It is called knowledge. We have seen enough summer league games over the years to know that what you are saying makes no difference. But keep trying to get a reaction from us.
CJ is leading the MVP race right now. TRob is leading the league in rebounding for players that have played all 3 games. ML sucks. The other players don't matter. If the point of this is "our 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th guys are getting dominated by scrubs" then it's a stupid point. If the point is Leonard sucks, it's an obvious point. If the point is CJ or TRob sucks, then it's factually wrong.
The point is we have had 4 rotation players on the floor for the summer league games and have lost every single one of them.
I've been disappointed in the play, but not necessarily from the guys who will get minutes this year (well, Leonard still has his moments of WTF?)...but there are a lot of over reaction to the summer play, both in a negative sense and a positive sense. McCollum has looked good, but he's also looked like he's playing out of position (well, he is). Robinson has looked good on the boards, but looks out of shape. Claver is looking decent, but as a glue guy not a scorer. Leonard seems to only be scoring because he's taller or quicker than the guys he's playing against. Not because he's better. All in all, having a better PG would've been HUGE. Had Lillard played, they would be 3-0, and people would be talking about how awesome everyone is doing (cept Leonard).
It only makes a difference if we threw out that exact line up during the regular season. When will we ever have those guys all playing together again? The answer is..... during a blow out. There is only one real scorer in that whole group and he is playing PG. A position he has not played in a while. If they were kicking ass with a couple of veteran D league players, I would still say the same thing. It makes no difference.
Look at last night's game - Chicago was playing a lineup of 4 and sometimes 5 perimeter shooters. We don't have the players on this roster to match up with that. We have bigs, but bigs who at least at this point are not much in the way of low post scorers - so they couldn't hurt Chicago at the other end for fielding such a small lineup. In a real game, that won't be a problem.
So, it's an emotional thang. You're frustrated by the losses, me too. If winning was our big thing we would just not play Barton and play Claver regardless of injury - but it's not, it's about developing our players, even Barton. Yes, I am disappointed in Barton's play, too.
I don't think that's it, honestly. I don't care if the team wins or loses in summer league, but I think it's a tad alarming that we have had 4 rotation players on the floor for most of the SL, and are getting beat.
I'm curious; can you derive a correlation between SL performance (just wins and losses) and performance in the regular season and playoffs? I'm not going to do the work, but I figure you probably have the time and where-with-all to do it.
And... We still have Lopez, wright and Watson as rotation players right? All I'm caring about is 3 things. 1.) can t rob get rebounds and defend 2.) will cj be able to create his own shot and score 3.) will Leonard be able to play? So far, two of the three came through
Oh sure, let's get the cancer patient to do it, he has nothing better to do I don't wanna do the work, but I don't think it matters, nor it is my concern. My concern is that one would think, a team with as many rotation players on it as ours should either be doing better than it is, or we should be really leery about next season
Here is my thinking on the everyday rotation for this team. I'll try to make the sums come out to 48 per position, but it will vary assuming some scrubs get a few minutes PG: Lillard (25), McCollum (12), Watson (11) SG: Wes (30), Lillard (9), McCollum (8), Nico/Barton/Crabbe (scraps) SF: Nico (32), Wright (15), Claver (scraps), Wes (scraps in a three guard lineup) PF: Aldridge (20), Robinson (20), Claver/Freeland (scraps) C: Lopez (25), Aldridge (15), Leonard/Freeland (scraps) Bottom line, I don't see a one-position linear rotation for much of this roster. I see Lillard and McCollum as PG/SG, I see Nico playing some SG as well as SF. I see us playing a three guard lineup. I see Claver playing both the three and the stretch four. I see Aldridge playing a ton of "center in name only" with Robinson playing the low post as the backup PF. And I see Freeland playing a bit of center when he sniffs the floor. Bottom line, on this summer league roster, I see the only players who will play meaningful minutes as being McCollum and Robinson. Everyone else will play less than 10 mpg. Injuries to our starters are of course another matter.
HA! I guess so... And without data, your "one would think" is no better than a gut reaction. Data would prove you possibly right or wrong. So without doing that work, we'll just sit here on either side of the discussion tut-tutting at each other.
