I’d like to see that kind of effort out of this group, since the talent (or at least the potential) is there.

Along the lines of what SMH said above me, since I’m not willing to pick the fives, but if you had a first five and a second five, what would they be? I’m thinking along the lines of if they could stay even with good teams with the second-line guys.

How about Dex,Hamilton,Bradley,James and Ward.
Offense and defense,toughness,handles.

Now the question is who is hot this game.(wait for the season)
Balbay if the team needs to apply ball pressure and spread the court.
What if Lucas is the next Nash and runs the team well.

How about Avery PG, Hamiltion SG, James as a SF/PF, Johnson PF and DEX as half the court.
Going big to our advantage, rebounding,offense,defense,toughness again

How about Wang, James ,Hamilton, Bradley, Balbay. Quick uptempo, interchange players to the scheme best suited for them.

I would assume that RB will keep players to 25 minutes or so, James a little more, Jordan, Avery maybe 30 minutes.

Lots of different type teams to run out at KANSAS, Uconn, Sparty, UNC, Duke etc. the matchup tend to favor UT in most areas. RB in the hot seat to win big this year with the talent he has.

Yet we have not even looked at the last 5 players on the bench who are going to contribute well this year……

Or, we can zone.

Let’s talk Balbay. Are you willing to play him for big minutes, essentially handing over rest and relaxation to the engine that makes Kansas go, Sherron Collins. Not too mention you’ve essentially put the burden of perimeter scoring on Bradley, a kid that’s not a pure shooter, instead taking away his ability to get to the rack and hurt folks with his midrange. Unless we plan on trapping and running, I’m not sold on Balbay getting big minutes. At least the non-shooting version of Balbay.

Other UConn team, Trips, with Taliek Brown at QB. Guy was left Balbay open all day, but it’s still an easy game when you have the two best players in the country in Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon on your team.

Avery Bradley is not a PG or even a combo guard. He is an off guard and needs to stay there or he won’t live up to his potential.

Here’s a scary thought. Who does Lucas guard when we play Kansas essentially for the Big 12 championship? Collins, possibly the best player in the country and a bulldozer? No. Xavier Henry, who’s had an NBA body since he was like 12 and is 9 inches taller than Jai? Fuck no. That leaves Tyshawn Taylor who is also solidly built and is still 6 inches taller than Jai plus a solid playmaker. He will get abused. This is what happened to D.J. and A.J. when we played Memphis and it’s going to cost us a championship this year if we don’t get it figured out. Count me as one who is psyched to hear abut the JB PG potential, which I have been calling for awhile now. Talent/playmaking ability/scoring/size/athleticism is unlimited for this team if he is the lead guard.

Balbay was terrible shooting outside and his shooting form looks screwed up. He does not hit free throws well so he can’t play at the end of close games (how weird is that?) He didn’t always seem to take Barnes’ instruction that well. Switching between the rules/style of play of from Europe and the NCAA probably isn’t helpful, either.

Lucas will probably get plenty of playing time if Barnes can figure out how to hide him on defense (and Barnes is good at that). Maybe Dex and Lucas will be on the court together at the same time quite a bit (Barnes will play a zone to protect both of them on defense).

If Dex is in great shape and J’Covan is cleared and composed, this could be an absolutely amazing team.