Potential Position Logjams to Watch

The start of the 2016-17 NBA is just 63 days away, and today we’ll look at some of the rotations that could face roster redundancy issues unless changes are made at some point. As a result of the draft and transactions made by the front office, each of these teams could wind up with the somewhat enviable “problem” of having too much talent at a given position.

Here are some of the rosters with a potential logjam:

The Sacramento Kings’ Full Frontcourt

At a time when most teams are trying to make their roster as fluid and interchangeable as possible while also looking for ways to compete with the rise of small-ball lineups, the Kings went out and drafted two more big men (power forward Skal Labissiere and center Georgios Papagiannis) on the heels of selecting Willie Cauley-Stein just the year before. Oh, and they still have this DeMarcus Cousins guy you may have heard of, not to mention that they signed center Kosta Koufos to a four-year, $33 million contract last July as well. Anthony Tolliver’s addition certainly helps with some frontcourt flexibility, but unless he was signed with the idea of solely being a locker-room presence in mind, he’ll also take some of those frontcourt minutes.

Coach Dave Joerger is set to be the franchise’s seventh head coach since the start of the 2008-09 season, and while vice president of basketball operations and GM Vlade Divac has been adamant that Cousins isn’t going anywhere, you do have to wonder if this might be the season when the organization finally decides it is time to part ways (especially if they aren’t able to maintain some of the relatively positive momentum from last year that led to them winning 33 games for the first time since ‘07-08). With all the bigs on this roster, they are certainly in a position to make such a decision if faced with it.

Milwaukee’s Plethora of Point Guards

The Bucks went 13-17 over their final 30 games of last season, and did so with Giannis Antetokounmpo playing point forward for the bulk of it. Head coach Jason Kidd has said that Antetokounmpo will be the team’s point guard entering next season, despite the fact that they drafted Tyler Ennis with the 11th pick in the 2015 draft, they still have Michael Carter-Williams and they acquired Matthew Dellavedova through a sign-and-trade this summer.

Having multiple guys capable of playing the point guard position isn’t necessarily a problem, but it seems pretty clear the team is not interested in moving forward with Carter-Williams as the team’s floor general.

Like teammate Greg Monroe and potentially a couple others, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Carter-Williams moved at some point prior to next February’s trade deadline.

K.A.T. and the Rest of those Cats

There’s absolutely no question that Karl-Anthony Towns will be the man along Minnesota’s frontline,but  the Timberwolves do have an interesting mix of players at the power forward and center positions. Center Nikola Pekovic is expected to return from Achilles surgery and the team signed big men Jordan Hill and Cole Aldrich this summer. They also have current starting center Gorgui Dieng returning along with three additional power forwards (Nemanja Bjelica, Kevin Garnett and Adreian Payne). Garnett won’t require a great deal of on-court time in order to leave his mark on this roster, but that still leaves an awful lot of frontline players for Coach Tom Thibodeau to find time for.

Rumors continue to swirl around the Timberwolves and potential moves involving some of the perimeter players, but GM Scott Layden is in the favorable position of having a ton of options and hypothetical packages that could be constructed in order to continue reshaping and molding what is already the league’s most intriguing young roster.

Phoenix in Transition, Again?

The Suns have talent on the roster, but not necessarily a mix that appears to make the most sense at this time. Alex Len and Tyson Chandler are obviously centers, but the fact that GM Ryan McDonough took two power forwards in this year’s lottery (Dragan Bender fourth overall and Marquese Chriss eighth overall) leads one to believe that the team sees them as guys who are versatile and interchangeable enough to play alongside one another at some point. At 18 and 19 years old, these two aren’t quite ready to compete from a physical perspective, but the idea of them ultimately playing in the same lineup had to be a consideration.

Another area of concern is the three-headed guard rotation that appears to be forming once again. Didn’t we see what happened when they convinced themselves that the combination of Goran Dragic, Eric Bledsoe and Isaiah Thomas would be fine splitting time and scoring opportunities a couple years back? Bledsoe remains one of the principal characters this time around, but is joined by Brandon Knight and second-year player Devin Booker as the organization’s current backcourt triumvirate. Those are the stars, but the team also has Archie Goodwin, this year’s draft pick Tyler Ulis and the recently signed Leandro Barbosa.

It may be fine to start the year, but if Booker takes the next step in his development as expected, it could only be a matter of time before Phoenix needs to seriously consider moving one of the other two in order to carve out a larger piece of the pie for the younger (and more cap-friendly) player.

Lakers Overfill Frontcourt Void

Perhaps the most glaring hole on a 2015-16 roster full of questionable parts was the Lakers’ starting center position. Beyond all the madness and rotation uncertainty, the Lakers simply didn’t get much positive play from their centers regardless of who former coach Byron Scott put down low. From Roy Hibbert to Tarik Black to Robert Sacre to even undersized Brandon Bass, L.A. struggled to find a viable answer at the position most nights.

After taking Croatian big man Ivica Zubac in the second round of June’s draft, the team then signed veteran center Timofey Mozgov to a four-year contract last month. Recently, L.A. also signed Yi Jianlian and rookie Zach Auguste to deals as well. Tarik Black is also reportedly set to re-sign and young bigs Julius Randle and Larry Nance Jr. will obviously be back too. While having a ton of frontcourt options is a good thing for Coach Luke Walton, it could also present a bit of a challenge.

There were rumors about the possibility of Randle and Nance Jr. playing alongside one another depending upon the matchup, but the influx of frontcourt talent makes you wonder if that’s still in the cards. Especially when you consider that Luol Deng, while traditionally a small forward, played some of his best basketball as a hybrid or stretch-four in Miami last season out of necessity. Jianlian’s game is versatile enough to play more than just power forward, but the idea of an intriguing project like Zubac finding time to develop in such a seemingly crowded crop of bigs seems a bit more far-fetched than it did when the 18-year-old impressed during Summer League.

Again, as in many of these cases, it isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the world to have a bit of roster redundancy if it presents coaches with the “problem” of finding time for quality players. The Lakers are in the rare position of not having high expectations in 2016-17, so it will be very interesting to see if the front office is actually setting up potential transactions for the future.

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None of these teams are necessarily finished products heading into camp next month and while they may not rectify these potential logjam scenarios over the next six weeks, don’t be shocked to see several of them take the steps to balance out their rosters between now and February prior to the trade deadline.