Carmelo isn't what ails us now, he's gone. But like I said, Ariza wasn't his call, that's a lux tax issue. Luc - we had no way to sign him as we didn't have his bird rights - so I am not sure how you expected that to happen. He signed a bunch of low risk players that wouldn't hamstring us in the next summer if they didn't work out, and this team while still a work in progress has shown potential. Ennis has not played poorly this season - dude is shooting 40% and playing decent defense. MCW has been a bust but it was low-risk move anyway. Clark has been great. And let's not forget Morey is the one who brought in EG. Chris Paul isn't 100% - that much has been obvious for much of the season. And yes, we need another 3&D guy but not at $15M. The season is still young and it's too early to lose it.
So..... In the name of chemistry, we should have somehow found a way to beat Phoenix’s offer of $15M, brought back an injured player that’s still injured and said no to a “why not?” look at Melo — despite all accounts that he wasn’t a problem in the locker room? Got it. It’s a damn shame some of you emotional clowns aren’t calling the shots here ;-)
Get rid of YOU with your knee jerk reaction azz...This isnt nba 2k19 were you csn override a trade and fleece another teams good player for your scraps. Grow the F up.
I’ll say this. Watching Harden now reminds me of watching Dream in high school with my buddies chanting MVP while he threw up near quadruple doubles routinely. Then they put a squad around him and they won rings. They were an injury away from a ring last year so no disrespect. But we have to figure it out because players like this don’t come around often.
I mean, to be fair, while there's lot of finger pointing about Ariza, Luc, Melo, Ennis and the like... ... a lot of this comes down to the CP3 issue itself. He's going to be getting $40+ million for the next 3.5 years from now. He's already missed almost 25% of the season. Don't get me wrong, healthy, 65+ game CP3 is great. And healthy for a FULL playoff CP3 would be amazing... but keep in mind he played as much as he ever has in a postseason last year. It's just hard to see those things happening. DM effectively backed himself into a corner with that, then. But he had to do it, I think. What was the alternative? I personally would have explored S&Ts with CP3 this offseason assuming he was amenable - but not that there was a great package for that.
Jeff Green would be a nice defensive addition as part of a deal if Washington really is making everyone on their roster available. Jimmy Butler might have been the only real opportunity to turn this season around, but apparently we weren't willing to give up enough. Tyson Chandler could have made a real difference, but I don't know if we even attempted to get him here. The longer we wait to start fixing this mess, the deeper the hole gets.
First... I'm talking about 2014-15. The year we went to the WCF. Brew was picked up in December and instantly gave us depth. I forgot WHO we were running before him, but that player was exiled from the NBA. Smoove was picked up and he didn't fix our PF issues after Dmo got hurt but he was better than Jones. Smoove provided defense, rebounding, and play making. Smoove in 2015 is better than Clark in 2018. Brewer in 2015 is better than Green in 2018. Terry in 2015 is better than MCW. But y'all don't want to see my point. I know they weren't good players. I know they were brick layers. And yet they were still somehow better than what we have now?? Do you not get that? Terry, Brew, Smoove >>> MCW, Green, Clark. The headband crew was trash but those mother****ers won us games. I don't want to settle for the talent of the headband crew, but damn it the current roster isn't giving me any choice. And again: my point is those guys were better than what we have currently. Just think about it. That team with "horrendous" players won 56 games and made it to the second round comfortably. our current team is more top heavy and is still struggling to win if one of CP or Harden is out. The new depth we have is the most trash it has ever been.
He's sat out 4/19 games. 2 because of suspension. 2 cause of rest. Chris isn't getting any younger so it's important for DM to get the most out of this season while Chris is still a viable 2nd option. Him on course to playing 65 games sucks, but it would be ok if he had a back up. Which everyone knows was a weakness on this team coming into the season. Chris has put up some stinkers. That's on him. What is not on him is that his back up point guard is Michael Carter-Williams which means that Chris has to play more minutes and potentially games than he has to. I would have loved for Chris to sit out a 2-game stretch in March because we have a competent back up who can come into the game. Instead he can't take those breaks because the depth sucks. And the more he plays then the more likely it is he breaks down.
I mean this is all definitely true. But it's also true that with the roster makeup, while someone better than MCW would be nice, effectively the guard rotation for this team to be championship worthy - meaning, have a great regular season, high seed, somewhat "easier" path to the WCF, and potential ability to take down GSW in the WCF - will ahve to be 96 minutes of Harden, CP3 and Gordon. It's not like you are making the same argument about Harden. Precisely because Harden is much less often injured or missing games. And while that's not "on" CP3 that's he's slightly more injury prone, older, etc... it is on him, because that's who he is. So while it'd be great if MCW wasn't on this team and someone - ANYONE!!!! - else was, it'd also be EVEN better if they had better SFs and backup bigs. MCW was definitely a horrible signing. But not necessarily because he's been useless as a bad player, but because there was no stylistic fit AT ALL from the get go. In other words, DM should have chose some other crappy, cheap backup PG. That person PROBABLY would have been equally bad, but not so head scratching, and we'd just chalk it up to lack of capital to fill out that part of the roster. Or put another way, DM uses Knight's contract plus to beef up the roster. Would your number one priority be backup PG? I hope not.
I see your point, and I agree. Going all in with CP3 definitely had its flaws due to his age and likelyhood that he could break down any second. We're lucky James is tough but if he goes down then he does have Eric Gordon who can slip in as a starting 2 guard while CP3 plays point. That means someone like Gerald Green would need to play back-up 2/3. Not ideal during the regular season, but I trust CP3 and Gordon could make it work as long as the deep bench is reliable. PJ Tucker is another person I worry for since he doesn't have a reliable back up. Ennis and Clark can't give Tuck a real break. Often times I think he's over exerting himself. I don't like that he plays so many minutes. In the regular season it will be more important to have a forward that can play both the 4 and 3 to alleviate Tuck's responsibility. It will also be important in the playoffs for the player to play as well. That depth is so critical in many ways. So yeah a rotation forward is highest in priority imo. I would like for Knight to somehow be traded for a forward who can play 3/4. I feel like a back-up 1 is also important though. we want our 2nd best player to go into the playoffs rested and ready. I'm not asking for a super great caliber player. Just a guy who can come in and be available every night, but also understand that sometimes he wont play. I understand it's not easy to pull these players out of nowhere either. I'm impatient, but also understanding that Daryl just can't fix the roster suddenly. But Chriss (an expiring) and a 2nd rounder can surely net something more reliable than MCW, right? Also doesn't help that other teams may be wanting those same point guards we want. It's frustrating. If Paul was younger and less injury prone then this wouldn't be much of a problem though, so I do see your point and agree. It just sucks that Morey didn't properly adjust to this fact. He tried with MCW but failed miserably.
MCW was the biggest blunder no doubt, Melo was a failure but on a minimum deal. I do not understand Morey, he goes on to sign someone who could not shoot while he was the one with the whole 3 and layup scheme. Some of us warned him not to do it. He also failed again to get us great shooters for a contender. I am worried about him, Maori is not as sharp as he once was. The CP3 4 year deal is looking worse by the minute he is injured. He better get us to the Finals these 2 years because that is his window IMHO.
He makes good single moves but rarely makes the great follow up move. He is good but not great at getting those consistent results the organization needs badly.
You can fault Morey all you want for this off season but at the end of the day, he'll find a way to improve this roster. I have complete faith that he'll find ways to improve this roster.
