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in The Tailgate

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Going Commando

Going Commando

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, Metalhead said:

 

That crossed my mind too. I mean didn't he just have a foot "injury" that would need to be monitored? lol

 

He's had the same foot issues his entire career.  Years ago Kevin Broom mentioned that he once saw Wall ringing puss out of his socks post game as a rookie.  It's something he's dealt with on and off for a long time.

Lance is one of the five funniest people in the NBA.

What a freaking pass by Sato.  Wow.

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Metalhead

Metalhead

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, stevemcqueen1 said:

 

He's had the same foot issues his entire career.  Years ago Kevin Broom mentioned that he once saw Wall ringing puss out of his socks post game as a rookie.  It's something he's dealt with on and off for a long time.

Lance is one of the five funniest people in the NBA.

What a freaking pass by Sato.  Wow.

 

Oh ok. His last flare up was just recently when they were getting their butts kicked and drama was getting out to the press. I assumed it was one of those injuries that pops up to stay away from the losing.

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Going Commando

Going Commando

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, StillUnknown said:

I'm not sure how Dekker managed to get that kind of deflection off the rim from that position

 

Yeah there was a law of physics broken there.

 

Again, I am confounded by Dekker.  He's like Nick Cage.  One absolutely brilliant play followed up by one absolutely awful one.  I'm like, "wow, yeah he's good."  Then a few seconds later it's, "well hold on a second."

2 minutes ago, StillUnknown said:

now get Wall out the game Brooks

 

don't be a dumbass

 

The problem is the short bench.  I think we only have four guards on the roster right now and three of them started.

And the chicken sandwich.  The worm has turned.  Lord Threeza has gotten us back on track.

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Going Commando

Going Commando

Posted
Posted

Remember that time four days ago that Ohm Youngmisuk wrote that we should trade John Wall for Enes Kanter, oh and throw Troy Brown Jr in too for our trouble?

 

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/25524321/nba-trades-see-john-wall-markelle-fultz-demar-derozan

 

I think we reached peak dumb****ery in John Wall takes with that one.

 

Now pardon me while I go troll the Lakers fans in the NBA thread.

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Going Commando

Going Commando

Posted
Posted

Mid season trades shake things up too.  Crystalize murky situations with peoples roles.  Bring in new blood that is eager to take advantage of a change in scenery.  Definitely seems to be the case with Dekker.

 

But honestly I think the simplest explanations are:

 

1 - He has a history of coming alive in December and this is a continuation of his good month.  He's feeling good and has gotten into the flow of the season.

2 - They've hit upon a better mix of line ups to improve the on court chemistry a ton.

 

- Mahinmi was an absolute anchor and Dwight was sucking too.  Benching Mahinmi for Thomas Bryant and having Dwight disappear was the first positive step to fixing the on court product.  Bryant's high energy play, floor running, eager defensive rotations, and quality screen setting has made a huge difference.

 

- Moving Keef to the bench transformed his game.  He's leading that unit as the gunner and he's actually thriving from having to handle more defensive responsibility by playing the 5 spot.  He is clearly the type of player that you have to motivate by challenging him and giving him responsibility.

 

- Austin Rivers was god awful in every conceivable way.  Him getting the minutes he did was back breaking.

 

- Kelly was also pretty bad too.  He's better than he showed over the first month and a half but his selfishness became extreme.  His contract year gunning was a total drag on any line up he was a part of.

 

- Trading Jason Smith for Sam Dekker has already started paying off.  Hurt to see Smith go, but Dekker is clearly a lot better than him.  Dekker's game is nice and complementary to ball dominant guards.  His activity level away from the ball and hunger to prove himself gave everyone else an emotional boost.  Can't shoot well but other than that, he's filling in Otto's shoes admirably right now.

 

- Sato clearly benefits from playing with the starters.  He needs to be playing with John as much as possible so they can develop offensive and defensive chemistry.  John needs to develop trust in Tomas like he has in Beal.  That's how you get more ball sharing and off ball activity from everyone in the line up.  And how you get better defensive switching.

 

The next step is for Ariza to slide into the rotation and do his thing.  And hopefully take minutes from Jeff Green, who is only good in short bursts.  Green is a hell of a shot maker who finishes with excellent efficiency, but his defense is wretched.  Giving so many minutes to him, Kelly, and Rivers was back-breaking.  I think you can only afford to have one chucker who plays awful defense and doesn't facilitate well in your rotation before your product becomes lousy.

