This isn’t a knock on HB. He was amazing in game 1 and I like him a lot overall. But I wonder if his skills might be better utilized coming off the bench. He’s one of the few guys on the team that can reliably get their own (or get “fouled” lol). I think he could be even more effective against the other teams’ bench unit, because he is so crafty. He generally destroys younger players with his old man slow mo moves. He often disappears with the starters (e.g. GSW game) because there aren’t enough shots to go around. And his defense isn’t great in my opinion.
I think Trey or Sasha could be a better fit with the starters. Assuming Trey gets healthy and is what he was last year, he brings a little more size, better defense and rebounding and hustle, and similar catch and shoot ability. Based on what we’ve seen so far from Sasha (which isn’t much admittedly) he looks better than expected on defense and can really shoot it and doesn’t need the ball to be successful.
Not trying to be reactionary after 2 games, this is something I’ve been thinking about since HB re-signed. He could be a super valuable bench guy (like Malik) and I don’t think it would hurt the starting lineup. Plus I think he would handle it well (unlike Kevin apparently).