Bump. I just don't think our roster is put together right. We don't have a single above-average wing and we have too many bigs. Ideally we would just treat Whiteside as a third-string center and he should only get minutes in blowouts or if both Zach and Nurk are in foul trouble. But then we don't really have anyone suited to play the 4 in the modern NBA. I'd honestly rather we gave minutes to Gabriel and Little and took them from Melo and Whiteside.
Our only hope is the good teams we play are locked into their playoff position and want to avoid injuries to their good players, or would rather drop to avoid some team in particular.
Stotts says we got Jaylen Adams to replace Ariza because "we have plenty of wings." He must know something about Little that we don't.
That could very well happen. The Top 7 West teams have almost nothing to play for since home court advantage is out the window. Maybe Dallas wants 6th so that it doesn't have to play Clippers but I doubt they care. And maybe the Celtics want to hunt down the 2 seed to get the Nets/Magic instead of potentially the Sixers but I doubt they can get there and I doubt they care. Meanwhile, the Pelicans are playing a bunch of teams that are DESPERATE for wins. Addition to the Grizzlies, they have to fend off the Kings twice, a Kings team no one is talking about even though they have the same record as New Orleans! Pelicans also have to play Spurs and Wizards and Magic too. That might sound easy on paper but those teams are desperate. Most people are counting out the Wizards cuz they don't have Beal and Bertans but they only have to make up 1.5 games on the Magic to trigger a shock the world play-in against the Magic or Nets.
My original guess would have been 2-6. So going 4-2 so far is above my expectations (and the 2 losses were close games). If it wasn't for Gary Trent Jr.'s play in the bubble, I believe my original guess would be right on track.
Thank you thank you. Can't believe all those people who had us going 4-4. I thought it went perfectly. I thought Memphis had a chance to go 2-6 and they did. We were a couple bounces from going 8-0 too. A couple bounces from going 0-8 though lol.
I picked 6-2 cuz I was dreaming of 8th but I thought 5-3 would get us in. Didn't see a team going 8-0 though I know there were some who thought New Orleans would.
I got it right. They even lost the two games that I thought they would (but I would have predicted 7-1 if I knew that Kawhi would sit in the Clippers game). Where I totally blew it was thinking that the Pelicans were going to be the main competition to make the play-in. I totally missed the Suns big run and way overestimated the Pelicans' competence.