I actually agree with Stone that the main issue is not the lack of PG. But what he seems to ignore or not want to admit is the lack of backcourt depth. The glaring problem was there even before FVV went down. We only had four guys who can play backcourt on both ends: FVV, Amen, Reed, Holiday. Everybody else are wings/forwards who either can't handle the ball or can't defend the perimeter full time. And one of those four guys (Amen) can't shoot from outside. Another of those guys (Reed) just got off of a rookie season that hardly saw the floor. And another of those guys (Holiday) is a 9th of 10th man on a good team. Yet, he used those roster spots and apron space to get DFS and Capela. When one of those four guys had a season ending injury, he didn't think the situation (having only three players who can play backcourt on both ends and one of them can't shoot) could be or should be dealt with. Instead he conceded the season as not our year.
Exactly this. Many of us were banging the drum for more backcourt depth the year before. I really didn’t have a problem with signing DFS before the extent of his injury was known as Tari insurance or even Capella, but he mis-managed the salary cap to prevent him from making a move for backcourt help. I think probably because he didn’t want somebody that might prove to be better than FVV which would upset Ime, and, Reed which would make him look bad. More and more, I think Stone is just trying to milk the team for as much money as he can, before he is inevitably let go. I don’t know if he was responsible for the Ime and FVV extensions or not, but if he was those were both fireable mistakes and if he didn’t have responsibility then he is not really the GM.
The whole point of Reed, Amen, and Sengun is to do more than just shoot, defend, and score (respectively) but to playmake as well. Kinda hard to actually develop that and assess that when your roster has a traditional back up PG. If we were truly competing then our roster wouldn't be so lopsided. A lot of yall cant come to terms with that fact despite that FO's actions telling you exactly that.
FVV was never meant to be a lead offensive player, he had to play that role in 2024 season because the young core couldn't. A lot of players are easily upgradeable talent wise.... but that pesky cap and convincing teams to trade you those players is the issue. Nothing included the young core taking a leap..... let's not be ignorant here about our roster construction and the whole point of the young core.
FVV does provide a steady hand and a more intact roster. It wouldn't bother me if his contract became a $25,000,000 expiring, but that won't happen. FVV is definitely Ime's boy. He's Blackthorne to Toranaga. (In the book "Shogun", Toranaga had Blackthorne's ship burned in secret because "Blackthorne makes him laugh, and [Toranaga] needed one friend"). Or FVV is viewed as Mighty Mouse. "Here I come to save the day!"
If you legitimately think he didn’t bring in backcourt depth because said depth might be better than FVV and that would make Ime mad, then you have completely lost the plot. Self-evidently ridiculous. Just read what you wrote.
My question for Stone would’ve been: Do you have any plans to move up in the draft so you can once again select someone and hype him up to fans to an insane amount, only to have him eventually underperform and disappoint everyone?
That is contradictory of what was communicated before the season. We were supposed to be in the last phase of rebuild. We traded for Durant, a star who is at the end of his career. What does that tell you? And then when FVV went down, he conceded that this was not our year implying that if Fred was healthy we would be contending. If he believed we were going to contend, why was he not going all in to construct a contending roster rather than leaving the backcourt to two unproven guys with an aging average PG? If he believed a lopsided roster like that could be good enough to contend, then he was self-deluded.
What CFers hoped to hear: "Well, Alpi still can't defend and Ime and I will puke if we have to watch him whine to the refs for another season, so he's definitely on the chopping block. And watching Reed run around like a lost crackhead ferret on defense is so painful that even his occasional steals and hot shooting streaks don't make us want to keep him around. We're certainly not thrilled that Tari decided to take a couple of months of vacation time during the season, so he won't be wearing one of these god-awful uniforms from the early 2000s again next year. Amen showed glimpses -- glimpses of maybe being able to hit a shot from farther than 5 feet from the rim, so who knows with him? Jabari? Don't make us laugh -- KD was right, and we're trying to arrange for him to attend a school for 'special' children over the summer. Literally no one on this team is safe, with the obvious exception of Ime and myself. And Patrick Fertitta, our nepo hire."
I think a lot of y'all truly don't appreciate how much this team lacks what FVV brings and it manifests in odd ways. It's not that FVV is the darling child... the young core simply hasn't shown they can consistently playmake and consistently play team defense.
This can easily be solved by bringing on an OC as an assistant coach. To me it is that simple. Bring in a Borrego for the Xs and Os and let Udoka CEO manage the team. Udoka had Will Hardy and Damon Stoudamire in Boston. He has had that set up before.
That would take an admission from Udoka that he's in over his head when it comes to offense, and nothing I've ever heard him say makes me think he's capable of acknowledging (or even thinking) that. He's an arrogant mfer.
Or the Fertittas actually being good owners and diagnosing an organizational problem then doing something to address it. ...Well, f**k.
Yeah, until they get that, I'll be out on this team. Stonedoka has no vision in constructing a championship team - they can only evaluate talent & contracts & throw it at the wall hoping it works. And that's just not going to work in this league.
I don't think so, they never said they were going all in. You may have took their statements at that but I prefer looking at actions over press conferences. Just because we are in the last phase of the rebuild, doesn't mean we are going to overpay or blow our assets this season.
Nobody is asking them to overpay. All we are saying is that why the heck is the roster so unbalanced? Why keep guys like DFS and Capela (who aren't even that good at what they are supposed to do) and not some better guard helps?
Trading him at the deadline to an almost-contender is probably our best shot at getting something of real value in return.
