I understand what you guys are saying about Dion, but if we sign Allen we have a lot of 2 guards that could play minutes. Moving Dion to the 1 opens up minutes for Ray and Harris. I feel comfortable with both of those guys getting some minutes. AJ price? I guess he has been ok, but he looks as much like a 2 as a 1 anyway. Not a great passer, can sink some shots.
Sounds good in theory, but I don't think it's realistic. What lineup uses these three on the floor at the same time? Between Kyrie, Dion, LeBron, and Love, 2 of the 4 will always be on the court provided everyone is healthy. 1 of Tristan and Andy will always be on the floor as well.
Dion, Allen, Harris, LeBron/Love, Andy/Tristan is one possibility.
Dion, Allen, Harris, LeBron, Love is a small ball lineup that breaks the second above rule, but I guess is theoretical.
In each of these scenarios, I'd much rather have Price (or Delly for that matter) on the court than Joe Harris. The reason isn't only because Price fits better, but because in my mind, Dion is a much better shooting guard than a point guard. Allen and Harris would struggle defensively as well. Neither is quick enough to handle opposing two guards, and Allen can't really guard anybody for that matter.
I look at third string players as injury insurance. If, for example, Mike Miller goes down with injury (wouldn't be a huge surprise), and Ray Allen does join the club, Joe Harris can step into the rotation while other minutes are adjusted to make up for Miller's absence. If Allen gets banged up, Harris should immediately be able to step in for 10 minutes a game in the regular season. In no world do I want Blatt finding ways to get Allen, Miller, and Harris into the rotation. There's too much redundancy there.
Should Kyrie miss time, this team does not currently have a capable third string point guard to immediately step in and eat minutes. Price provides that. Adjusting Dion's role, to me, is detrimental for everyone involved. Provided it were a temporary instance (Kyrie misses 10 games in January/February for example), I'd much rather have a true point guard fill in and eat minutes while Delly sees an increase in playing time.
These games where Kyrie has been out and Dion has been the primary ball handler in the back court have shown me that Dion is not a point guard. He is not ready to see the game from that perspective, and given the strides he continues to make as a shooting guard, I don't want him worrying about seeing the game in any other way. That said, if Dion is the point guard, the last thing I want with this roster is him dribbling up the court into a 20 footer with 19 seconds left on the shot clock.