The Most Intriguing 2015 NBA Training Camp Battles to Track
When it comes to roster decisions, NBA training camps aren't quite as brutal as, say, their NFL counterparts. Sure, some invitees will get cut, but by and large, most teams have a sense of who their best players are at any given position.
That's not to say there won't be battles for big-time roles taking place over the next month. Even with guaranteed contracts and fairly clear separation between superstars and everyone else in the league, there are plenty of times and places where the pecking order still has to be sorted out.
In truth, all 30 squads will have some disputes to settle. For these seven teams, though, their competitions concern bona fide starting spots that involve, either directly or otherwise, big-name players and/or championship-caliber implications.
Boston Celtics: Power Forward
1 of 7
The Boston Celtics went all in on power forwards this summer.
David Lee, Amir Johnson, Perry Jones and rookie Jordan Mickey will all be adjusting to wearing green in training camp while fellow forwards Jared Sullinger, Jonas Jerebko and Jae Crowder settle back into their old threads.
None of coach Brad Stevens' options at the 4 is without blemish.
The smart money is on David Lee to start from Day 1, given his All-Star experience and expertise as an offensive fulcrum. But Lee's defensive shortcomings could lead Stevens to lighten his minutes load significantly as time goes on.
Johnson was a decent rim protector and top-notch pick-and-roll finisher in Toronto, though he's far from the gravity-creating scorer the C's need in their offense. Jones and Mickey are both relative unknowns, but at least the latter knows he'll be buttering his bread on the boards and the defensive end.
As for the incumbents, Sullinger's outside shot (27.5 percent from three for his career) remains almost as suspect as his perpetually troublesome back and hamstrings. Crowder and Jerebko are closer to stretch 4s than bona fide power forwards because of their size (Crowder is listed at 6'7", Jerebko at 6'10") and shooting abilities.
All things considered, Lee seems the most likely to log major playing time, but the C's could just as easily fill that spot by committee if nobody truly stands out from the rest.
Houston Rockets: Power Forward
2 of 7
Terrence Jones or Donatas Motiejunas? Donut or T-Jones?
The Houston Rockets have grappled with this conundrum more and more as the past three seasons have come and gone. General manager Daryl Morey has done his darndest to find a veteran solution at power forward but has fallen flat in his pursuits of big-name free agents.
So it goes, then, that Jones and Motiejunas will probably be duking it out again this season. Both took significant steps forward in 2013-14 only to see their subsequent campaigns derailed by injuries. According to the Houston Chronicle's Jonathan Feigen, Motiejunas won't be ready for the start of training camp, giving Jones the inside track on the job by default if he can avoid another setback of his own.
Even if Motiejunas were fit to compete, Jones would probably be the favorite at power forward. The Kentucky product began the 2013-14 season as Dwight Howard's frontcourt running mate and was able to earn his starting spot back shortly after returning from a two-and-a-half-month absence.
He and Motiejunas are eerily similar as shooters—Jones has knocked down 31.2 percent of his career threes, while Motiejunas has converted 31.3 percent—but Jones is the better athlete and more versatile defender of the two.
Still, Jones might not be able to take a starting spot for granted. He'll have to compete with rookies Sam Dekker and Montrezl Harrell and could get a run for his money from veteran wing Corey Brewer. In addition, as Arizona Sports' John Gambadoro reported in August, disgruntled Phoenix Suns forward Markieff Morris has eyes for Houston—and a cap-friendly contract to boot.
Barring another sleeve-hidden trick from Morey, the competition to keep Howard company up front figures to come down to Jones or Motiejunas again, for better or worse.
Indiana Pacers: Center
3 of 7
It's no secret the Indiana Pacers are looking to go small this season.
Larry Bird insisted that Roy Hibbert would see a reduced role if he opted in to the final year of his deal, and traded the two-time All-Star for a second-round pick once he did. David West took that as his cue to leave—even with an eight-figure pay cut—to play for San Antonio.
Now, Paul George is positioned to see major minutes at power forward, with George Hill, Rodney Stuckey and new arrival Monta Ellis dotting the perimeter.
Who, then, will jump center in Indianapolis? As much as the Pacers want to downsize, they still need someone to man the middle and do the dirty work down low.
Right now, their options at that spot are less than stellar. Ian Mahinmi will get a shot to start after spending three seasons as Hibbert's understudy. Lavoy Allen, at 6'9", fits the smaller description the Pacers are going for, albeit without the floor-spreading skill set. Jordan Hill couldn't hold down a starting gig with the Los Angeles Lakers, despite the team's downturn since 2013.
Long-term rookie big man Myles Turner looks like the clear solution. According to a source close to the Pacers' brain trust, the team took him at No. 11 in the 2015 NBA draft with the idea that he would be a project, given his age and spindly 6'11" frame.
But the 19-year-old has added 20 pounds of mass to his body and smoothed out his gait since leaving the University of Texas after his freshman year. And as Slam's Nima Zarrabi wrote, Turner already has the mental fortitude to hold his own as a pro:
"He is enthusiastic, curious and decisive. Despite his boundless physical gifts, it is the power of his mind that sets him apart from his contemporaries. ... Turner is a basketball outlier in his draft class—a hybrid big man who is ready to adapt to any demands the game has for him, thanks to a profound combination of body and mind.
"
That combination, along with Indiana's dearth of quality bigs, may well accelerate Turner's career timetable.
