Our starting forwards scored 12 points on 24 shots while their counterparts scored 46 on 34.

BTW, I had asked how many teams have worse starting C’s than Mitch (statistically, not potential-wise) and no one responded. Let me give you a hint, you won’t need all five fingers on one hand to count them.

Sorry Z-Man I missed the question…

I’m reasonably sure on Toronto (even if Birch killed us), Charlotte, Detroit and OKC,
plus MEM (even if Adams is in steep decline) and SA are really close,
then it depends if you consider Green and Davis the starting centers for Warriors and Lakers instead of Looney and DAJ.

In some cases it depends on personal taste, for instance I like Claxton (not a starter), both Gafford and a healthy Thomas Bryant (both criminally underrated) or old-style guys like Valanciunas and Nurkic more.

But yesterday he wasn’t the problem, he had a decent if inconstant game.

Outside of trading him, which they should do, I don’t see any way to significantly reduce his role.

swiftandabundant:
We were 5-1 now we’re 7-6. Ya need to cool it with the hot takes. If were 8-12 then we can start to panic.

That 7-6 is a house of cards. We won 2 games by surviving opposing last possessions, and played the Sixers and Bucks without their best players. I’m not panicking about Randle or RJ, but even if they start heating up, the starting lineup is not going to win us games. Kemba is shot, and we have a C that does nothing outside the restricted area. That’s a problem you would have to be blind not to see.

Raven: Alright, TeaseMan. I’ll bite. How.

I cound not possibly have much patience with “the worst defensive starting 5 in NBA history.” Kemba simply cannot be in the starting lineup, if on the court at all. Don’t let yesterday’s hot start fool you. He had what I’d call a Jimmer Fredette game. In the 2nd half, we gave up that lead in a blink of an eye.

The easiest fix would be to replace both Kemba and Fournier in the starting lineup. Personaly, I’d try running McBride out there. Deuce could not possibly be a worse player overall than Elfrid was, and that seemed to work last year. I’d probably flip-flop Burks and Fournier next. This would take some defensive pressure off of RJ and Fournier could be the Burks of the 2nd unit.

Alternatively, I’d at least flip Kemba and Fournier with Rose and IQ. And when Mitch comes back, I’d flip-flop Noel and Mitch in the starting lineup to see what worked best.

I would relegate Kemba to “situational” right next to Taj. Clearly Thibs can’t/won’t do that until he can convince management that Kemba is costing the team game after game. But right now, Kemba is an overpaid vet’s minimum flyer kind of player. Maybe he builds on what he did in the first half last night, but I doubt it.

Another solution would be to play Kemba 40 minutes a night until the inevitable chronic soreness builds up to the point that you can gracefully bench him (or he miraculously rejuvinates himself!)

So it’s an easy fix, alas, one that has zero chance of being implemented.

The pace was great through most of the 4th Q. Fast breaks, dribble penetration, etc. Then Randle comes back in and the ball just stops. Either he’s walking it up court or we’re waiting 10 seconds for him to post up 20 feet from the basket. Nobody cuts. At best they swirl around the perimeter waiting for a kickout.

Individually he’s still putting up decent numbers. He just sucks out the energy.