I will say this-- I think there is a lot that needs to be said about how enlightening it can be for a team when their young players are forced into big minute roles. We're kinda seeing this right now in the playoffs-- I'm not sure anyone in the world thought that Biyombo could do what he's doing right now, sustained over 40 minutes a game. And if it wasn't for Val going down, there's a damn good chance that no one ever would. Val was cleared to play, and didn't even get a single minute off the bench, even though last round he was arguably saving the Raptors from elimination while Lowry and DDR were M.I.A.
Biyombo hasn't changed as a player from a month ago to where he is now-- it's just that the opportunity presented itself, and the stability of role is bringing him comfort and confidence.
That's how I feel about Lyles. Signing Tobias Harris really didn't seem at all like a sensible fit on offense-- and it's obvious that Lyles' development got accelerated once he got steady minutes while DFav sat out with injuries.
We are now at the point where as a team Lyles has basically filled the role that Harris would normally play, and I'm not sure anyone would want him on the contract that he's currently on. I think most of us prefer Lyles to Tobias being our 3rd big moving forward. Many wouldn't have said that at the start of the season-- ppl were worried he couldnt even shoot over 30% from 3 thanks to his college numbers.
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I think that the truth lies somewhere in the middle. A blind devotion to the young core the team has assembled w/o care for additional asset acquisition is narrow-minded and a recipe for treadmilling in terms of team success. Every offseason there are role players who are bought low and end up being key cogs for competitive teams-- and the onus is on every FO to make sure they're scouring the league for those players.
But I think it's important to assert that we're talking about role players here. Boston is probably the most bullish when it comes to player acquisition-- but if you roam through that roster, you'll find that most players acquired outside of the draft were cast-offs from a former team (Jerebko, Turner, Isaiah Thomas, Amir Johnson, Crowder, Zeller). It's much more easy to work with asserting roles onto these sorts of players & giving them bench roles the the likes of Demarre. You think he's gonna choose coming off the bench in Utah over starting in Toronto?
Yes, the argument that says the signed contracts from last offseason are moveable and we still get a net positive out of them in terms of assets is super valid-- although I would also enjoy seeing a list of max-deals that have been traded before their first year completes. But personally I would rather side with a promising year of Trey Lyles development than ending the season with a crippled Brandon Jennings and the oft-injured Ersan Ilyasova. Some wold argue that the presence of Harris wouldn't have inhibited Trey's development-- and with that I disagree.
I'm more upset with not making a bigger acquisition at the deadline than just Shelvin Mack. Acquiring a wing with any semblance of offense would have been a godsend. We had the assets for it. In July we figured we'd have Dante and Burks for an entire season, and we lost both. For DL's vantage point it seems like he overvalued team chemistry, and understood not being hesitant to acquire roster depth. I guess we'll see if he meant it this coming offseason.
I've been saying this for weeks now. If Hayward leaves, this rebuild is a dumpster-fire. The team really needs to show him that they're for real. 2017 is a big year. Fortunately, they're really well equipped to take that next step. A couple of decisions here and there will explode the potential of this group. I'd consider banishing Exum to the bench and picking up Conley (although it's unlikely he comes here) if that's what it takes to keep Gordon.
