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Post by jmost on Dec 2, 2020 12:14:33 GMT -5
For me it's because I zero confidence that Smart understands that it shouldn't be him to take big shots at the end of games. It's his blessing and his curse that he doesn't know he's not an elite scorer.
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Dec 5, 2020 2:38:55 GMT -5
Roadrunner is going to love this!
Thought he was decent at Duke. Rebounded pretty decently, but just had that Jeff Green vibe that I don’t care much for. Maybe a fire got lit undet him now, we’ll see.
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Dec 5, 2020 12:45:58 GMT -5
Words can be just talk, but I really hope Tristan Thompson does what he says he’ll do — bring toughness like Marcus Smart.
If so, I want Thompson and Smart to be in the starting lineup. We begin every game by defensively hounding and beating up teams. Set the tone early. That’ll be a really strong defensive starting lineup with Tatum and Brown + Smart and Thompson (not counting Kemba).
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Post by jmost on Dec 6, 2020 13:02:24 GMT -5
I'm loving everything I hear from TT. I think we could be a substantially better defensive team this year with him.
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Dec 8, 2020 11:02:30 GMT -5
I’m pretty darn good with our team! Yeah we might not be favorites to make it out of the East, but we’ve got an outside shot to do it. And I rather we be underdogs anyways.
We’re essentially the same team as last year (minus Hayward, but he’s wasn’t himself in the ECF anyways). We’ve added Tristan Thompson, who not only brings more physicality, but also brings a veteran and championship-tested voice to the the huddle, and he pushes Theis to the bench (giving us a quality bench big to call on).
And we’ve added Jeff Teague who, no matter how you cut it, is an upgrade over Wanamaker as a ball handler and play creator.
And then we’ve potentially added two quality shooters in Pritchard and Nesmith.
And I expect Grant Williams to be an integral part of our success.
I say we’ll end up #2 in the East 👍
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Post by jmost on Dec 8, 2020 11:55:38 GMT -5
The East has so many question marks this year. There are easily a half dozen East teams that could reach the ECF. At the least it should mean a lot more good regular season games.
I don't think there's any doubt that TT and Teague are an upgrade over Kanter and Wanamaker. To me the biggest question going into the season is how well we can replace Hayward's playmaking.
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Dec 8, 2020 13:25:18 GMT -5
The East has so many question marks this year. There are easily a half dozen East teams that could reach the ECF. At the least it should mean a lot more good regular season games. I don't think there's any doubt that TT and Teague are an upgrade over Kanter and Wanamaker. To me the biggest question going into the season is how well we can replace Hayward's playmaking. Collectively we’ll replace Hayward, and I think that’s great. That means Teague, Grant, Romeo, Nesmith and Pritchard will have a chance to earn opportunities to step in and contribute (which they wouldn’t have if Hayward was here playing 28+ minutes).
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Dec 10, 2020 1:19:26 GMT -5
For the season opener, I chose as starters:
Teague Smart Jaylen Tatum Thompson (I could go Grant here, but maybe as the season progresses)
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Post by jmost on Dec 10, 2020 23:19:59 GMT -5
Here's another idea:
Teague Brown Tatum GWill Thompson
I'd rather have Smart come off the bench.
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Dec 11, 2020 0:12:25 GMT -5
Here's another idea: Teague Brown Tatum GWill Thompson I'd rather have Smart come off the bench. I could go with that, but was thinking of starting the game with heavy defense. I’m not a big Marcus Smart fan either, but he’s come a long ways since the Smart from 4 years ago.
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Dec 11, 2020 2:30:39 GMT -5
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Dec 19, 2020 6:12:49 GMT -5
Forget about our two preseason games; it was just warm ups.
This season, there will be struggles, and a bit more losses than we’d like. And I’m fine with it.
The training wheels are off for Jayson Tatum to lead this team. He won’t have Horford, or Kyrie, Hayward or Kemba to bail him out if he’s struggling. And that will be a huge lesson for him to learn. Each and every game, Tatum will need to come with his A game.
Also, the responsibility will be on him to make his teammates better. He has to set them up, find them and make them look good. That’s what superstars do.
It might take a year or two for Tatum to fit comfotably in this role, and we might sputter here and there until then. And that’s fine.
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Dec 19, 2020 6:26:31 GMT -5
Brad said in his post game interview that both Philly and Brooklyn played with more purpose than we did.
But based on practices, he’s not concerned at this time about our level of intensity.
That’s much like how we’ve been coming out of the gate — we fall behind early and fight our way back. I’d like that trend to end. I want to make a statement early and carry that moment throughout the game.
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Dec 19, 2020 14:45:59 GMT -5
Yeah, that’ll be good, Brad. Players knowing their roles is a good thing.
And why wasn’t GWill playing physical thus far?
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Dec 19, 2020 14:48:49 GMT -5
The question is why haven’t they played harder in games as they do in practice? Turn up the heat guys!
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