In an interview with Mark Medina of Sportskeeda, Gabe Vincent said he isn’t upset that Lakers coach Darvin Ham has already chosen D’Angelo Russell as his starting point guard. Vincent is only a few months removed from starting for the Heat in the NBA Finals, but he’s willing to accept a reserve role with his new team.
“That’s something for D-Ham to worry about,” Vincent said. “I’m not the coach. I don’t set lineups. I just go out there and do my job. I’ll do whatever I can to help this team win games and help this organization win games. As I’ve seen in the past, every night doesn’t always look the same. With that big picture in mind with trying to help us win, I’ll wear whatever hat is needed.”
L.A. signed Vincent to a three-year contract worth $33MM, so he’s obviously in the team’s plans even if he won’t start right away. Vincent had several options in free agency, but he liked the idea of playing for Ham because they have similar backgrounds.
“I think it’s just in general his route,” Vincent said. “I think there are some similarities between me and him in that regard and his journey. He spent some time in the G League as did I. There are some similarities that we have naturally, even when we sit down and talk the game and catch up. It’s seamless. We get along well. D Ham has been great. He’s been very real. So I definitely have appreciated him early in this process.”
There’s more from the Pacific Division:
- The Clippers gave Joshua Primo a chance because he’s a talented young player that they were able to get on a two-way contract, but his future will depend on a lot more than how he performs on the court, writes Mirjam Swanson of The Orange County Register. Primo was out of the NBA for nearly a year after being accused of predatory and indecent acts for allegedly exposing himself to a Spurs team psychologist on numerous occasions. Swanson adds that it’s a bad sign that Primo still insists the incidents were accidental.
- Rudy Gay and Rodney McGruder appear to be the top candidates for the Warriors‘ final roster spot after signing non-guaranteed deals with the team earlier this week, observes C.J. Holmes of The San Francisco Chronicle.
- Jusuf Nurkic will replace Deandre Ayton in the Suns‘ starting lineup next to Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal, but there’s no clarity on who the fifth starter will be, according to Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. He expects Josh Okogie, Keita Bates-Diop and Yuta Watanabe to be given a chance to win the spot in camp.
Vincent should clearly start over Russell . Do ppl not remember how each played in the playoffs? Couldn’t have been a bigger difference
Gabe Vincent vorp last year -0.6
Dlo vorp last year +2.0
We are not talking about the playoffs we are talking about the regular season. Vorp is a regular season stat. Dlo should be starting and is better than gabe vincent by a wide margin.
Vorp is just one stat and it doesn’t factor in individual defense. Vincent is a far more competitive defender than Russell, both shot abt the same from 3 last year but Vincent knows his role and will likely be a better fit around LBJ and Ad. Stats aside, Russell has poor shot selection, poor sense of the moment, and is simply a bad defender. The playoffs matter more than the regular season and it is when the best players show up. If the lakers want to win the championship they should prepare for the playoffs and use the regular season to do so .
Gabe vincent -0.7 dbpm
Dlo -0.7 dbpm
Same level defender
Dlo fg % .469 3% .396
Vincent fg % .402 3% .334
Just stop dude.
The total production of the point guard spot with D’Angelo Russell starting and Vincent Off the Bench is greater than the production total of Vincent starting and D’Angelo Russell off the bench.
Much of it is personalities and perhaps sulking of D’Angelo Russell and ineffectiveness as a result if he’s not fully engaged and starting.
So much of this is managing personalities. One guy is a 2-year NBA player the other guy is a former all star and an 8-year veteran. Russell has to start here.
But that’s nothing to say about 2 months in. If Vincent is tearing it up and meshing well with the starters then you make a change. Maby defense matters and Vincent steps up ? But you must start Russell to begin the year.
They have Vincent on a long term deal. They will likely try to trade D’Lo. If D’Lo is coming off the bench he won’t be able to build much value. Gabe is likely to close the games anyways.
