pezsez1 wrote: Tue Apr 21, 2026 2:55 pm
It may not be the kind of logjam you want, but it's a logjam, nonetheless. We'll have three guys who need major rotation minutes at a single position, and that just doesn't math out.
We're seeing right now (and we've been seeing it for a while) why we can't simply play Jru out of position at the 2.
I don't know what the heck you are seeing in your Dame-colored glasses, but that line-up with Jrue and Scoot starting is how they won all those games down the stretch and jumped two spots in the standings to get into the playoffs, where they have won two of three games so far. Even with Shaedon back, they are still doing it. It's safe to say Coach Tiago disagrees with you. Jrue is older now, but as Wemby found out tonight, still a smart defender even of taller opponents. If Sharpe's bad defense and subsequent benching is any indicator, it seems doubtful that Lillard will be starting if Jrue and Scoot are healthy as long as Splitter is the coach. Dame's matador defense doesn't fit the scheme or the ethos this team has going now.
Do me a favor and watch the last eight minutes of this game again. Jrue is the main reason they turned the game around and got out of that 13-point hole. He was the Jruth: still getting it done on both ends. He might get traded because of his salary, but not because of Lillard.
By the way, I have been hard on Cronin this year because of that awful offseason, but his decisions look a little better tonight. Drafting Scoot looks better, trading for RWIII looks better, getting Toumani thrown into that Nurk deal, trading picks for Avdija and his unbelievable contract. Finding Clingan in a weak draft. Even trading Simons for Jrue looks better tonight (Drafting Hansen and waiving Ayton were still stupid). Say what you want about him, but he built this out of the ruins of the Olshey/Lillard years. Tonight they looked like an honest-to-goodness playoff team, and Cronin has been promoted from 'Sad Excuse for a GM who Should be Escorted from the Premises' to 'Mixed Bag GM who Follows up Good Trades with Lapses into Total Insanity'. Letting Splitter take over and the way the playoff run worked out with everyone getting healthy at the right time have vindicated him to some degree. We'll see if that's enough to keep his job.
