CJ is a bad fit. If he is the second best player on the team and Nurk is third best... there is a serious disconnect if we improve our record just by subtracting them. Also, why in the fuck would we ever have Damian Lillard playing 32 minutes a night... 36 is probably too few and why would we only be playing Trent (given that he has played better next to Dame than CJ) 16? Edit: My bad, I see you have Trent getting a total of 20 minutes... still too few IMO but a little better.
Just read a article on another site that says the question shouldn't be between CJ and Trent as who starts, but between Trent and DJJ. They are both 6'5", but DJJ has the longer wingspan. Djj would then add a defensive presence next to Melo and Kanter, and Trent would add more offense to the starting unit. Thoughts?
My thought is that it shouldn't be CJ but I would probably try Gary and bring DJ off of the bench if CJ has to be the starter. We do pick up some shooting and then we can see what that would do to our defense. Although... DJ, regardless of his height, can be switched onto fours a lot more effectively than Gary can but again, I'd try Gary first if CJ absolutely had to start... which he DOESN'T!
So with a broken wrist, how much lifting or shooting can you do? I am guessing not much. At least Nurk can get his cardio in. Just the opposite for CJ right? Limited cardio but at least he can shoot while he has been out.
Yeah, maybe if Nurk can't work on shooting he'll be forced to dunk the fucking ball instead of flipping up that weak ass shit he likes to do. As far as CJ, I don't know if we want him feeling like he's even better at dribbling the air out of a ball. On a less negative note: CJ can work on passing and for sure Nurk can get into way better shape.
8-5 with CJ/Nurk (and the team was still learning each other) 10-8 without CJ/Nurk So we did not improve our record by subtracting them. 10-8 is worse than 8-5. I think our record would be improved by two games if they had remained healthy. That's 20-11, good for 4th in West. If we won a third game, we'd be 21-10 good for 2nd in the West. This team will be exceptional when Trent and Kanter return to bench. Before the injuries, we had three bench players in double figures. That is insane depth.
I guess we'll see, that's a lot of conjecture but that's something you specialize in. If I were to make one super fan out of you and @AldoTrapani that fan would be the most realistic fan in sports history. Here's a fact. Our number 2 and 3 players have been out and we've seen very little drop off. While CJ and Nurk were in we got two wins against teams that now have winning records (Lakers and Warriors) 2 and 5 against teams above .500. Since they've been gone we've gone... 2 and 5 against teams above .500. There isn't a serious drop off and CJ was playing the best ball of his career. It's not a matter of CJ and Nurk not being talented, it's a matter of fit with other personnel and also coaching.
What above .500 team have we beaten other than Philly (who's a really good matchup for us) without Dame and CJ?
None I said 2 and 5 against teams above .500 before CJ went down (Lakers and Warriors) and the same 2 and 5 after (Philly being the only two). I'm going off of current records, not records at the time (the Warriors were .500 when we beat them but are .545 now).
Portland was 7-5 when CJ got hurt, and they trailed at halftime; won the game without him. in other words, 2 games over .500 with healthy CJ/Nurkic. And 3 games over.500 without them. See? you're not the only one who can split ridiculous hairs in order to spin a story
