Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez, get a grip. Other LOF: What meds are you on? hotballa: Me? None. I used to be on Lithium and Seroquel and Abilify, but I don't take them anymore, no. They make me foggy and they also make me bloated. Other LOF: Yeah, I was on Xanax and Effexor, but I agree, I wasn't as sharp, so I stopped. hotballa: You ever take Klonopin? Other LOF: Klonopin? (Chuckling) Yeah. hotballa: Right? Other LOF: Jesus. hotballa: It's like, "What? What day is it?" How about Trazodone? Other LOF: Trazodone! (laughs) hotballa: Oh, it flattens you out. I mean, you are done. It takes the light right out of your eyes.
So who is our facilitator target? Rondo? Who else is expiring our is part of a glut on another team? Who is out there that may realistically be available?
Who cares about Lin and Parsons? They're history. They'll do great, they'll suck, or they'll be somewhere in between for their respective teams. We have to worry about the Rockets, version 2014-2015. And I worry. We're very young at the 4 spot and based on past history, it's unknown if Jones or Donuts can be consistent, given consistent minutes, and you couldn't get much more "unknown" than Black is. We could use a veteran 4, obviously, but I think we need help more at the other spot I'm worried about, at point. The point guard spot? The way Bev plays, he's not going to last through the season if he plays 35 minutes a game. Canaan hasn't shown us that he can be an effective point, not yet, not by a long shot. Everyone else is either an extremely young 2 (Johnson) who might eventually become an effective 1 if the stars line up just right and we have another season or two to wait for that to possibly happen, or ancient. Terry is ancient, and if he plays a lot of minutes this season at the point if Bev is out for several games (which could happen more than once - god, I hope not), we will be in trouble. Bev would be better suited to being the first guard off the bench behind a more traditional point, in my opinion, which would reduce his minutes, giving him more of a disruptive impact when he plays. We need a point guard. We could really use a veteran 4, but we need a point guard.
I felt like we needed a real point guard last year, too, but at least Parsons alleviated some of that need. It especially hurts that both Lowry and then Dragic slipped through our fingers. Don't get me wrong. I think this team as constructed is and will be very good, and will win a lot of games, but I'm beyond "making the playoffs" and want to get up there with the big boys. I felt like we were exposed a bit in the Portland series, and unfortunately, other than addressing defense and possibly some three point shooting, we've given up assets, and still have many of the same problems as last year.
I agree with this 100 percent. This team needs an upgrade if we are to compete with the big boys of the west. Canaan, troy daniels, and so are just useless. Terry should be playing troy daniel's spot. Daniels, canaan, either dmo or terence jones or dmo should be on the trading block. It is actually getting frustrating watching dmo play. The man is a 7' with so much potential but i feel is just not improving at the rate we need him too.
Morey is waiting on the right price. If the insiders' info is correct, we have been trying to target a point guard. Bev's injury may force his hand sooner rather than later.
Dude, if you're gonna play the Lin card, at least go all the way with it. This is like the most half hearted attempt I've seen from you. I know you don't actually believe what you typed, so why even try to go there? Of course it was shortsighted to give up a first rounder for a pipe dream that any sane person could see wasn't going to happen. If Lebron went back to Miami, Bosh was staying. If Lebron left, Miami would suddenly have all this money to spend. Did you really think Bosh was going to come here?
Rondo trade target Number 1 and as a distant who would be fitting like a glove and underrated - Jose Calderon does not need many shots unlike Lillard, one of the best shooters at PG and a decent playmaker who is humble and knows the NBA game as well as the Euro game - the more experienced and better Rubio IMO
I still wish we were seeing better entry passes, and I wish our pick and rolls were more effective, but I have to say, ball movement is actually looking to be improved already. I may have to eat some crow on this one.
we need a back up center for howard, not another ball handler. The front court is crap when howard is out.
Half hearted? You're damn right. I don't have half or a quarter or an eighth or less of a heart to spare for beating on Linsters. It's like Billy Madison in a pickup game now. And I really never even got to hyped up about it back in the past. It's just that anybody nostalgic for the Lin days is obv. crazy. It's like saying "man zeppelin travel sucked but sho do wish we had dat Hindenburg" no we don't brah.
Said this to start the season, and still stand by my statement. Clutch and MK alluded to this in the latest podcast, but it's right there in front of all of our faces. Without Harden in the lineup, or on nights when opposing teams are able to shut Harden down, this team is going to struggle. Still a little disappointed Morey hasn't been able to address this hole, but I think we're all aware that Dragic is probably a dream and that there really aren't a lot of great facilitators lying around for the taking. The countdown to the deadline is on. Or who knows, maybe Canonball will get healthy and out of the doghouse all of the sudden
The biggest need that we have is an ball handler/scorer. This will reduce the pressure not only on Harden, but to an extent on the frontcourt as well. If Smith stops throwing up 3 pointers, and plays closer to the basket things will improve. We do need a better backup center as well, Dorsey can't cut it. D-Mo is doing a good job, but he can't do it on his own.
When the Thunder made the finals, they had 3 players who could initiate offense and get their own shot if needed. We really only have one.
I hate to quote myself. But it's interesting that this thread got only 2 stars. Less than three months ago, not many people agreed with DarkHorse that the loss of Lin and Parsons created a void that would be our glaring weakness.
The sad truth is if their god told them that shooting jumpers backwards was the best type to take statistocally, the Moridiots would agree with that. the thread is two stars because his disciples are just as short sighted as their greek god of stats are.
I feel like the biggest facilitator for offense is a good coach with a good plan. The fundamental plays of basketball still work. Pick and rolls work. Post-ups work if you use the right player. Drives to the basket work. Hard, continuous defense works. Our off-the-ball players aren't boxing out for the offenseive rebound. We don't have a big man set up as option to dump the ball to when somebody drives. We give post-ups to the wrong player. We've stopped throwing up alleys when they were very effective early in the season. We don't effectively use number advantages on fast breaks. Our big guys don't go for the dunk nearly enough. We still suck at free throws. Our passes are wild and risky, and our turnovers are high and usually self-imposed. I think there's plenty of talent and people with different rolls to play on this team. But they're just sort of thrown in there, told to hang out behind the arc, and wait for Harden to make something happen. I mean, I know we're talking about the highest echelon of basketball in the world, but it's like everything that's always worked in basketball at any level is just ignored. There's huge potential for this team in its current state to just get better on many fronts. It's always great to have more inherently-intelligent players, but I feel like you can teach a lot of basketball intelligence. Good teams do better than they should when you just look at the stats for their players. Bad teams underperform even with a stacked team.