Los Angeles Clippers: Small Forward
4 of 7
At first glance, the Los Angeles Clippers' situation on the wing seems cut-and-dried. Matt Barnes is out, and Paul Pierce is in as the starter. Meanwhile, Wesley Johnson and Lance Stephenson will come off the bench.
Case closed...or maybe not.
According to Grantland's Zach Lowe, head coach Doc Rivers is leaning toward tapping Johnson as his starter at small forward. If Johnson, a gifted player who's underperformed for much of his pro career, flails again, perhaps Stephenson, another talent who fell short of expectations last season, will get involved.
However the competition shakes out, having one at all could be part of Rivers' plan to monitor Pierce's minutes.
"I don't want to overuse him, I know that," Rivers told the Boston Globe's Adam Himmelsbach. "I don't even know how we're going to use him yet. I'm going to play him at [power forward] a lot, but what I want him to be is healthy in the playoffs. So however we can figure that out, that's what I'm going to try to do. I'm really looking forward to it."
It's tough to imagine Pierce, a future Hall of Famer, coming off the bench in L.A. after doing so just 10 times in his first 1,250 regular-season games.
Then again, it was once (and, to some extent, still is) strange to think of him in anything other than Boston Celtics green. Now, Pierce is on his fourth team in as many seasons.
Memphis Grizzlies: Wings
5 of 7
The Memphis Grizzlies have never been deeper on the wings than they will be in 2015-16.
Tony Allen, Courtney Lee and Jeff Green all started a majority of their games for the Grizzlies last season. This summer, the team traded for Matt Barnes, who spent the last year-and-a-half starting at small forward for the Los Angeles Clippers and sees himself as "an absolute perfect fit" for Memphis' grit-and-grind brand of basketball.
"That's my mentality, my style," Barnes told Bleacher Report.
If the Grizzlies want to stick to their long-established identity, they could favor Barnes and Allen on the perimeter next to Mike Conley. If head coach Dave Joerger wants more scoring, he might opt for Lee and Green. As SB Nation's Kevin Yeung wrote, Green could come in particularly handy for the Grizzlies in small-ball situations:
"He has one skill in particular that should translate well for those situations where the Grizzlies need an anti-[Zach] Randolph: the ability to defend ball-handlers of different shapes, sizes and positions. Green's length and athleticism are usually only pluses in the abstract, but they're very real in his defensive versatility.
"
All of this is to say nothing of Jordan Adams, a promising second-year scorer out of UCLA. He figures to have as tough a time finding minutes ahead of the four aforementioned veterans as they will scratching out starts over one another.
Minnesota Timberwolves: Frontcourt
6 of 7
In detailing the "minutes crunch" Anthony Bennett would've been up against had the Minnesota Timberwolves held on to him, Grantland's Zach Lowe laid out the fierce competition that could consume the team's frontcourt:
"[Kevin] Garnett will start, but he's a 20-minute player at this point. Nikola Pekovic is always hurt. Nemanja Bjelica has scorched Europe, but the transition to the NBA is tough for almost every international star who comes over mid-career. Adreian Payne is hoppy and rangy, but it's unclear if he's an NBA rotation player. Karl-Anthony Towns and Gorgui Dieng are locks to play big minutes, and [Flip] Saunders told me in July that the team still wanted to carve out time for Shabazz Muhammad to play some small-ball power forward.
"
There will only be so much playing time to go around among Minnesota's bigs—even less so if the Wolves have to adapt to a wave of small ball sweeping its way across the NBA.
As general manager Milt Newton recently revealed to WCCO's Alan Horton, Pekovic might not be ready to go for training camp on account of a lingering ankle injury. That could loosen the logjam up front a bit.
In all likelihood, the T-Wolves will wind up with Kevin Garnett, the greatest player in the franchise's sordid history, and Towns, the No. 1 pick in 2015, as their starters. But that won't stop Bjelica from trying to prove himself in the NBA after dominating in Europe or Dieng and Payne, both of whom have starting experience, from attempting to rekindle their recent roles.
Or, for that matter, Muhammad from making a splash as a small-ball 4.
Finding minutes for all of those guys figures to make Sam Mitchell's turn as the T-Wolves head coach that much more challenging.
New York Knicks: Power Forward
7 of 7
The New York Knicks seem to be set at no fewer than three of their starting spots. Jose Calderon, Arron Afflalo and Robin Lopez all look like shoo-ins, with Carmelo Anthony ticketed for a starring role in Derek Fisher's top five.
But where, exactly, will Anthony tip off? As Ian Levy detailed for Sporting News, the All-Star forward spent plenty of time at the 3 last season but might be a better fit at the 4:
"Derek Fisher, in his first year as Knicks coach last season, used him on the wings with bigger lineups much more frequently and, although it wasn't the only factor, his overall impact fell.... Even with his increased reliance on 3-pointers, Anthony has consistently performed better the more he is used at power forward.
"
How much Fisher uses Anthony at power forward could come down to the other guys vying for that spot. Kyle O'Quinn, Derrick Williams, Kevin Seraphin and rookie Kristaps Porzingis will all get looks and licks at the 4.
Porzingis is probably the best bet over the long haul but has a lot of catching up to do at his age (20) and with his wiry body (7'1", 220 lbs)—not to mention his lack of familiarity with the American game.
Anthony's own preference to play on the perimeter and avoid grinding against bigger, stronger forwards could play a part in how he's used. So too might New York's thin crop of wings.
Even without 'Melo in the mix, the battle for playing time at power forward among the Knicks' pupu platter of imperfect options could be cause for intrigue around the Big Apple.
Josh Martin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter.
