Last year we were so lucky. Only LA missed time among our starters. This year has been a return to the norm. However, I think these injuries/illnesses may be good for us in the long term. 1. We get to employ more of a Spurs strategy of resting players and giving our bench time. It gives Stotts a better feel for who can be relied on in certain situations. 2. It keeps our bench interested and not bitter about lack of playing time. It also rewards the bench guys who have been working hard in practice. 3. It raises the trade value of the assets we have on the bench. We're seeing who is fitting into the system (Freeland, Claver) and who isn't (Leonard, McCollum). It makes Olshey's job easier and identifies our future needs. 4. They're happening at the right time of the year. Rolo can come back and get back in the groove for the stretch run. These are the dog days of the season, and LA is getting a real rest. I'd love to find a time to rest Lillard when those guys come back as well. Matthews--it appears--is impervious to the rigors of an 82 game season. While I hope we have perfect health for the rest of the season, these injuries may have actually been a blessing in disguise.
Yup - I agree with all of this. This is a good thing. I hope Stotts continues to rest players throughout the season so that the bench players get more PT to ready themselves for the POs.
I'm still not sure about claver. He can't shoot. That's a problem. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Well the blessing is that we are still winning. The addition of Blake and Kaman have been great, and the growth of Trob, Crabbe, Joel and CJ have been awesome. Blake has been an asset in that he makes those guys better. Meyers, Will and Claver are perennial bench warmers and I would like to see us package them for another scorer off the bench and that would solidify our lineup.
If we could turn those three jokers into one decent player (or those three plus Wright into a good player), we'd pretty much be "there".
I am glad he is getting minutes now. That is no problem though because in a playoff series Claver wouldn't play a second (even in a blowout).
I forgot about Dorrell. I like him because he's a vet amongst those youngins and he doesn't seem overly concerned with playing time, so you don't have to worry about him being a pain in the ass. His shooting has improved and he seems to be giving more effort when he's in there. But yeah, if we could package him with the a couple of those other guys for a scorer (not necessarily a shooter, we have enough of those) but a guy that can get points in the paint, regardless of postion, I would be all for it.
We said the same thing about Joel Freeland when he came back from injury, which is sort of like Victor coming back from DNP wasteland. I'm confident his shot will come around just like Joel's did but he has to play. His defensive upside is really good. He gets you stops. Joel and Vic together protect the rim really, really well and don't fall for pump fakes. They are perfect compliments to volume shooters like Dame and LA. They just don't need to score.
Agree except about Lillard. He's never missed a game in his career and I hope that continues for him. He's tough.
The other good thing as far as wear and tear is we are doing a much better job of blowing teams out, so our starters aren't playing till the final buzzer!
That's what amazes me last season. Soooo many minutes. Soooo many tight games. Soooo many time we had to come from behind to beat a team. It's so nice to see this team able to win games easily without playing heavy minutes to our starters
