PG: Chalmers, Billups
SG: Tyreke, DeRozan
SF: Caron, (TBD)
PF: Rashard, Terrence Jones
C: A.Bynum, Kaman
Marcin Gortat as trade fodder for an upgrade at either forward position.
I would also considering waiving Aminu for a better win-now option at SF. Someone like James Jones would be a nice addition for you. A terrific three point shooter to space the floor for Tyreke and A.Bynum.
Who, do you think this lineup might be successful in maximizing Tyreke's skills/potential? You'd mentioned earlier that finding the right for Tyreke is difficult.
Ideally, what you want with Tyreke are guys who are comfortable playing off a ball-dominant perimeter player. Guys who can create good spacing for you offensively with their shooting ability. And guys who can defend and rebound their position.
What you want to avoid are players who make his life difficult.
In Sacramento, that was Marcus Thornton and John Salmons. Two heavy shot-takers who do not pass the ball. For score first guard with sketchy decision-making, pairing him with those type of perimeter players absolutely killed Sacramento's ball-movement and offensive cohesiveness. Needs lower usage perimeter guys.
So here in OKC, you want to change the DeRozan and Caron starting wing combo. You can't use Tyreke at PG alongside those guys without your ball movement going down the tank. So I would drop DeRozan to the bench and move Mario Chalmers in there (there is no good option backing up the wing). Chalmers has the perfect skill-set to operate alongside ball-dominant wings as shown in Miami with Wade and LeBron. Both as an offensive player and a good defender/rebounder.
The second issue offensively is having proper floor spacing from your big men. Tyreke's dribble penetration game declines when you pair with him bigs who can't space the floor and increases considerably when he does have good floor spacing (Hawes).
In Sacramento, they brought in JJ Hickson (who can't shoot) + Chuck Hayes (who can't shoot) in addition to Jason Thompson (a below average but serviceable jumper) and DeMarcus Cousins (below average shooter but takes a lot of them). And they screwed over the spacing for Tyreke and again made his life increasingly difficult.
For OKC, Andrew Bynum is guy who needs to operate the vast majority of his time within 10 feet of the basket so that floor spacing needs to come from your power forward. Gortat doesn't provide. Kaman is similar to Jason Thompson (in terms of jump-shooting) and that isn't good enough. So I would go with Rashard Lewis who is clearly a terrific floor-spacer at PF.
That is why I choose the players I did in that starting lineup.
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I think that lineup would get a really good performance out of Tyreke Evans.
Some concerns about the defense/rebounding at the forward positions. I'd rather a lower usage SF than Caron Butler as my starter with Caron Butler as my sixth man. But overall, a well functioning lineup that will get a very strong performance out of Tyreke Evans.
Topic: 2012 - CB draft board "Let's get it on!" (Read 1073612 times)