Thesis: The Future of the WC (outside of the Pels) is Guard Heavy

[MichaelMcNamara]

When building a team, you should build the best team possible, of course. But baked inside of that is to build the best team possible to beat the teams you have to face. And when I look at the future of the Western Conference, once LBJ and Kawhi slowly fade out and AD goes back to Chicago, I see a conference that is very heavily skewed to the guard position. Yes, you have KAT and Jokic and maybe JJJ becomes a stud, but the guys who will clearly be a force in mid to late 2020s are: Ja, Luka, Booker, SVG, Mitchell, Murray, and Fox. And even when you look at this draft and 2021, the guys most likely to become studs are almost all guards.

While it is obvious that, right now, we dont have the big forward to defend the Lebrons or Kawhis of the world, I say -- Who cares? By the time we are competing, they will be gone. The guys we will have to get through are the ones I listed above, for the most part. So, why not get as many long perimeter guys who can move their feet and stay in front of those guards as possible? Just waves of guys to show them different looks. We already have Lonzo, Hart, and Didi, but I say add one or two more. You can never have enough if that is where the conference is going. I almost think of it like what the Pistons did with frontcourt defenders in the 80's, but do it for backcourt defenders. Just have tons of them - and with that in mind, I would heavily consider Josh Green and Devin Vassell in this years draft. And in a Jrue trade, I'd see if Mikal Bridges is a possibility and consider a Spurs trade with Dejonte Murray as a centerpiece

What other guys would you target if you agree with this premise and/or what other tactics can help slow down the guys likely to be the future of this conference?

[msusousaphone]

How do you feel about Didi? Is there real potential for him to be what we're hoping or is he more likely to not pan out?

I like what you're saying. I think you said something similar when discussing using Ball to help hide BI's defensive deficiencies in another thread. Loading up on guys like that to neutralize the strength of the conference is smart.

I also really like countering the trend. Like how we attempted to team up Boogie and AD while all of the other teams were going small ball. It was starting to work before Boogie went down. Having Zion is essentially going against the grain having that big bodied forward type while everyone else is going with great guard play. So if we go the direction you propose to counter their strengths while we also maintain ours......we should match up well against most teams.

[MichaelMcNamara]

How do you feel about Didi? Is there real potential for him to be what we're hoping or is he more likely to not pan out?

I like what you're saying. I think you said something similar when discussing using Ball to help hide BI's defensive deficiencies in another thread. Loading up on guys like that to neutralize the strength of the conference is smart.

I also really like countering the trend. Like how we attempted to team up Boogie and AD while all of the other teams were going small ball. It was starting to work before Boogie went down. Having Zion is essentially going against the grain having that big bodied forward type while everyone else is going with great guard play. So if we go the direction you propose to counter their strengths while we also maintain ours......we should match up well against most teams.

I think Didi has the IQ, the desire, and the effort. The IQ was the first thing I noticed in Summer League - the skill still needs to be improved and the body needs to fill out, but he understands the game and that is always the most important part of a role player foundation IMO. I think he can definitely be a guy who can defend a Luka, a Murray, a Mitchell or a Ja. Fox would be tough and Booker might be a little too big. But he could be our Raja Bell if he develops consistency with his outside shot

[JimmieZ]

I think Didi has the IQ, the desire, and the effort. The IQ was the first thing I noticed in Summer League - the skill still needs to be improved and the body needs to fill out, but he understands the game and that is always the most important part of a role player foundation IMO. I think he can definitely be a guy who can defend a Luka, a Murray, a Mitchell or a Ja. Fox would be tough and Booker might be a little too big. But he could be our Raja Bell if he develops consistency with his outside shot

Thank you for your take on Didi. I've been waiting for someone to give their take on him. I also agree that his summer league play displayed his IQ for the game. I would like to see him compete in the G-league to see how he does against stiffer competition.

[Pelicanidae]

Just to throw in another perspective on Didi:

Totally agree with MM that he shows a lot of hustle, effort, and 'want-to'. Has the frame needed to be a good defender, and obviously the hustle is a huge part of that: needs more strength, but he's built well with good shoulders and length.

Also totally agree that the skill needs to come around. He's really an off-ball player, he hasn't displayed much of an on-ball game in the NBL that would make me optimistic about it in the NBA against even more developed defenders, and the shot just didn't really pan out this year against NBL competition. He was a 37.1% 3PT shooter, but that looks better than it actually was: he shot 23/73 over the last 16 games of the season, for example, which is about 31.5%, which shows that he was having struggles over fairly long stretches.

Of course, everyone has hot and cold streaks, but for Didi, it was more like looooooong ice-cold streaks where his shooting percentage was propped up by the occasional magma-hot game: he had games where he shot 8/11 from 3, and 7/11 from 3, which really helped. In fact, if you remove just those two games alone, his overall percentage on the season drops from 62/164 (37.8%) to 47/142 (33.0%). That's a pretty huge plummet from removing just two games, and that 33.0% is probably more representative of where he's at right now.

Overall, I do think there might be something there, but there are lots of players where there might be something there and it just never quite clicks at the next level. I think it's probably a good thing to give him another season in the NBL and just see how the progression works out with some continuity, another year of growth and development, etc.