Will The Sixers INSANE 3-Guard Lineup Work?

Will The Sixers INSANE 3-Guard Lineup Work?

I’ve been waiting patiently for practice updates. The Sixers are finally back. Quinn Grimes is on the court and he’s saying all the right things because he was asked if there’s any hard feelings with the Sixers after contract negotiations. He stated, I mean, not at all. I’m here to play basketball. You know what I mean? I try to control what I can control and that’s how hard I go in the gym preparationwise working on my body and I leave that up to my agent in the front office. Hopefully, I’ll be back here longer. I wanted to be back here on a longer term deal, but I’m happy to be here right now and do everything I can to help this team win. Now, the big news coming out of practice today is it seems like we’re getting closer to the Sixers starting a threegard lineup, including Maxi, VJ, and Quinn Grimes. With the injuries to Paul George and Trendan Watford, also Trendan Watford has not started practicing and he will not be playing Friday against Orlando, it kind of makes sense that the Sixers will be rocking with a three-gard lineup. I said that immediately after watching the first preseason game. So to start out the game, VJ was getting the Mikuel Bridges matchup. He was guarding a small forward and honestly I think in this game you saw that he can potentially scale up to the three spot. Due to the injuries of Paul George and Jire Kane I think early on in the season you’re going to see the Sixers rely heavily on the Maxi Quinc Grimes and VJ Edgecomb three guard lineup. Kyle Newbeck also stated, “It also sounds more and more like Maxi and VJ are going to be starting together regardless of the rest of the roster.” Here’s Nick Nurse raving about the duo. Tyrese and VJ look very good and very comfortable out there doing kind of both things and I was we were hoping that was the case, but it looked to me like even know well advanced that’s going to be just fine. And I think it’s plays to their strengths. I mean, I think Tyrese, we showed last year, he needs to be off the ball some because of that speed into his shooting and turning the corners and things happens with him not having the ball some. Now, I’m going to be real. I think if everyone was healthy, VJ would be coming off the bench and Grimes would be starting, but as you know, that’s not the case. So, there’s a real opportunity for VJ to start opening night. And if he’s cooking, he’s certainly going to stay in that spot no matter what. I’m really hoping they start the three guard lineup against Orlando. That’s a really big test in terms of can they hold up against a team with size. Orlando actually played one preseason game against the Miami Heat so far as I’m recording this video. They started Taius Jones, Desmond Bane, Paulo Bancero, Tristan Dilva, and Wendell Carter. I anticipate that Fron Vagner will make his debut against the Sixers. Therefore, there’s a chance that you see Paulo and Fron on the floor together against a three guard lineup. That’s a real test and that’s what I want to see to be honest and it most likely means you’re gonna see VJ guarding Fron Vagner. That’s probably going to be his matchup. Now the question is who would you start next to those two? Now personally I would start Jabari Walker at the power forward spot. I honestly believe he’s the best rebounder out of Drummond Bona and Dominic Barlo. Speaking of Barlo, I would start him at the five. So pretty much you have three guards and two power forwards or I would say two tweeners because you can make a case Jabari Walker’s better at the five than the four. Same with Dominic Barlo. For me a big issue against the Knicks was the offense was terrible and mostly because the spacing was putting them in a bad spot right away. It was almost like you can’t expect that much when you got Barlo on the court. You got Kelly Ubé and you got Andre Drummond. All terrible shooters. But on top of that, Andre Drummond, Bona, and Kelly Ubé really don’t bring anything passing wise to the table. And to me, they weren’t doing enough defensively. They weren’t rebounding enough for me to be like, “Oh, I’m so afraid to sacrifice size because we’re not going to rebound.” I’m just like, “Yeah, even if we have our tallest players on the court, our thickest players, we still ain’t rebounding.” So to me, it’s like, okay, let’s have the best spacing offensively and hopefully that can help in all aspects. So hopefully that makes sense. I also believe Jabari Walker out of Kelly Ubé, Bona, Barlo, and Drummond, he’s the best passer of the group. Also the best shooter, and he can screen and roll, pop, whatever. He’s very versatile as a player. And I think if you were to start Bona, you’re looking at his rim protection, his offensive rebounding, his hustle, his energy. But I’m looking at Dominic Barlo and I see the same types of things, but I think he’s better, more versatile as a defender. He can extend to the perimeter more often. And Bona to me just hasn’t improved enough in terms of, you know, staying out of foul trouble for me to be like, “Oh, he has to start.” I think he’s just best served as a bench player no matter who’s healthy as of now. So, that’s my thinking behind that. Let me know your thoughts below. Now, who do I think they’re going to start with the three guards? I would assume Kelly Ubé, which I think would be a terrible idea because he doesn’t bring shooting. He doesn’t bring size to the table. He’s undersized as a power forward, not a quick decision maker, and a lot of times he wants to get his at the end of shot clocks instead of giving it up to somebody else. At this point, I just think he’s better served as a bench player, no matter who’s healthy. I think Nick Nurse and the Sixers tend to overrate UB’s defense. It’s like he’s fine, but he’s nothing special. He’s very aggressive. He gets deflections, but overall to me, he’s not enough on that end to be like, “Oh yeah, he has to play 30 minutes a night.” Like, his offense is just too limited. But I think that’s why Nick Nurse starts him because he sees the deflections and he likes his hustle and energy on that end. And then lastly, if I were to guess at the center spot, he’s either going to start Barlo or Bona. I would lean towards Bona. And honestly, I would be fine with Bona. It’s not really a problem to me. The main thing is I think Jabari Walker with the three guards based on who we have right now available. I would start Jabari Walker just because he can shoot the three ball, be a connector. Also, one of our better rebounders. I think the issue that Jabari struggles with is just bringing it every single night. Like, he’s got the capability. I just think consistency is a problem and confidence is an issue. I remember day one of practice, Nick Nurse was raving about Dominic Barlo, did not mention Jabari Walker at all. And then day two, he mentioned Jabari Walker as a standout. And he was saying, “Oh, we need to see this type of energy every day from him. He’s capable.” It seems like at times Jabari Walker struggles with confidence. I think you see that in his three-point percentage. Like he needs that Trendan Watford irrational type confidence or Kelly Ubé. Those two haven’t seen a shot they don’t enjoy. But yeah, Jabari Walker has a great opportunity in my opinion because the Sixers just badly need his skill set, especially with Trendan Watford out of the equation as of now. Now that we covered all that, let’s talk about Joel Embiid and Paul George. So according to Kyle Newbeck, Joel Embiid practiced today and has continued to increase activity. Still needs to check more boxes before he’s available. George still doing individual oncourt workouts, working toward getting integrated into team workouts in the coming days. I feel like Embiid’s very unpredictable. I wouldn’t be shocked if he suits up night one, but I also wouldn’t be shocked if we don’t see him for a month and a half. But Paul George, I think he’s going to be back like a week into the season. Hopefully, when he hops into team drills, five on five, he doesn’t have any setbacks. That’s like the most important thing. But yeah, that’s all I got. Let me know your thoughts below in the comments section. Orlando Magic on Friday. I’m excited. Watch out for Jace Richardson. I watched their first preseason game. He was he was unbelievable. I won’t lie. Their starters didn’t look that great against the Heat. But also, Fron was not in the lineup. And I have no clue where Jaylen Suggs is. And I just assume he’s not healthy because he’s just like Paul George and Embiid. That’s all I got though.

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