual popularity

Scoring 40 points/putting up stats but losing..... doesn't mean the player knows how to win

Btw you don't know that Pritchard is not a starter.   Not sure how you already came to this conclusion

[gouki88]

This is a ludicrous notion. Pritchard is not a starter. Kemba was an all star last year. All NBA the year before. He’s a starter. He’s a better player. This is crazy talk.

Making the all star team has more to do with individual popularity/skills

Scoring 40 points/putting up stats but losing..... doesn't mean the player knows how to win

Btw you don't know that Pritchard is not a starter.   Not sure how you already came to this conclusion

Bruh

Since 2016-17 (302 regular season games) Kemba Walker has averaged 23/6/4 on an EFG of 52%. The eye test and both simple and advanced metrics indicate that he is one of the elite offensive guards in the league, while playing solid to below-average defence based on match-ups.

I love Pritchard, but he's a rookie averaging 8/3/2 in 20MPG. Stop it.

[Tr1boy]

Dragic was moved to the bench because he was getting old and was no longer quick enough to stay in front of starting PGs on defense. It was a demotion due to a decline in talent.

This is not the same situation as we have with Kemba Walker. Kemba can still do his job at high level and does not deserve to be demoted.

Really? because he didn't look like he missed a step vs the Celtics in the playoffs.  He torched the Celts frankly

He may not be quick to stay in front of some of the younger guards. But is less of a liability/better defender than Walker

[PAOBoston]

This is a ludicrous notion. Pritchard is not a starter. Kemba was an all star last year. All NBA the year before. He’s a starter. He’s a better player. This is crazy talk.

Making the all star team has more to do with individual popularity

Scoring 40 points/putting up stats but losing..... doesn't mean the player knows how to win

Btw you don't know that Pritchard is not a starter.   Not sure how you already came to this conclusion

Just stop. On no planet should a healthy Kemba come off the bench for a rookie point guard. Pritchard might be a nice rotation guy some day. If he’s starting permanently, something is gone horribly wrong and the Cs are likely a lottery team.

[Tr1boy]

This is a ludicrous notion. Pritchard is not a starter. Kemba was an all star last year. All NBA the year before. He’s a starter. He’s a better player. This is crazy talk.

Making the all star team has more to do with individual popularity/skills

Scoring 40 points/putting up stats but losing..... doesn't mean the player knows how to win

Btw you don't know that Pritchard is not a starter.   Not sure how you already came to this conclusion

Bruh

Since 2016-17 (302 regular season games) Kemba Walker has averaged 23/6/4 on an EFG of 52%. The eye test and both simple and advanced metrics indicate that he is one of the elite offensive guards in the league, while playing solid to below-average defence based on match-ups.

I love Pritchard, but he's a rookie averaging 8/3/2 in 20MPG. Stop it.

You said pretty much the  same things defending Kyrie Irving

How did that turn out?  It just hurt the development of Tatum/Brown

I'm not pressing that this idea happens. But some teams do it. Like the Heat

Btw you know Pritchard is capable of more if he wasn't held back/pigeon holed into a corner 3 pt shooter.   We already witnessed it during the 5 game winning streak.   He has excellent floor vision/strategy

   

[RodyTur10]

This is a ludicrous notion. Pritchard is not a starter. Kemba was an all star last year. All NBA the year before. He’s a starter. He’s a better player. This is crazy talk.

Making the all star team has more to do with individual popularity/skills

Scoring 40 points/putting up stats but losing..... doesn't mean the player knows how to win

Btw you don't know that Pritchard is not a starter.   Not sure how you already came to this conclusion

Bruh

Since 2016-17 (302 regular season games) Kemba Walker has averaged 23/6/4 on an EFG of 52%. The eye test and both simple and advanced metrics indicate that he is one of the elite offensive guards in the league, while playing solid to below-average defence based on match-ups.

I love Pritchard, but he's a rookie averaging 8/3/2 in 20MPG. Stop it.

You said pretty much the  same things defending Kyrie Irving

How did that turn out?  It just hurt the development of Tatum/Brown

I'm not pressing that this idea happens. But some teams do it. Like the Heat

Btw you know Pritchard is capable of more if he wasn't held back/pigeon holed into a corner 3 pt shooter.   We already witnessed it during the 5 game winning streak.   He has excellent floor vision/strategy.

Pritchard has already shown to be a great pick. His comparison is Fred VanVleet, but I'd say Pritchard has a better handle and better court vision than him. Pritchard has to cut down his turnovers, but he can clear that up with more experience. VanVleet is an underrated defender, so there's work on that department for Pritchard although we know Payton is a workhorse.

I'm definitely thinking Pritchard can be a 6th man or a starting level point guard in this league. If he wasn't on a playoff team and be getting 30 MPG I'd imagine he would be an all-rookie 1st team option. Aside from Tyrese Haliburton he's the most efficient rookie.

[gouki88]

This is a ludicrous notion. Pritchard is not a starter. Kemba was an all star last year. All NBA the year before. He’s a starter. He’s a better player. This is crazy talk.

Making the all star team has more to do with individual popularity/skills

Scoring 40 points/putting up stats but losing..... doesn't mean the player knows how to win

Btw you don't know that Pritchard is not a starter.   Not sure how you already came to this conclusion

Bruh

Since 2016-17 (302 regular season games) Kemba Walker has averaged 23/6/4 on an EFG of 52%. The eye test and both simple and advanced metrics indicate that he is one of the elite offensive guards in the league, while playing solid to below-average defence based on match-ups.

I love Pritchard, but he's a rookie averaging 8/3/2 in 20MPG. Stop it.

You said pretty much the  same things defending Kyrie Irving

How did that turn out?  It just hurt the development of Tatum/Brown

I'm not pressing that this idea happens. But some teams do it. Like the Heat

Btw you know Pritchard is capable of more if he wasn't held back/pigeon holed into a corner 3 pt shooter.   We already witnessed it during the 5 game winning streak.   He has excellent floor vision/strategy

 

Some teams, like the Heat, are also basement-dwellers. In the playoffs, Dragic started, because he’s their best PG. We should use our playoff lineup now considering how disjointed our start has been with injuries and Covid.