This might sound crazy, but if Jamal does play against Pitt Sunday, maybe they play him off the ball if he's still not 100%.
Not that I want to see Phil G running the point, but if Branch isn't moving around at full speed; he's still a better shooter than anyone we have minus D'angelo and Marco. If he takes some of those shots that normally go to Phil, I'm fairly confident he'll connect on a few more than Greene does.
thoughts?
I think we spend a lot of time talking about who's the point guard on a team that doesn't have one. Increasingly I think TGAPL doesn't even want a traditional PG. I think what he wants an offense with three SGs and 2 forwards. That is, I think this is essentially the scheme:
2 - 2 - 2
3
5
Three guys with vague and various skills on top, a scorer on the FT line and a garbage guy on the baseline.
I think maybe this not your Louie's offense and maybe its a mistake to look at it like its supposed to be. OTOH it could all have been forced by fubar personnel decisions. But Greene's not a PG, Pointer's not, Harrison's not, Nuri wasn't, and even alleged PG Branch isn't exactly Frank Alagia. I don't Lavin's Pete Carill but I'm sure he knows what a PG is. That he doesn't have one suggests either that he couldn't recruit one or he doesn't want one.