[Holdahl] “ @joshhart has earned it, he’s played well enough, he’s done a good job… Josh just gives us something we don’t have in the starting lineup.” — Chauncey Billups
“@joshhart has earned it, he’s played well enough, he’s done a good job… Josh just gives us something we don’t have in the starting lineup.” — Chauncey Billups https://t.co/liJSf1phTN
— Casey Holdahl (@CHold) October 9, 2022
by Damezang
7 Comments
[Highkin] Before training camp, the conventional wisdom was that while Hart may be the best of the three players, his ballhandling and shot-creation ability would be better suited for the second unit. The surprise emergence of second-year guard Keon Johnson as a viable rotation player has lessened that need and may point to Johnson seeing real minutes in the rotation once the regular season starts.
While Hart will begin the season as the starter, that status is far from set in stone for the entire year. Billups has hinted throughout camp that who starts at small forward on a night-to-night basis will be up in the air, and it could be a starter-by-committee situation depending on matchups.
“All three guys are going to have such a big impact on our team,” Billups said after the Blazers’ Saturday practice. “Whoever starts, who knows if they’ll finish? Who knows how many minutes they’ll play? We don’t know. But I really value all three guys, and for us to be a good team, they all have to play well.”
Source:
https://www.rosegardenreport.com/p/josh-hart-wins-job-trail-blazers-starting-small-forward-means
Thought for sure Nas would get a preseason start with the starters, but I guess not.
Checks out. Hart seems like the most ready to perform. He wants to start (as I’m confident the other candidates do too). Throw in that he’s a potentially a juicy trade asset that’s hungry to earn a big contract.
Checks pretty much every box. Wish Nas was a Little more healthy tho.
Who starts the most at SF this year? Obviously the three in contention, but who else? I’ll say GP2 and Sharpe get at least one
I understand – The starter level players want to start, and if they don’t, that causes problems.
But… That just creates even more questions going into the season.
Is POR hedging towards a longer term deal with Hart?
I definitely think this is a bad call. Now the starting lineup is small (where have we seen this before?) and the bench notably lacks scoring.
Little or Winslow should have gotten the start.
He deserves it but I’m worried about bench scoring right now. Nas, Winslow, GP2, Watford + rooks in Sharpe and Walker. There is a huge lack of floor spacer and self creators in that group.