It’s pretty clear Ajay has been our 3rd best player most of the season, and he’s been just as good with Shai with him. He’s earned the opportunity to be a full time starter on this team.
He’s also a great perimeter defender so it doesn’t hurt us is we have to bench someone like Dort.
The numbers back it up as well, what do you guys think?
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I agree, but highly doubt they actually do it.
The problem isn’t if he’s good enough or deserves to start, the problem is it fucks our second units offense. He’s too good at controlling the minutes we need him the most at to justify moving him to the starting line-up.
He should be closing more though, but our closing line-up is more situational.
Ajay starting would completely derail the second unit. There’s times his shot creation is the only offense on the floor
We need his assertiveness to counter balance Shai, not complement it
Do we start Caruso over Dub because of this? +/- ignores the quality of opponents you play. Starters generally play higher quality players, which are harder to score against. In SGA Ajay minutes Ajay is playing much worse opponents than he typically would because SGA is a bigger target and the opponents have some bench players in.
If we overlap their minutes then we lose a point guard for the second unit. Ajay is also clearly doing well with the second unit so why change that up?
https://preview.redd.it/ozuvc4gzmsbg1.png?width=1069&format=png&auto=webp&s=1456aa139bd5575b59120bf3525c20d9aa6f6869
Aight lemme get ahold of Mark real quick and tell him you’ve made a decision.
The organization clearly has these numbers and even more advanced analytics helping drive their decision making. Everything has a trade off, and for as long as I’ve been a Thunder fan, trusting the front office and coaching staff has worked out well.
Need another knock down shooter starting lui dort be bricking
Dub comes off the bench until he looks like an nba player again.
If you’re going to play Dort at all, you need him to defend starters
I love the lets start ajay and let our bench unit get fucked type mentality
” if they start that doesnt mean they dont play with the bench” well… it means theres less time with the bench..
Can’t believe we got such a fucking dawg in the second round. Presti Magic.
I don’t think it matters if he starts or not actually. I think it’s more important that the minutes are staggered appropriately between he and Shai so we can have an offending engine at all times on court.
I also think it will help a lot when IHart comes back as he’s a criminally underrated (and sometimes underused) interior playmaker. Last year it helped staggering Shai/Chet and Dub/IHart. Something similar with Ajay would be great until Dub gets his confidence / form back.
My preferred starting lineup
1. Shai
2. Chet
3. JDub
4. Ajay
5. Cason/Caruso/IHart
The top 4 aren’t really negotiable. Then the 5th slot would be matchup dependent with Cason/Caruso starting if we need more of a perimeter defender and IHart starting if we want to go double bigs. I think Lu Dort still has potential coming off the bench but he hasn’t put up starter level play all season.
Lineup isn’t the issue, there’s just multiple guys that are starting and on the bench that are playing significantly below their actual skill levels. Dort, J Dub, Chet are all playing worse than they should be playing. Caruso, Wiggins, and honestly Cason are all playing worse than they should be as well. If Shai ever has an off night it’s just a loss at this point, and even when he is balling out it’s not a guaranteed win. Shai needs the people around him to play like they are actually worth their contracts.