If you do not realize Ariza's importance to the switch everything defensive rotation so critical to challenging GSW then I'm not sure how we can continue this discussion. Ariza and Luc were replaced by the much lesser Ennis. Who was later flipped so TF could stay under the tax.
There was a team, you may recall, that won the ring with the 6th seed. They even had a disgruntled franchise super star that they decided to keep and turn around into a successful relationship with rings. I forget the name of the team
That team also had the franchise's greatest player AND the franchise's BEST head coach. TF has driven away the franchise's greatest GM, franchise's 2nd best head coach and in the throes of driving away perennial MVP perennial NBA scoring champion and franchise's 2nd best player ever in James Harden. Your scenario is missing quite a few important factors to win a ring.
And FYI, after game 3 of Lakers series, Rockets ability to adjust was severely curtailed due to losing a critical player in rotation in Danuel House. Up until that point, Rockets had put the fear of God in the Lakers and Rockets could have just as easily been up 3-0 as down 1-2, the first 3 games were THAT close (well 2nd 2 games were close, 1st game Rockets embarrassed the Lakers). Games 4 and 5 became efforts in futility after Russ and Rivers roles expanded, as did the turnovers.
I think it's regarding the plays they ran for him specifically. I'm okay with Ben Mac shooting mid-range since he is a really good shooter.
For what it’s worth I don’t think ANY team should have made ANY decisions based off the bubble performances/outcomes because it was so unprecedented. No way Miami makes it to Finals with a full season. Had Rockets kept Dantoni I would have understood. I don’t think small ball can win, but I also don’t think it’s really fair to draw conclusions from the Bubble. But the problems predated the Bubble.
Neither Morey or MDA wanted to play small, they needed to play small. Morey failed to acquire Wood at trade deadline as was his plan, and his multiple back up plans to attain another big fell through as well. Stone acquiring Wood was simply a continuation of Morey's plan, except he lost RoCo to do so. I think Morey would have found way to keep both. And finally, MDA hated the media non sequitur "small ball" because it was a misnomer and moreso purposefully misleading and derisive. MDA espoused SKILL ball.
Based on those 2 shots, he's shooting 100% from the field. Therefore, he should be shooting 100% from the field every night for the rest of the season. Anything less? Excommunicate him from the team.
Nwaba and the Mayor on the "fringe" of the 1-4 rotation behind Sterling Brown, Jaesean Tate and Ben McLemore. Not sure how I feel about that.
