Devonte' Graham 2019-2020 Outlook

[MilesBridgesBetterThanZion 168]

He's locked in for 20mins as Rozier's back-up, standard waiver guy. But James Borrego started the 4th quarter last night against the Memphis Grizzlies with a lineup that included guards Terry Rozier, Devonte' Graham, and Malik Monk. They went on a 16-2 run in 3min & 45sec of game-time and this run put the game away to seal the Hornets the victory. They went 5-6 from three. 4 of the 5 made three-pointers were assisted - the lone one being Rozier's and-one. Borrego wants his offense to play at a fast pace with lots of ball movement and lots of playmakers. Rozier is big enough to slide over to the 2 on occasion, they could easily function and interchange between the 1 & 2 positions. Graham's super talented, and could potenially be in for a much larger role on this young experimental Hornets roster.

Terry Rozier: 6-foot-1. Devonte' Graham: 6-foot-2. This is a small, quick, exciting back-court, Bacon likely wins the battle for minutes against Monk at the 3 , then throw in Bridges & PJ that might end up being the Hornets lineup for the majority of this season.

Still a waiver guy, but i'm keeping an extra close eye on him. 

[hipriest69 816]

Nice.  I've been on Graham for a while and think he's one of the last "true sleepers" out there that most people don't know about / not high on.  But he's excellent as a last round pick / stream option for assists / steals.  I could see around 24+ min / night and lots of 3 guard lineups...and if it's a blowout?  Who do we think will be racking up garbage time stats?  Graham will likely be one of them ....honestly I'm in on most young Hornets players.  In order (not counting Rozier) probably PJ, Bacon, Graham, Monk.   

[MilesBridgesBetterThanZion 168]

36 minutes ago, hipriest69 said:

Nice.  I've been on Graham for a while and think he's one of the last "true sleepers" out there that most people don't know about / not high on.  But he's excellent as a last round pick / stream option for assists / steals.  I could see around 24+ min / night and lots of 3 guard lineups...and if it's a blowout?  Who do we think will be racking up garbage time stats?  Graham will likely be one of them ....honestly I'm in on most young Hornets players.  In order (not counting Rozier) probably PJ, Bacon, Graham, Monk.   

Gabage time slipped my mind, that'll be a huge factor considering these guys will be leading the charge for the best lottery position. Graham's situation is similar to Simons but there's more chance for extra minutes with the Hornets. Would you put Bridges ahead of Rozier? Ignore my username lol. Slow pre-season, and i'm very biased but thinking he'll come out very strong to start the season. 

[hipriest69 816]

Depends on format.  For roto I would probably pass on Rozier as he'll kill your FG.  But if you have a strong FG team you might be able to neutralize it to an extent, especially if you have a heavy big team and need counting stats.  H2H Rozier for sure, he's guaranteed to kill it.  Bridges I'm not so sure...he hasn't fit well preseason and he might be a better low-usage type that can get 1/1/1 on good FG, pretty much what he did last year when he got minutes at the end...but could also average 15 points and 7 rebounds or so, so maybe not so "low usage", but lower usage than Rozier.  PJ actually seems like he might be primed to have a better season than Bridges, simply because he's a better basketball player at this point...makes better decisions, has higher IQ, is more evolved and better offensively...etc etc.   But honestly I have no idea we'll just have to wait and see.

Edited October 16 by hipriest69

[doomz 235]

impressive.

[CFN 1,484]

Lifelong Jayhawks fan, he was the real deal in college, extremely hard worker. Wouldn't be surprised to see him have a mini breakout this year. Scooped him immediately after seeing his line so far + Rozier playing terribly.

 

Dtae can play off-ball as well, he played 2 of his 3 years in college next to Frank Mason, and they shared ballhandling duties very successfully.

Edited October 24 by CFN
Typo

[Johnnyapplebot 908]

Interesting but not a must add considering there has been zero hype on him. Hes currently owned in 0% in yahoo

[hornrimmed_rambis 1,171]

I'm watching this performance. It's not the 3s I love, but the assists. He is playing better than Rozier. Rozier was benched for much of the 4th, and this guy was key in climbing back and ahead. 

[mcflywalker 992]

Fluke? Dude is setting the wire on fire.

