Watson May Not Be Back When Camp Starts

[theNBAnerd]

Earl shoots 34% from the field, and scored nearly a point less with 7 more minutes on average. Earl having a higher assist-percentage is very-much swayed by the fact that the dude has trouble scoring.




I know this has been said before, but if we could somehow mould Jamaal and Earl into one basketball player, we would have one of the best backups in the NBA.

again, i'm not saying anything about the overall comparison of earl vs. jamaal. i only chimed in that earl is a better facilitator.

 

[theNBAnerd]

In general, I don't think we have a 'point guard problem.' By that I mean: we have a capable starter and capable backups, but we don't want to see those backups start. Which means we're like most teams in the league. It would be nice if we were one of the small handful of teams with backups that had starter potential, but there are very few of those, and in the grand scheme you don't make big moves to get a backup PG like that. Little moves to upgrade, sure.

i kind of disagree... i think we borderline have a PG problem.

we'll see how it plays out, but right now i'm worried about the lack of a real floor general, starting or otherwise. mo does some things really well and in some ways is a clear upgrade over devin... but not as a playmaker. right now i see tons of people on this team that can score the ball when put in an optimal position, but not a whole lot of people who can put people in an optimal position to score the ball. that's not mo's strength, gordon has only done so sporadically, watson can but hurts our efficiency because he has no shot himself, tinsley is fading fast, and we THINK we can get foye/burks to provide some of that even though neither one has anything on their resume to indicate they can.

i'm not freaking out yet... but i think there's a chance we'll all be saying "uh oh" after a few games. hope i'm wrong.

Personally, I'm a little miffed we don't have a Scott Machado type developmental rookie for the 3rd guy (not that I really know much about him, only his reputation.) But since we're only trying to get through one season before we make bigger choices on the whole PG position, I'm basically OK with the Mo/Earl/Tinsley + committee. It's not ideal, but for this year I'll live with it.

this was absolutely what i wanted to have happen... i wanted the jazz to be in a position with the GS pick to get someone like marshall -- and when that didn't happen, i thought a young apprentice PG with natural playmaking skills should have been their first priority when looking at the undrafted pool (or even the second round). i wonder if they made a play for machado and houston just wooed him harder, or if they weren't interested in him.

 

[billyshelby]

I have the same concerns about our starting PG, but I was mostly talking about the backup PG positions. I have to assume Mo will be capable, but my biggest concern is his inability to drive. We have no drivers. I can't remember an NBA team that had no drivers in the starting unit.

That said, if Mo can't be a capable starter, then nobody we have will be able to fill that job, and we're basically screwed. But that's the bed we made and we're going to lie in it.

 

[theNBAnerd]

I have the same concerns about our starting PG, but I was mostly talking about the backup PG positions. I have to assume Mo will be capable, but my biggest concern is his inability to drive. We have no drivers. I can't remember an NBA team that had no drivers in the starting unit.

That said, if Mo can't be a capable starter, then nobody we have will be able to fill that job, and we're basically screwed. But that's the bed we made and we're going to lie in it.

exactly my concerns. even if we're decent with mo -- he does very little to set guys up, but maybe there's enough shoters that we'll make it work -- we're pretty much destined to be without him for some number of games. if we discount his rookie season with all the DNP-CDs, the guy has averaged 66 games over the last 8 seasons. he's never played a full season, and has only cleared 70 games once since his sophomore season. yikes.

so at some point, playing with watson/tinsley as the starter is almost a statistical inevitability.

mo's # of games missed by year:
25 (mostly/all DNP-CD)
2
24
14
16
1
13
24
14

 

[Med_Phys]

It may be a rough year, but it will all be forgotten after the Jazz bring in Curry or Lawson next summer, Mo is the backup and maybe one of Watson/Tinsley is brought back to be the 3rd PG.

 

[homeytennis]

Kyle Weaver perhaps learning the point?