Is it any surprise that one year after their stint in Portland that they are both out of the league? Yet both were key pieces we placed around Dame and played significant roles here. There are a couple of others that got minutes here that don't get shit anywhere else. I like our roster much better today. Still need more pieces but kind of hard to believe those guys were big players for us.
Agreed. But both tried to get "Theirs" as soon as they got into the game. Decent defenders but not good offensively.
Not a huge surprise. The big surprise was always how many people thought the team should've had more success despite having two fringe NBA players in their starting line up. Can't say it enough: The WCF run with those two and Kanter playing meaningful minutes is mind-blowing.
We lost defense when we lost these guys. Including Harkless. We fell from a WCF to first round and out the next year. There's one in the win column for Stotts.
Yup, stots proved he could coach defense if you gave him the roster with these guys. He was not the problem
not to mention Crabbe Nards Biggie (rip). neil fucked this team over with those huge contracts and Joe is still feeling it. neil was a horrible GM. fucking slash and burn of this team. all his fault. you trade cj after the mip award when value is sky high to build around dame
Al Farouq destroyed his knee, so that’s not really an accurate representation. As you’ll recall, he was basically entrenched in the lineup for us while Mo Harkless (still in the league) was constantly having his minutes toyed with. But yeah, it’s rather interesting some of the scrubs Dame has pulled along.
Turner wasn’t good. Al Farouq I liked and do not think he was a “fringe NBA player”. His injury when he left the Blazers did him in.
Turner and Aminu were light years better than the best of roco & norm, which is why Joe C. ridding us of them was a delightful move.
I think it shows that those squads has some pretty good chemistry when you look back on it. Side note, I strongly disagree that our roster now is better. No sir.
Evan Turner was hired as an assistant coach with the Celtics by Brad Stevens....he has a really high basketball IQ and was just a poor fit with Stotts 3 pt shooting offense..his defense was really good though....he wasn't a scorer. ET never really fit that team but without him they wouldn't have made the WCF....him and Hoodie were a big part of that push. Aminu was injured before the finals and couldn't play anymore or since....he's been concentrating on basketball africa and has a big role in developing an African league...it's how he'll end his career.
Stotts was given 179 different players to try and assemble a core...still made the playoffs patching rosters together...at times with injuries using 20 different starting lineups through one season to try to find one that clicked.....it was the roster period...and injuries to the guys who could fill those roles. At any rate, that chapter is in the books. He did manage to have a top ten defense when he had a talented starting lineup...then Wes went down. Nobody was going to look good with Hezonja and Tolliver playing big minutes