– Does it means the end of our dream about a Mitch’s comeback?

– Does it means we’re not going to re-sign I-Hart?

– Does it means we’re going to re-sign I-Hart and we’re ready to make Mitch available in trades?

Uhm…

Difference with Hart is he was excellent last season after they traded for him and also had a great series vs Cleveland. So you don’t have to look too far back to see that he could be a very valuable player.

Yeah but we are never going to see Josh Hart be a 52% 3 pt sniper at high volume again.

And I’m not saying he isn’t valuable. As a backup forward who can spell both Randle and OG, he has a lot of value.

We’ve expanded his role too far, though. No guard minutes for Hart. Play Devo more. All i’m saying

Yesterday’s game was the best of the three times I’ve seen him live.

As usual he didn’t start, but helped by teammates’ foul troubles and injuries he did play 24 minutes, mainly as the main ballhandler.

In the 1st half he made a couple of alley-oops (one to our old pal Willy Hernangomez) and hit a nice floater from the side, but Barca was down by a lot.

He started the 2nd half and played 16 of the 20 minutes, orchestrating a fake comeback while activating former Wizards’ lottery bust Jan Vesely, who had a monster game, over and over.

He still looks reluctant to shoot if not forced or provided with miles of space and his shot looks a bit too “mechanical”, but his passing skills always shine and his ability to command the tempo looks better.

On the other side of the ball he defended very well, keeping his man in front most of the time (I did count only 2 times where he was beaten), very alert and quick on cuts/passing lanes and basically defending the 1-3 positions on players with different skills: former NBA PG/Guards Shabazz Napier and Rodney McGruder plus 6’7″ Olimpia’s star forward Shavon Shields, the one who gave him more troubles.

Final statline: 4 points on 2-6 2FG (but one is a tap-in with 00:00 on the clock), 4 rebs, 6 assists, a steal and +8.

My take: slightly more positive about his future, as far as a pass-first PG can be useful in the modern NBA. Maybe he can be “unlocked” and shoot more in the freeflowing NBA-Style. Defensive improvements looks real.

Some highlights, the Rokas-Vesely connection can be seen at 1:20, 2:00, 2:45.

https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/euroleague/videos/ea7-emporio-armani-milan-fc-barcelona-round-23-highlights-2023-24-turkish-airlines-euroleague/?feedId=60dee8825eb4fd8da365da78&title=Latest%20Videos

Side note: Jabari Parker was in the game, I remember him on the SI cover years ago, both alone (“The new LeBron?”) and with Wiggins, and it saddened me a bit…

There are few players I’d want on my team less than I want DLO.
One of the lowest BB-IQ in the League, streaky shooter, disinterested defender, trouble maker in the locker room, discarded with no regrets by every team he’s been on, always dangled in trades.

I know he can score and explode for 40 on any given night, but he’s the Michael Beasley of PGs and we’ve been down that road before…

Thibs would kill him after 2 practises and he’ll earn praises (and the presidential pardon) for it 🙂

Now obviously if he become a Knicks I will reluctantly root for him, but I trust Thibs to sparing me the trouble.

Also, I don’t like to trade with the Lakers because I hate the idea of “helping” them in any meaningful manner, no matter how little…