|
Post by eja117 on Jan 15, 2021 22:07:39 GMT -5
Hayward left......that meant no more excuses for Tatum and Jaylen
Kemba got hurt.....that meant no more excuses for Tatum or Jaylen or Smart. I think it also made Ainge look a lot at young point guards in the draft and he landed on Pritchard.
Jaylen got way better
Tatum got a little better
Smart got better by taking better shots and less of them.
Semi got better.
Tacko got better.
Grant Williams got better.
Time Lord got better.
Javonte Green got better.
Tremont got better.
Tristan Thompson is an absolute improvement over Enes Kanter
Teague is a good addition.
Pritchard is a huge addition.
Possibilities for getting better from here.....
Maybe Nesmith will be better by the end of the year or maybe even mid year.
Maybe Romeo Langford will come back and be better.
The TPE is out there.
If Kemba comes back and is at 90% for 25 minutes a night that could be big.
Players that got worse or not better.
Theis.
Carson Edwards
Romeo remains to be seen
Kemba remains to be seen
|
|
|
Post by DERRENMATTS on Jan 16, 2021 0:35:18 GMT -5
Oh, you’re just a homer 😁
Yup, you nailed every one of those. Credit to Brad for giving everyone their roles.
And I think Ainge and Co. have figured out the types of players to target in the draft, which is going to be really important going forward.
|
|
|
Post by DERRENMATTS on Jan 16, 2021 22:30:56 GMT -5
What these games without Kemba, and now Tatum, have told us is our role players are getting better. They’re stepping up to the plate and hitting singles and doubles (whereas in the past our role players would strikeout or hit weak dribblers back to the pitcher).
We’re building a contender from the ground up!
|
|
|
Post by afceltic on Jan 17, 2021 19:04:56 GMT -5
Smart is not better....he is still the same guy ad he has always been
|
|
|
Post by eja117 on Jan 31, 2021 18:29:36 GMT -5
One major thing that remains to be seen is if Brad got better.
If he uses Kemba off the bench for instant offense and rewards young players that play with a ton of defense, energy, and enthusiasm (Pritchard and currently Semi) then he will show me he has gotten better.
If he just runs Kemba into the ground and shakes his head for 3 months while his young guys never get around to realizing the game is about stops then it will show me he hasn't taken a step forward.
|
|
|
Post by DERRENMATTS on Jan 31, 2021 20:36:34 GMT -5
Interesting, because that chatter of Brad needs to go is growing louder.
Could it he that Brad is able to squeeze success out of a bunch of star-less but hard working players, but doesn’t know how to bring out the best from a team that has superstars?
|
|
|
Post by eja117 on Feb 1, 2021 9:55:49 GMT -5
To me the chatter against coaches gets louder when they make obvious mistakes. I think Brad isn't making tons of mistakes but he's leaving some low hanging fruit out there. By now he needs to realize Tristan Thompson isn't what he hoped for. He needs to realize Pritchard is generally a lot better than he hoped for. And he needs to make the adjustments accordingly.
He seems a little behind in this regard. One thing causing him trouble is some injuries. He couldn't pull Kemba for 8 Mile last night because Pritch was hurt. He hasn't been able to see Kemba in a 6th man role because he's been hurt.
|
|
|
Post by eja117 on Mar 22, 2021 20:52:39 GMT -5
This didn't age well.
|
|
|
Post by afceltic on Mar 26, 2021 2:03:57 GMT -5
The trade deadline was a dud too. We are closer to having Brad take the Indiana job and Danny getting fired than we are being true contenders.
It is just not a good roster in any way you try to spin it.
|
|
|
Post by freshnthehouse on Mar 26, 2021 4:18:41 GMT -5
I'm kind of 'meh' on it. no great moves made, but not a lot given up either.
i do think the team is better in the short term. I like that we can now have 4 guys on the court at once during crunch time that im confident can hit a high-stakes jumper. Here's hoping Time Lord runs with these extra minutes he's now going to receive.
|
|
|
Post by afceltic on Mar 26, 2021 4:41:42 GMT -5
We wasted the TPE on a guy who may not be here next year and unless I get proven wrong doesn't move the needle either way. It was nice to get rid of Teague, but Thompson and Smart are still here and are still net negatives while they are on the court. As for the high stakes jumper, we will have four guys capable of making that shot, but it will be the guy I just mentioned who can't make that shot who will take said shots like he did against the Bucks in our last game. So nothing changed there, "Not So" Smart will still take those shots thinking he is Larry Legend or Reggie Miller while we will once again have four better options on the floor and we will continue to lose those games.
The only bright side is that we are only a half game from being in the lottery, so maybe we get lucky and get good draft pick out of this terrible season. Maybe that is how we get a real third impact player on this team because Danny has shown that he can't get one through Free Agency because they are always getting hurt (Gordon, Kemba) or are past their primes and are just taking up roster spots while getting little or no production from them (Teague, Thompson).
|
|
|
Post by jmost on Mar 26, 2021 11:39:09 GMT -5
All season long we have had a lot of wide open 3s being taken by guys who are terribly inconsistent, whether Semi, Grant, Theis or whoever. I'm optimistic that a lot of those shots will now be taken by a proven shooter in Fournier. If he winds up resigning with us Danny will have landed a 20 pt scorer for two 2nd round picks. That's not bad. It's also a big IF.
I can't find fault with Danny signing guys who had no injury history before coming here who subsequently got hurt. Gordon was not a bad signing, but he had terrible luck here. He's shown this year that he can still play, and if he hadn't opted out we'd have been a lot better this year. In Kemba's last four years in Charlotte, he played 81, 79, 80 and 82 games and was 29 when he came here, right in the middle of his athletic prime. His knee problems may have derailed him, but were they foreseeable? Thompson was not a big money signing, nor was it for a lot of years. He is what he is. Not THE ANSWER, but not horrible or a roster killer. I think Teague must have been hurt for the middle of his stay here. He played really well at the start and the end and terribly in the middle. I don't think he was ever anything other than a depth signing and Pritchard's emergence rendered him expendable.
The guy I will miss is Theis. I just loved his personality. Too many players scowl their way through their careers. Theis always seemed to be smiling.
Before we get too mad with Danny for not landing a big man, let's see how the buyout market plays out.
|
|
|
Post by afceltic on Mar 26, 2021 15:04:30 GMT -5
It isn't likely we get Aldridge or Drummond as Niami, Brooklyn, and the Fakers are all looking to sign them and are in better position than we are to get to the Finals
|
|
|
Post by jmost on Mar 27, 2021 7:49:52 GMT -5
from the Globe re Fournier: A closer look at the numbers shows the 6-foot-7 guard is one of the most efficient scorers in the league this season. His overall points per possession (+9.5; 95th percentile) and points per play generated in the halfcourt (+13.2; 99th percentile) are among the NBA’s elite, according to Cleaning The Glass.
He can score from anywhere on the court and has consistently improved as a playmaker as his career has progressed, even assisting on a career-best 19 percent of his teammates’ baskets this year (89th percentile in the NBA).
|
|