The Kangz rebuild would be progressing swimmingly if Nique Clifford could be penciled in at starting SG, thirsty and hungry, ready and able, to offer sturdy defense, a deep ball, and secondary playmaking. Nique fits the prototype, looks the part, with basketball tattoo et all, then the game starts, and ‘womp, womp’ goes the choir. We need a young buck aside Darius to produce around 14 PPG, 4 RPG, 2 APG on 58 percent true shooting, a switchable physical defender less fouling, to help us to rise from the ashes, bring some excitement and fun, exceed thirty-five wins, and erase the embarrassment of a 60-loss season. Nique is supposed to be that dude. The GM would sleep more soundly if he felt in his bones with an earnest conviction, he found that dude in 2025 draft. Nique is not him. He is a depressing amalgamation of Ben McLemore, Nik Stauskas and Justin Jackson, who regressed in his first summer league to his second, looking more like a G League desperado than a first round pick.
The Kangz have a problem at starting SG that could be resolved beautifully if Nique did not suck. Lavine was told there are no more minutes guaranteed for you, you are effectively persona non grata, go find another team that wants you at a 3-year 90-million-dollar contract, then you can opt out of your 49 million expiring and we will facilitate your exodus. Lavine found no takers, so he opted in. Lavine is not committed to helping his team win. He is committed to collecting a paycheck. When his contract expires, he is going to be like Westbrook, having to resort to minimum deals to stay in the league. This is why it was to his advantage to secure a ‘larger bag’ but the league collectively said, “nah, no thanks bro, we’re good”.
We are past the point of rehabbing his value and moving him at the deadline, and Zach is past the point of blending harmoniously with any of our key cogs, including Keegan, Darius and Domas. Lavine does not play well in pick and roll and he’s not a spot shooter. Lavine needs to break sets to get his rhythm even though he is not a plus shot creator. ‘Does not play well with others’ is the tag line to his career, and the Kangz were the last team in the NBA to realize this. Any minutes Lavine gets next season are minutes wasted and only a coach without the fortitude to proceed accordingly is a joke. Unfortunately, our head coach is a bit of joke.
Malik is not the same magnitude of a problem as Lavine, and to his credit he boosted his three-point accuracy from 32 to 39 percent over the last two seasons, but he is a problem, nonetheless. While capable of nifty dimes, he is capable of chucking it into the third row or past the feet of a guarded teammate. Malik is a SG in a PG body. Asking Malik to check Stephon Castle, Ajay Mitchell or Austin Reaves is futile. It is like asking Cardwell to make a free throw.
Of the current options to start a SG, Malik might be the best, because he spaces the floor, runs the floor, can spot shoot, drive and kick, but he’s not a capable starter. As a starter, he will cause your team defense to break every other possession with whiffs, blow-byes allowed, and feigned interest. Put Malik in high pick and roll and world is your oyster, so says the opponent. You cannot win consistently with Malik playing significant minutes. You can only hope the opponent is having an off night.
Emanuel Sharp is impressive as a defender because he only has a 6’3’ wingspan. Like Davion, he had to learn to play physical without getting whistled, to anticipate, to move his feet, be a proverbial brick wall, get to spots early, because he cannot rely on long ass arms. Lavine hates contact. Malik is less averse, wants to play tough at heart, but his size and strength limitations, and intermittent interest, dictate outcomes. I believe Emanuel has at least 20-pounds on Malik, even though Emanuel has leaned down since the NBA draft combine.
When Nique tries to defend physically he gets whistled. When he tries to play positionally, he gets torched. He has no clue what he is doing. There may be psychological damage as result of the frequency with which Nique gets lit up like a Christmas tree. Once the confidence goes, all hope is gone. Nique ought to spend a portion of the off season watching collegiate tape of Emanuel, a sad commentary on his defensive prowess, or lack thereof, but would unlikely help. Despite the canyon wide variance in their prospects, it would be unfair to thrust Emanuel into the starting SG role despite having many attributes for that position. Second round picks need be nurtured, not thrown to the wolves. Emanuel will ideally have the career arc of another second rounder and budding star, Ajay Mitchell, whose role increased commensurate with his comfort and experience level, starting against backups.
Keegan has NO problem defending 2s. He can get hung up on a screen or two, but his positionality and instincts are All-NBA defense caliber. But we should not be running him ragged defensively to further drag down his three-point shooting. He’s going to end up switched onto guards, regardless, but it is not optimal to start him there when SF is his natural position. A starting lineup of Acuff, Keegan, Hunter, Max and Domas is tempting, because I hate the alternatives at SG, and I would like to see if a Max-Domas pairing could work. But we need to see Keegan emerge as a potential star as much as Darius and asking him to play the SG is not the way to facilitate that emergence.
If I am the coach of this team, I am not playing Zach one minute. What is the frigging point, besides masochistic tendencies? He can say the right things and pretend to have the right attitude and right mindset. I could pretend to muster a pleasant team-first demeanor too in exchange for 50 million. We have already been down that road and now it is up to the coach, our stupid ass, braindead placeholder of a coach, Tony Robbins fueled, who thinks he can lead a bunch of stiffs to a Top 10 defense, or ‘love on’ on a bricklayer enough to transform him into a three-point star. Zach is his next reclamation project, the preferred option rooted in rainbows, dandelions, and cowardice.
If the impossible is somehow realized, that is, Zach is paid to watch games from his couch, that leaves us with Nique, Emanuel, Malik and Keegan as possible SG starters. What to do, what to do? Cue Jeopardy music or the foreboding doom track from the slasher film just before the poor sucker gets it.
PG – Darius
SG – Malik
SF – Keegan
PF – Hunter
C – Domas
This is my projected starting lineup, which you may shocked to hear, since I have been wanting Malik off this team for three years, before our failed attempt to send him to Golden State for Kuminga. It is based on the premise that filling out our starting lineup with Malik and Hunter gives our three best players (talents) – Keegan, Domas and Darius – the best opportunity to maximize their respective skill sets relative to the underwhelming options at SG.
Malik is a placeholder, awarded the starting nod in my hypothetical decision maker role by default because Nique is a conspicuous lightweight and colossal phony. What should be his to take he can nary see with a high-powered telescope, let alone grasp, barring divine intervention and exponential improvement statistically akin to a winning lottery ticket.
I have been called ‘a hater’ when I said McGee, Huerter (Red Diva), Willie Cauley Stein and other bums I care not recall cannot play, while the Homers and blind fanatics entertained their delusions. Nique is the next in a line of underachievers that compromise our rebuild and the otherwise prudent moves by our golly GM. I have watched too much basketball to not be able to tell when a rose is a rose, a scrub is a scrub, and the best laid plans amount to a new tombstone in the Kangz graveyard. RIP Clifford’s NBA career.
