Countdown to March 1st playoff eligibility waiver deadline

[Handlogten's Heros]

Like if I was a stockholder or on the board of this team... I'd be super happy... Keep going guys... we ain't Apple or Amazon but that's okay.

As a fan I'm like... push all in and try to beat Apple's ***...

Based on our actions we aren't behaving like a team (from a front office perspective) that believes it is or could be a contender this year. 4 roster spots are G league rookie guys, 1 to Tony who has never been a regular rotation player and let's be honest... they weren't planning on him being a rotation player this year and 1 spot to Niang who is a borderline rotation player... contenders don't construct their roster that way.

 

[infection]

I think right now the only guy that is truly available is Noah... Not sure what the contract status of the CBA buys is... not sure when the Australian league ends.

It isn't the right move, but I do think we go into the postseason with this roster. Some of us know how that will play out, but it will be confirmed in the playoffs to the front office. Then they will hopefully address the issues in the offseason. Problem is when you are 6-12 months behind on changes that should be made then new ones will pop up and things will change... like the cartoon with the finger plugging up the holes in the damn.

I love this team... haven't given up on them, but I don't see them as a contender... the holes we have on our roster are fine if you aren't trying to contend. Like go ahead and develop TB and Niang if you aren't trying to reach the highest levels of NBA performance.

The front office doesn't have the sense of urgency that I'd expect from a team that thinks they can win now. Half our bench is G League guys for hells sake. That's fine... if you are trying to be a good playoff team... if you are trying to contend you need more depth and diverse pieces to help you play to certain matchups.

WTF is Roy Hibbert up to?

 

[infection]

Like if I was a stockholder or on the board of this team... I'd be super happy... Keep going guys... we ain't Apple or Amazon but that's okay.

As a fan I'm like... push all in and try to beat Apple's ***...

Based on our actions we aren't behaving like a team (from a front office perspective) that believes it is or could be a contender this year. 4 roster spots are G league rookie guys, 1 to Tony who has never been a regular rotation player and let's be honest... they weren't planning on him being a rotation player this year and 1 spot to Niang who is a borderline rotation player... contenders don't construct their roster that way.

I think you just don't believe in the vision of a guy who got us Rudy and Donovan.

But really. There's kind of this bell curve distribution of probability, and our the median and mean is not really what anyone has in mind, it's not the answer everyone is tuning in for. But every once in a while, we catch some glimpses of the right side outliers and we think that just because our distribution of probability includes the right side of the graph within its range, that that's just as good as having the mean closer to it. So we run on this idea of "if the stars align this is going to look really good." Or, in other terms... it's like saying "if Donovan scores 40, we win. Donovan can score 40. So that's our plan." We shouldn't have to rely on ungodly performances to win. Yes, it's in our range of possibility of going far if everyone plays ungodly... but is that the same thing as being that good? Why is it somehow offensive to suggest we move our talents and abilities a little farther to the right so we can rely on some average outputs to make us the contender rather than being content being a contender under a very select set of circumstances?

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

WTF is Roy Hibbert up to?

Didn't expect to see that name...

My take is the front office is fine with TB and Ed is the "if Tony sucks and can't figure it out in the playoffs" option. Even if a good buyout option emerged I think they'd go elsewhere... Harkless would like go to Houston or the Lakers, Thompson the same (I think unless he is willing to sign with the Lakers he won't get bought out... Rich Paul won't allow him to compete against Bron).

The front office likely views any of these names we throw out as lateral moves. I'd be surprised if we do anything... not shocked, but surprised.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

I think you just don't believe in the vision of a guy who got us Rudy and Donovan.

But really. There's kind of this bell curve distribution of probability, and our the median and mean is not really what anyone has in mind, it's not the answer everyone is tuning in for. But every once in a while, we catch some glimpses of the right side outliers and we think that just because our distribution of probability includes the right side of the graph within its range, that that's just as good as having the mean closer to it. So we run on this idea of "if the stars align this is going to look really good." Or, in other terms... it's like saying "if Donovan scores 40, we win. Donovan can score 40. So that's our plan." We shouldn't have to rely on ungodly performances to win. Yes, it's in our range of possibility of going far if everyone plays ungodly... but is that the same thing as being that good? Why is it somehow offensive to suggest we move our talents and abilities a little farther to the right so we can rely on some average outputs to make us the contender rather than being content being a contender under a very select set of circumstances?

I think if you are a badly sprained ankle away from the finals you should push all the reasonable chips in... I think we are a sprained ankle away from making the finals if we are healthy and could confidently go 8 deep. I think we could beat Denver or Houston (kind of a toss up)… but I think the Clips and Lakers would beat us... unless PG, Lebron, AD, or Kawhi are nicked up... great news.. those guys get nicked up a lot. How dumb are we gonna feel if we didn't upgrade the Niang and TB spots and lose to a hobbled Clips or Lakers team. Or if we lose in a 7 game series to Houston or Denver when we needed one more piece and then one of the top guys goes down and those teams sneak in.

