Not to deviate too far from the OP, but this is going to start becoming a very complicated situation (in a good way). Obviously there is going to be some regression to the mean in regards to Giffey, but he's already established himself as a potent three point shooter who is also capable of putting the ball on the floor and getting to the rim. Add in his screening capacity, and suddenly Napier and Giffey have emerged as one of the deadliest pick and roll tandems in the land. Oh yeah, and he's also one of the best defensive players in the country (if you watch the tape, this isn't as much of an exaggeration as you might think) who can guard three, sometimes four positions. In other words, while everybody expected him to be an important contributor, he may have turned out to be more than that...he may be, dare I say it, a great player. Maybe the Kyle Singler comparisons weren't so far off - matter of fact, if Kyle Singler can play 23 minutes a game in the NBA, there is no reason Giffey can't carve out a roster spot.
There is only one problem: Omar Calhoun and DeAndre Daniels are really good, too. Calhoun is averaging 15 a game this season and shooting 50% from three. He looks far more agile than he did at any point last season, he gets to the line, and he's far less of a liability defensively than he was last season (just as I suspected, the hip was hampering him more than he ever let on last year). Daniels is off to a slow start, but let's not let three games skew an off-season's worth of articles billing him as a lottery pick. Let's also not forget he went toe to toe with the #3 pick in the draft last season.
So, who sits? It can't be Boatright - for as good as Calhoun, Daniels, and Giffey have been, none of them can re-produce the complementary ball-handling and play-making ability Boatright possesses. To date, everything has worked itself out. In the first game, Napier fouled out. In the second game, Daniels was struggling. Last night, all the starters were out of the game by the 12 minute mark in the second half. At some point, Daniels, Calhoun, and Giffey are all going to be firing on all cylinders, and I just don't know how you can take any of them out of the game at that point. Personally, I'd like to see more of the ultra-small Napier-Boatright-Calhoun-Daniels-Giffey lineup we saw towards the end of last season (It was more a product of desperation, but it was still effective). For whatever they'd lack in bulk (admittedly, they'd probably be carved on the boards), they'd be equally terrifying on the other end of the court. I think how Ollie monitors this dynamic will be the toughest piece of coaching he's had to do since arriving here.