 

Then after that, we need to get Otto back.  Run a rotation where Otto and Ariza play ~30 MPG, with Dekker and Green at ~20.  Time share the minutes at the 5 between Bryant and Keef.  Three guard rotation between Wall and Beal and Sato means a lot of minutes for them, but hopefully you can figure out a way to use Troy Brown to give each of them a break.  Maybe come up with a way to rotate an easy night or even a night off for one of them every three games by playing Brown a fair amount.  Also gives Brown a chance to get some meaningful experience.  Otherwise Sato is going to break down and Wall and Oubre will hit 3K minutes by the end of the season.

 

As far as trades go, it'd be nice to dump Mahinmi but not at the cost of the first round pick.  Worst case scenario he's a break glass big for if Bryant gets injured.  It'd also be nice to trade Dwight for a younger, healthier big.  I still wouldn't mind trading for ivica Zubac.  He's buried on LA's bench behind Wagner and McGee.  Here he'd play behind Bryant and Keef could take Jeff Green's minutes at PF.  But I don't think Dwight is going to be tradeable either.

 

Lastly, we're fine at PG if Wall and Sato stay healthy but we're ****ed if either one of them gets hurt.  Especially Wall.  Jordan McRae and Troy Brown are not point guards.  They are wings who can dribble some.  Not even sure McRae is playable.  In the event of injury to Sato or Wall, we'd be looking at playing Beal extended minutes at point, and that's a recipe for failure.

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Renegade7

Renegade7

Posted
Posted (edited)

Just because you said that, we're assured of the annual trade for a backup PG.  

 

So much of what is wrong with this team is between the ears, talent is there with more coming (healthy Dwight ill wait until playoffs, not priority to rush him back)

Edited by Renegade7
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Going Commando

Going Commando

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Posted
1 hour ago, Renegade7 said:

Just because you said that, we're assured of the annual trade for a backup PG.  

 

So much of what is wrong with this team is between the ears, talent is there with more coming (healthy Dwight ill wait until playoffs, not priority to rush him back)

 

Culture is a major issue.  Coaching is a major issue.  But take a look at this roster and it's clear talent is also a major issue.  I think we've falsely assumed that we had superior talent because we have two All Stars who are as good as or even better than a lot of the stars on other East teams.  But basketball is not a two man game.  Look at the roster outside of Wall and Beal and it doesn't stack up with the best teams in the conference:

 

- Our third best player is one of the five best three and D players in the NBA, but he's also our highest paid player and he's not an All Star

 

- Our fourth best player is a fine sixth man guard, but we got him with a second round draft pick seven years ago and he is just now this season finding a regular spot in our rotation.  And he might still get jerked out of it by the kind of PG trade you mentioned that has become an Ernie Special.

 

- Our fifth best player is a T-Rex armed gunner goon power forward who is a back up caliber player on a good team.  But we traded a first round pick to acquire him three years ago and had been starting ever since.

 

- Our sixth best player is... who?  Bryant?  An energy big we got from the trash heap with 350 career minutes?  Jeff Green?  A journeyman bench gunner we got with a min contract?  The fact that we get to player number six and have run out of rotation caliber guys capable of playing for any of the good teams in the East tells you how shallow and untalented this roster actually is.

 

Now some of that depth issue has been addressed by bringing in Ariza and perhaps Dekker.  But this is a big reason why we were so god awful to start the year.  And both of them are likely only one season stop gaps.  Plus I'm still not sure if Dekker is actually good.  Nor am I sure that Ariza isn't fast approaching a cliff.

 

No draft picks on this team from 2014-2017.  Four straight drafts where literally the only thing we have to show for those assets is an expiring Trevor Ariza and the back up caliber PF/C who is, sadly, our fifth best player.  We are a hollowed out roster.  You can not survive this level of god awful drafting with a three max contract roster.

 

Our big summer of cap space--which was our final chance to get difference makers in FA before the rookie extensions of Beal and Otto became a factor--got us Ian Mahinmi, Jason Smith, and Andrew Nicholson.  Nicholson took a first round pick to get out of.  Jason Smith gave us three fun years of towel waiving and almost nothing more.  Ian Mahinmi has been one of the worst signings in franchise history and we're still not rid of him.  We didn't just get nothing from this spending, we got negative value.  We would have been infinitely better off if we had just done nothing with our cap space instead.

 

Golden State, Toronto, Boston, Milwaukee, etc. all demonstrate that you can not win with a two or even three man roster.  You have to build a real team and coach it well.  We don't have the coach or the GM to compete with these organizations.

 

Re: Dwight, I have zero expectations for him any more.  He's barely been a part of this team.  He missed the summer work and showed up for 9 games, played well in like three of them, and then promptly got back surgery.  We pretty much have to operate as though he's not on the team any more.

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