[doomz 235]

1 minute ago, hornrimmed_rambis said:

I'm watching this performance. It's not the 3s I love, but the assists. He is playing better than Rozier. Rozier was benched for much of the 4th, and this guy was key in climbing back and ahead. 

 

yep. just look at the plus minus.

rozier -18
graham +14

[hornrimmed_rambis 1,171]

He can play next to Rozier, pushing him to the 2. If he gets 25+ minutes a night, could be worth something.

[MilesBridgesBetterThanZion 168]

Crazy, they'll run him out there with Terry & Bacon

[Raiiny 495]

Missed out on PJ can't let someone snipe this guy from me too. I think he's better than Rozier and might start over him eventually. The assists is encouraging. 

[hornrimmed_rambis 1,171]

Dropped Matisse for Graham, in case anyone is thinking about how to value him. He just looked great managing this team. Better than Rozier. 

If Batum will sit, they can both get decent minutes in the guard slots.

[Supersonics 95]

Dropping DSJ for him. Easy decision.

[IDatDude 1,040]

Peace out Norman Powell 

[Nishinga 23]

1 hour ago, Supersonics said:

Dropping DSJ for him. Easy decision.

Same. I have no clue what Fizdale is doing but I’m not staying to figure it out.

[Johnnyapplebot 908]

He might turn into a 6th man gotta wait and see but all i know is that they paid rozier a lot of money so hes not going anywhere.

[hoop 335]

He had the best +/- of the night (+14), and Rozier had the worst (-18).

 

He won't hit 6/7 threes every night and I doubt they'll give up on Rozier so quickly...but he's worth scooping up if you have a spot

[dfstout 934]

So the four guards that excelled tonight that a lot of teams can still pick up were:

 

D Graham- had best game, lotta coumters and 3s! but only 26 mins

Bryn Forbes- starter, prob safest scoop,scored 20+ but low extras, can make leap

Elf- low trip dub threat nightly but Fiz rotes are maddening

Nunn- probably highest upside...pure walking bucket and coach loves him...

 

Graham had best game but is probably hardest to trust but all four are quality fun scoops...

 

 

[Lifschitz 1,951]

I'm on board. Color me super interested. I'm watching these highlights, I know it's the Bulls, but I'm in awe watching him, very impressive.

What's more intriguing to me is a few things:

1. Look at their system in these highlights, they are pushing the pace, making quick passes, taking quick shots, it looks like a Brooklyn offense. They do little drives and stop about half way and kick back behind them to the shooter or swing, it's so similar to Atkinson's system. So many of these moves from Graham are coming within quick decisions, quick penetration and kick, quick shots, in and out dribbles right into a pull up, it's all with pace. So it's not even Graham as much as I see Charlotte suddenly being a gold mine for unexpected statistics.

2. Graham looked like their best playmaker. He's making cross court passes, inbetween passes (PJ Washington, back out to Marvin). 

3. He can play next to Rozier. Rozier is an inefficient shooter on top of it. So he has a steady off the bench path to 25 min, and who knows maybe eventually they'll play a ton of small 2 guard together.

 

[mattshhh 40]

He's worth a flier, but I'm not high on him yet - his percentages last year were atrocious and he doesn't have much defensive potential. But if he outplays Rozier the next couple games, it'll be too late to get him.

[Lifschitz 1,951]

9 minutes ago, mattshhh said:

He's worth a flier, but I'm not high on him yet - his percentages last year were atrocious and he doesn't have much defensive potential. But if he outplays Rozier the next couple games, it'll be too late to get him.

 

He had a really high steals rate in college for a 6'2 PG, he averaged 1.5 steals his last three seasons. He has a near 6'7 wingspan, so that helps a little bit. Let's see if it sticks. What's appealing here is the system (fast pace is very helpful for 3 pt shooting/assist guards who can pull up as well as dish to a lot of stretch shooters like Marvin and PJ), and that it looks like he's worked really hard to improve. There's also this from Borrego post game today:

https://www.thestate.com/sports/nba/article236588188.html

 

[doomz 235]

 

[Lifschitz 1,951]

That one play near the beginning where he splits the defense with a behind the back dribble and finishes an and1 scoop right handed layup, tell me that didn’t look like Lillard..

He said he’s been watching Lillard a lot, I’m not surprised.

Edited October 24 by Lifschitz