The last four were losses. The last win against Miami, we looked bad all game until the final minute. The game against Orlando shouldn't have gone to overtime, and we almost choked away our whole lead against Minnesota. I want a blowout. A fun WIN where the starters get to sit in the fourth while we're up 30. Last blowout win I can remember was in Sacramento at the beginning of the season. Come on boys, give me something to cheer about.
This team isn't good enough to blow anyone out. We really shouldn't even be above .500, but we lucked out in close games, and we happened to hit a lot of teams when their main player was injured. Just look at the shitty teams we've lost to. The fucking Cleveland Cavaliers at home (without one of their best players). If Olshey doesn't get this team a fucking bench, it could be a long haul as we wait for him to "move the needle". A bench would move the needle. These guys just had nothing tonight. They look lost on offense and defense.
I know I'm a broken record and probably fucking annoying as hell for repeating myself all the time, but this year was never about this year. Once they swung big and missed on Hibbert, they quickly switched gears and took a completely different tactic. Selecting a long-term prospect like Nards was a big part of that new plan, a high-risk, high-reward athletic center that is going to take a few years. The second part was rounding out the roster with scrubs and staying away from any long term deals to retain cap flexibility for another run at free agency this summer in the quest to get another difference maker or keep the door open for a lopsided trade for a difference maker. In short, the team was built to lose, while getting the starters as much playing time together as possible and as much chemistry as possible so the proceeding years might be brighter than this single season. Think of this year as a tactical retreat.
In any case, it looks like Olshey has a "go big or go home" approach. Leonard has definite bust potential, but maybe with some more seasoning he turns the corner like Deandre Jordan did? As for free agency, Olshey went all in on Hibbert and then when he missed out he basically punted until next summer, instead of panicking and and just blowing his wad on some "decent" bench players and dooming this team to the mediocre middle. Who knows, maybe he whiffs again this summer, but I'm at least comforted in knowing that he's playing the GM game to win and not just settle for a team that is decent and likable and locked into years of first round exits.
I hear you, Nik. But the players are real people whose job it is to win. Not stuff a boxscore in a loss like Love. I feel bad for someone like Aldridge because management won't give him any help this year. I have definitely lowered my expectations. I'm fine with 20-19. Past years, I would not be happy. I just want to see them win half their games. If they fall apart, then I will get excited about the draft.
I don't think anyone expected us to make the playoffs to begin the year. Lillard being as good as he has been and Batum turning it on put us into a nice pace and we suddenly became "decent". This team has no staying power, it has execution problems, no reliable bench scoring, the list of things wrong with it is long indeed. Whats not is the fact that our starters are good and putting up nice numbers and that we can keep games close and even win but a lot of things have to go right. Olshey definitely wanted a draft pick this year or he would have brought a bench in, without a good one we have done a really good job of winning and I think as long as we don't have a major injury were going to have winstreaks, then the starters will get exhausted and we'll drop a few and were going to be hovering around .500 all year. Is that going to be us into the playoffs? Probably not, but its also probably going to get us to lose our pick. The good news is much like Nik said this year was a building year so as long as we don't sacrifice assets to go get someone to try and make the playoffs this year we should have an interesting off season.
You guys just don't know how to have fun when we lose. Here's my secret: I just criticize the players, especially Aldridge. You have to find the silver lining, like I do! Don't worry, be happy, and hate everyone except Hickson! Crack your vertical smile sunny side up! Keep your chins up!
I'm having second thoughts about his clutchness. What made BRoy amazing in the clutch was his proficiency with so many aspects of the game: driving left/right, finishing left/right, pull ups, step backs, 3pt, etc. His attack was so varied that teams didn't know how to play him at the ends of games, and he still used to bully his way to the rim half the time because of his killer first step and good handle. Sorta like Kyrie yesterday. Dame seems to have two go-to plays: step back three, and pull up jumper. This will improve as he progresses in his career obviously, but I might have put him on legend clutch status too soon.
