I mean….we can call it whatever. Going from the the 1st or 2nd option to the 4th or 5th option and barely touching the ball is a big difference in my opinion.
If he plays the way he did last year in SAS he will end up hurting the offense. There’s a reason why his efficiency was woefully below league average last season despite a career year shooting from 3. Scoring the tough buckets and creating his own shot was very much part of his role for SAS.
Like you said, many have done this transition before and even if it is a much different role it might be just what he needs to keep his career. He’s already trending this way and if SAS wasn’t so terrible maybe he might have already made the drop to a 15 usage guy.
I have less worry about the role shift than I do about the age/injury situation…especially considering that most people seem to be banking on a big defensive upgrade. 35 is really getting up there. Unless it’s LeBron I have them in the “we’ll have to wait and see” category.
It's going to be really interesting to see if Gay and Clarkson can co-exist. I don't think Joe or Whiteside are going to get many shots when on the floor with those two guys.