Primarily when reading the "our bench needs scoring" thread, I've been thinking a lot about our young reserves. At this point, it is clear to everyone that (barring injury) we have a playoff team, and potentially a dangerous one. Further, the consensus seems to be that our bench isn't strong enough to sufficiently support our stellar starters for significant second-season success. However, even absent additions, our reserve corps now is not necessarily what we'll see in April/May. Specifically, Freeland, T-Rob, and (once he returns) CJ all have opportunity to develop and improve significantly between now and the end of the season, possibly developing into a bench mob capable of providing what we all seem to think we need. Now we know that these youngsters aren't going to develop in the way that we need unless they get more significant court time. But when our reserves are getting meaningful minutes, we routinely see a drop in team performance. So the competing needs of wins and development both need consideration. Which brings me to my question. If "contenders" care more about the postseason than the regular season, are you willing to forego some regular season success in order to be better prepared for the postseason? If you were coaching the team, is there a point (games left in the season, games over .500, games ahead of the 5 spot, etc...) where you become willing to sacrifice a win or two for the purpose of developing the bench? If you were GM, would your perspective be different? How would you, as a fan, like to see those somewhat divergent needs be balanced?
HCA throughout the playoffs would be huge. Look at OKC, Indy, and SA. They're trying for best record. So should we.
Of course they are--but they already know what it takes to reach the conference finals (or beyond). Do we? Do we have what it takes? And if we don't, at present, would you be willing to sacrifice HCA to develop it?
Normally I'm in favor of developing young talent, otherwise you end up with a Jermaine O'Neal situation, BUT I also think that LaMarcus is playing the best basketball of his career and we would be foolish not to take advantage of it. The way the starters are playing right now is nothing short of remarkable, but the bench has been much too inconsistent. CJ could make a big difference.... or he might not. Hard to say without seeing him play an actual NBA game. At this point it might be worth it to look at someone like Hawes, if Philly is interested in moving him. As much as I like TRob, I think our front court off the bench needs some actual firepower.
So we shouldn't worry about racking up wins? How will we make playoffs if we don't rack up wins? Barring injury, we will make the playoffs.
We should, but it is still hard for me to believe since we have seen late season collapses before. I think we should be worried about winning as many regular season games as possible. I think our style of play currently should be sustainable in the playoffs anyway.
I think Portland is a team that would need as much HCA as possible given their lack of playoff experience
agreed. 1) our "cursed" team will suffer more injuries so our reserves can get minutes organically. 2) everyone's not leaving after this year and we're still pretty young, I think we'll have many years together giving our current reserves time to earn minutes later. For example, with a year's learning about our defensive and offensive systems I could see CJ/Crabbe beating out Mo/CJ for reserve duty in next year's training camp. I could also see Leonard beating out Freeland next training camp too.
