Jazz and Rice

[elindholm]

How come everyone is saying that the Jazz will dump Rice rather than keeping him this season? It's hardly as though the roster is loaded with promising players who would compete with Rice for minutes. I can understand wanting to lose to get a good draft pick, but to tell Glen Rice that his services aren't even welcome seems really extreme.

What am I not understanding?

 

[Joe Mama]

Originally posted by elindholm
How come everyone is saying that the Jazz will dump Rice rather than keeping him this season? It's hardly as though the roster is loaded with promising players who would compete with Rice for minutes. I can understand wanting to lose to get a good draft pick, but to tell Glen Rice that his services aren't even welcome seems really extreme.

What am I not understanding?

According to what I read Glen Rice was trying to decide whether he even wanted to report to camp.

You are just upset because you thought he would be a good sleeper pick in fantasy basketball!

Joe Mama

 

[hcsilla]

Maybe UTA wants to suck that badly (for getting a higher pick) that even Rice would disturb them in this......

 

[jimjames1]

If he leaves, we should sign him.

He's not much of a defender, but man did he kill us last year when we played the Rockets.

 

[slinslin]

I rather have Dermarr on the active roster.

 

[capologist]

I don’t see where we have room for Rice.

<table><tr><td>PG:<td>&nbsp;<td>Marbury<td>&nbsp;<td>Knight<td>&nbsp;<td>Barbosa<tr><td>SG:<td><td>Hardaway<td><td>J. Johnson<td><td>Jacobsen<tr><td>SF:<td><td>Marion<td><td>Cabarkapa<td><td>D. Johnson<tr><td>PF:<td><td>Stoudemire<td><td>Gugliotta<td><td>Archibald<tr><td>C:<td><td>Voskuhl<td><td>Williams<td><td>Trybanski</table>

Granted, not all 15 of those guys are necessarily going to make the cut, but the 1-2-3 positions seem awfully crowded, and I don’t see Rice as a significant improvement over the nine guys listed at those positions in the table above — with the possible exception of DerMarr Johnson, who is a major question mark at this point. Even without DerMarr, Rice would be our ninth “small” player.

 

[3rdside]

wow - looking at that breakdown, we have a really deep squad this year. No way do we have room for Rice.

Regarding the team, I honestly expect DJ to make the squad and get regular minutes - he looks like an ideal player for suns skill ball.

Gugliotta might mix it up at centre and possibly PF for a total of 15mpg max and share the minutes with Jake there. Depending on his health he may see more or less time. JJ and Chuba also fit the skill ball criteria so they'd probably get a few as well. Knight will probably get 8-10 as BPG. That likely means Jacobsen will ride the bench again this year, ditto Williams.

With 240 minutes floor time available, I'd expect to see something like this (regular season averages):

Marion: 35
Marbury: 35
Stoudemire: 30
Hardaway: 30
Johnson: 25
Cabarkapa: 20
Voshkul: 20
DJohnson: 15
Gugliotta: 10
Knight: 10
Williams: 5
Jacobsen: 5

Positions being something like this:

PG Marbury/ Knight/ JJ/ Hardaway
SG Hardaway/ JJ/ DJ/ CJ
SF Marion/ Chuba/ DJ
PF Stoudemire/ Chuba/ Gugliotta
C Voshkul/ Stoudemire/ Gugliotta/ Williams

I suppose we might be a bit thin at C but, as everyone seems to think, Stoudemire will play there a lot this season. That, IMO, does not worry me. With him, Marion, Marbury, Penny and whoever (Cabarkapa?) on the floor, that is quite a team right there.

As for skill ball, the Suns might actually have something to work with this year. A line up of JJ/Penny at 1, DJ at 2, Marion at 3, Chuba/JJ at 4 and Stoudemire at 5 could be quite effective. No one under 6'7" and two that are near 7 feet.

I like this lineup - this may be the season where small ball pays off...

 

[Joe Mama]

I would take 5 of Johnson's minutes and give them to Amare Stoudemire. That is assuming he can play 35 minutes per game without fouling out. I don't even think Johnson has a very good chance of making the team.

Joe Mama

 

[elindholm]

I don't even think Johnson has a very good chance of making the team.

Geez, after the Suns gave up Delk and Rogers for him? It will be kind of a shame, but I guess you're right.

Oh, you mean DerMarr Johnson! I think if he appears healthy, there is a pretty good chance he will make the team. He was the #6 pick in his draft and is still only 23 years old. He got off to a slow start, but if he can tap into the talent he must have, I think he could be a real contributor.

And the Suns are still lacking depth at SG/SF, in my opinion: Hardaway remains an injury risk, and I expect Cabarkapa to see most of his time at PF/C (i.e., not in a lineup featuring both a PF and a C, neither of which is him).

If he can't play, that's something else. But if he can, I think Johnson might be a steal.

 

[Suns_fan69]

I think we should reserve some of Knights minutes for Barbosa. I really liked what I've heard and read about him and it would be a shame if he never saw the court. At the very least he should be five minutes a game to see how he handles a NBA game and if he can really run a team. After all, Knight is a short term solution and Barbosa looks like he's got potential to be the teams backup for years to come.

 

[slinslin]

Also even with good backups Marbury and Marion will play 40 minutes per game.