If he’s ready, Casey will give him minutes. He’s shown no hesitation to play the other young guys minutes if they’ve shown they’re capable of handling them. I’m not worried about his development being hindered by the coaching staff as it hasn’t happened with any of the others IMO. I just don’t expect him to play a lot early because he is young. Big jump from the AAC to NBA, especially for an 18 year old that was originally going to be in the 22 recruiting class.
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Wow hang on … are you suggesting M Bagley is better than Nerlens Noel? Maybe this is my hot take but I actually don’t think so. I could be wrong.
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I guess I’d say I’m more sure Bagley will be available, and I think this off summer obviously indicates he’s higher in their plans. But if I needed to choose either for 1 game, knowing they are healthy, I’d choose Nerlens.
Will note though that Nerlens is basically what he is at this point (netting out to “ok”), and while I don’t thing Bagley is ok, I acknowledge the possibility at his age that his future potential is higher (I just don’t think he’ll get there), so for a team in their situation, I’d give him the nod over Nerlens too.
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Nerlens Noel has been in the league for 8 years and has gotten less playing time every season basically. His best two years were his first two, where he averaged 10pts / 8rebs a game in 30 minutes a night. The last 5 years have been 14-22 minutes a game and averaging under 5pts and just over 5rebs.
Bagley has played 4 seasons and played 25 minutes a game averaging 14pts/7rebs. Maybe Noel is better defensively, but Bagley gets more rebounds and blocks are 1 to just under 2, so it’s not like Noel is out there playing like Mutombo.
People like to dump on Bagley and obviously it was a mistake to draft him over Luka, but I definitely think there is potential there that he can be (is?) a better player than Nerlens Noel.
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Problem with Bagley as I said several times is he’s basically an undersized big who can’t defend. He is good for rim running lob threat but doesn’t offer much as a PF since he’s not a shooter. Other than rebounding and lob threat, he doesn’t hold much value in my eyes.
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To be fair, he has a very good post game too.
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I don’t disagree, but I just don’t see any major upside where I’d say Nerlens Noel is a better player. Bagley has a very good post game, is a good lob threat, and a good rebounder. Noel is not an elite defender to offset the fact he has no post game and might not even be as good of a rebounder.
For me, I would personally just play Duren more and have Beef Stew play at the 5 with Olynyk as part of the big rotation while Bagley can come in if they need an offensive boost but he would be at the back end of the bench.
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I highly doubt the Pistons just signed Bagley to his current contract to sit behind Noel. I think he will get every opportunity to show what he can develop into.
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My favorite game to play on the forums currently is intentionally not looking at this thread for a full week or so, letting the number of unread posts get into the 20s, and then grab a refreshing ice cold adult beverage and take a sip every time I see the word “Bagley”
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I’m still hoping they start Duren in the GLeague. Helps with roster composition and let’s him focus on his growth instead of team goals.
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There is around a 3 week lag from the start of the NBA season (mid October) to when the G League kicks off (beginning of November). Duren will need to start the season the NBA bench because of that. Then it will be all about how he looks to determine if he moves down for any time period.
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Makes sense. I guess this does away with “Livers is starting”.
I think it makes sense contract wise too. They pay Bojan $19 mil this year, and he’s a UFA, while Olynyk has 2 years at $13 mil apiece left - so they pay a little more this year to get the money off the books earlier.
Also, just, Bojan is more worth his deal than Kelly, is a better player at a position of more need for them, and if things go south, he’s pretty tradeable.
(edit: I had earlier made a comment that I didn’t understand “acquiring costly veterans” but when I looked at the terms of the deal, it’s totally sensible)
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Love the deal. Adds a needed shooter/scorer to the roster, plus Bojan is another expiring contract. A lot of money will be coming off the books after this season. Pistons should have another upcoming summer with money to play with and hopefully better options than they had this year
I do worry about them being, like, the 9th or 10th seed this year right now, which isn’t the most desirable place to finish, but its a minor concern.
Bojan is a good player, I wouldn’t hate them trying to bring him back after this honestly as they move closer to competing.
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Olynyk only had 3 mil guaranteed for next year if he was released by late June so it did free up a bit more money. Bogdanovic is probably more enticing to a team at the trade deadline as opposed to Olynyk though. Might be a path for Duren to see a few games this year as well. They still have Kemba on the books right now but he will be gone as well. Burks/Noel both have club options which I could see being declined. Pistons could have upwards of 80 million in cap space for next year.
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This has helped me realize that there’s a Bogdan Bogdanovic in the league as well as a Bojan Bogdanovic. I had been confused about that previously. I have a ways to go reacquainting myself with NBA rosters.
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Always confused me as well. Crazy thing is despite looking similar, they’re not related.
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Kinda torn between my opinion that Pistons should just be playing their young guys and finding out how that goes and seeing just how obvious the Bojan fit is. I don’t think he’s so good that it really changes that much and there probably are costs to not giving Cade the space he needs to get reps running the show like he will in his prime.
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