I feel pretty strongly that this is indeed the case. What's really killing them is that when things tighten up, they just don't have a player that scares another team into committing a double team, and as we all know most teams don't really start to play defense until the final frame (with a few exceptions). The other big thing is that despite the improved perimeter defense, players are having to over-rotate to compensate for the lack of size in the middle, which exposes them to teams that actually quickly and decisively move the ball leaving open shooters on the weakside. If Joel really is back to close to 100% of what he used to be then I think he's going to do a lot to shore up the defensive holes we have in the middle, and as for the offense it's really going to take somebody on this roster showing that they can force a team to double them AND still get theirs at a high percentage, the best bet appears to be Aldridge. If not, then they have to hope that Roy can give them something, or they'll probably have to try and work a trade.
