Yes, keep pretending you’re the only one who expresses doubt. I would guess that over half this board has serious questions about Jones’ working of the cap.
"James Jones is in way over his head" is not the same as saying you have "cause for concern". The latter is a reasonable statement and the former is essentially hyperbole or pure exaggeration. That is the issue I took with your comment.
I personally have thought that their plan is exactly what Jones stated yesterday and that is that he will play all over the place depending on lineups and match ups. He is not going to be a lock down defender at any one of those positions, but I think he has enough versatility to hold up against the weakest of those three positions that the other team puts on the floor. I don't particularly think he has to be hidden on defense, but he is certainly not going to be asked to play big minutes against the other teams best or 2nd best player either.
What does it matter? Its summer league. There are other players they need to look at.
And any other individuals that they might want to invite to camp. Cam and Ty are going to be at training camp no matter what and will both be on the regular season roster. Therefor they don't need the SL playing time nearly as much as plenty of the other players.
It's not a matter of whether they can or not. They absolutely could if they wanted to, but with them getting no practice time or any time with the training staff they decided it would be better to just hold them out of SL. Those circumstances aren't exactly making it more likely for those guys to go out there and perform well and with the way people overreact to everything that happens in SL it makes sense why they wouldn't want to put those guys in that position.
I didn't say it was unique, but that I agree with the decision based on the circumstance. If those other teams want their guys out there then great for them, but I am completely fine with Cam and Ty not playing.
Summer league is about developing talent--especially young talent--and the team finding out about players. It is not about showcasing new talent for fans. Cam and Ty are both much older rookies--if Jones thinks he already knows what he needs to know about them, I am fine with it. What is the point in putting them out there unprepared? They are both smart players who will prosper in a team environment where their roles are well-defined. Throwing them out there in summer league with no prep will just serve to give media fodder to rip the team and fans to panic.
Imagine the crap Barrett and the Knicks (higher profile, but still) will have to endure if he doesn't start performing better by the end of this SL. It's the unfortunate reality of our current media driven culture that everything is blown way out of proportion and SL performance is absolutely one of those things. Makes no sense to throw them out there unprepared just to appease the same fans that will be ripping them to shreds on social media if they perform poorly. By Jones making the decision to not play them he can avoid that possibility while maybe taking a little heat himself for making the decision.
Not sure I agree on that. If we are talking about the decision to play a guy or not in actual games than Jones should absolutely leave that to the coaching staff, but I see no issue with him making that call for SL.
Sure. Fine. Coach or whatever.