Also still can’t wrap my head around why phoenix made this trade. A) their participation enabled Milwaukee to get dame which directly impacts phoenixs title chase; B) their new center is a downgrade in almost every way, finishing, mid range, defense (big drop off!) , health, and age. The only positive is that nurk will accept his role, but that takes me to C), if the suns did this bc the ayton thing had become unmanageable, how is this the best they could’ve gotten? As a bulls fan I’d have supported a bud to
** supported a Vuc for ayton straight up and vuc is immensely better than nurk. Also Indy offered ayton a big contract not too long ago, couldn’t the suns have gotten Myles turner , whose 3pt and rim protection skills are perfect for their needs? Head scratching that nurkic, who’s a bottom 5 starting center, was the best they could do , and that’s assuming they had to trade ayton, which I’m still dubious abt. Seems weird that losing CP3 and Monty Williams didn’t change the suns’ ayton stance. Also, ppl have defended the trade saying “well, they added depth,” but neither Allen or little will start or end games and both are redundant (Allen is worse than Gordon and little worse than bates-diop, okogie, etc). I might be proven wrong on little but don’t expect to be wrong abt Allen who has been ass in the playoffs consistently. Even if those 2 guys are solid it doesn’t justify this downgrade imo, suns significantly lowered their odds by turning their only remaining asset into an injury-prone , aging center who can’t guard anyone. Rant concluded.
My takeaway was after 2.5 months the market for Ayton was 1 team
The multi team trade just made the transaction easier to facilitate
There’s just little room for profit on a 35 mill C that doesn’t stretch and isn’t elite on Def. Still agree with you tho it was lite
That’s fair, the salary complicates things. However I’d still rather go into the season w him and hope Vogel can fix things rather than sell for 60 cents on the dollar. The nurkic trade would’ve likely been there 2 months from now if they rly needed to move ayton, and if they figured out whatever was going on w him ayton would’ve been a far better fit than anyone they would’ve realistically acquired
Yeah, don’t think they could’ve gotten more for Ayton — they tried over the previous year or two. Of course it’s always hard for us fans to give up potential for a lesser but known quantity. Maybe we could’ve gotten Turner earlier, but he had a better year than Ayton last season.
But there’s a lot going on behind the scenes, and I’ll bet the situation was only kept professional to facilitate a trade, and that would’ve been harder to keep up once training camp opened. The vibes were stinky this summer and it’s clear the stars were done with Ayton. So you get what you can now, so everyone has their eyes on the same prize for training camp.
Ideally, Ayton will thrive with all the touches he wants, and Nurkic will bring the effort every night. Win-win.
The timing of Myles Turner’s availability and the Sun’s souring on Deandre Ayton is off by about a year and a half. If not it was an easy sign and trade with Indiana when they signed him to the offer sheet?
But I think Phoenix choosing DeAndre ayton #1 necessitated another shot at tapping into his vast potential. Especially since they knew they would move the coach out of town first and give the new guy a shot Ayton.
Just so happens that the new guy saw the player for what he is and wanted him shipped out too. Lol.
Ben, Milwaukee’s in the East and Phoenix in the west. Suns are not in the least concerned about what happens to them, success or failure after participating in a trade that helps the Bucks improve on paper.
Be, Nurkic is a downgrade in a lot of ways but not every way. And he makes alot less money right? The Suns are shelling out salary for the center position about the amount they think is necessary for their current roster makeup. They don’t want 20 points 10 rebounds from the five man.
They realize championships are about wings and improved that area of the roster greatly.
Tough to find a trade where Deandre Ayton will fit into a team salary situation, and get the reserves back Phoenix needed.
Plus get a decent, 7 foot, starting center thrown in? I think this was a win-win for all three teams in this trade. Phoenix did well here.
lliard should be the happiest of the trade outcomes. Now that he is out of the west he should be able to make sure Bucks are a top 2 team in the east so playoffs should be easily obtained. The west has 6 teams that should make the playoffs and 6 teams fighting for the other spots.
Portland will be a winner once they trade Holiday for a package of youth and draft picks.
How is it the best they could have gotten? Common question on message boards I imagine.
But what you are really asking is how can actual market value (determined among the 30 NBA teams through a couple of years worth of trade markets) be so different than the opinions of fans who post on message boards? The answer is obvious. One group has no clue. You can decide for yourself which one, but this disparity can’t be accounted for within a range of knowledgable opinions.
Lillard isn’t as good as Holiday. Lillard has zero value to a team outside of scoring. He is Steph Curry without the hustle and intangibles and has never tried to play defense
For the Bucks and in the playoffs “Dame time” matters. He’ll win a game or two for you by himself in a seven-game series. That could push Milwaukee through a round or two. That’s worth the risk right there.