It may not make any difference at all... we might be doomed to a first or second round out either way... issue is if we have some of this luck turn our way, but can't capitalize on it because we had obvious roster holes.

I've just reduced my expectations… for roster moves and performance.

 

[infection]

I think if you are a badly sprained ankle away from the finals you should push all the reasonable chips in... I think we are a sprained ankle away from making the finals if we are healthy and could confidently go 8 deep. I think we could beat Denver or Houston (kind of a toss up)… but I think the Clips and Lakers would beat us... unless PG, Lebron, AD, or Kawhi are nicked up... great news.. those guys get nicked up a lot. How dumb are we gonna feel if we didn't upgrade the Niang and TB spots and lose to a hobbled Clips or Lakers team. Or if we lose in a 7 game series to Houston or Denver when we needed one more piece and then one of the top guys goes down and those teams sneak in.

It may not make any difference at all... we might be doomed to a first or second round out either way... issue is if we have some of this luck turn our way, but can't capitalize on it because we had obvious roster holes.

I've just reduced my expectations… for roster moves and performance.

Nobody would feel dumb about that. The narrative then becomes "how was DL supposed to know that LeBron would go down with an ankle injury? You think he has a crystal ball?"

 

[infection]

I mean, last season DL's wife was talking about how he was sitting at home the last night of the season watching like 5 games on different devices, watching a one in a million scenario come into fruition where we totally put ourselves in that situation to happen.

 

[SCS]

The front office likely views any of these names we throw out as lateral moves. I'd be surprised if we do anything... not shocked, but surprised.

Yeah it seems like it. I'm sure that there's a short list of guys that they likely view as upgrades and would sign if they could (Thompson, Harkless are probably two). But the guys who are on that short list are unlikely to actually be available to us as you mentioned.

 

[SCS]

Play Juwan Morgan more. He's shown some defensive potential.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

Nobody would feel dumb about that. The narrative then becomes "how was DL supposed to know that LeBron would go down with an ankle injury? You think he has a crystal ball?"

This would be the narrative... I could literally see Tony Jones tweeting that. It's exactly what I was hinting at too. Like, I just want us to be 6-12 months ahead of things... not behind. Proactive vs. Reactive.

Even the coaching staff... "hey we have these interesting G League guys... if we play them they might cost us a game or two, but in the playoffs you can see when we'd need them in theory... nah roll out TB, Niang, and Ed even though we know those guys will be basically unplayable in the playoffs." Both are low ceiling guys imo… but they aren't the type of low-ceiling that can survive a good playoff team. Would rather have defensive guys that rebound (like Alfonzo McKinnie) over them. We will see in May, but I'm like 75% sure this is our team and have set expectations accordingly.

 

[infection]

This would be the narrative... I could literally see Tony Jones tweeting that. It's exactly what I was hinting at too. Like, I just want us to be 6-12 months ahead of things... not behind. Proactive vs. Reactive.

Even the coaching staff... "hey we have these interesting G League guys... if we play them they might cost us a game or two, but in the playoffs you can see when we'd need them in theory... nah roll out TB, Niang, and Ed even though we know those guys will be basically unplayable in the playoffs." Both are low ceiling guys imo… but they aren't the type of low-ceiling that can survive a good playoff team. Would rather have defensive guys that rebound (like Alfonzo McKinnie) over them. We will see in May, but I'm like 75% sure this is our team and have set expectations accordingly.

Throwing the whole "be prepared" out the window. I'm guessing "it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it" is not a concept that we live by. We make our move and live with plan A because that's how we envision the world. No reason to have plan B because that means you must not believe in plan A. It's like watching all these pedestrians crossing the road on their phones, oblivious to the world around them. Yes, cars should slow down and give you the right of way. But just because they should doesn't mean they will. Yes, we should be good if we start firing on all cylinders and the offense is clicking to the point that 10 minutes of Bradley won't matter, but...

 

[NAOS]

It's crazy that those D-Will/Boozer/Memo teams never had home court in the first round.

Very unfocused teams. I’m not shocked by the fact that they never had HC.

 

[SCS]

The real bummer about Bradley and Morgan being our best options is referees pick on them for being young players. They never ever get the benefit of the doubt with the whistle. Anything remotely close to a 50/50 call is going to be a foul on them. Bradley gets one of the worst whistles I've seen in the NBA this season.

 

[infection]

The real bummer about Bradley and Morgan being our best options is referees pick on them for being young players. They never ever get the benefit of the doubt with the whistle. Anything remotely close to a 50/50 call is going to be a foul on them. Bradley gets one of the worst whistles I've seen in the NBA this season.

If you don't like the TB whistle, just wait until you see the TB playoff whistle.

 

[SCS]

If you don't like the TB whistle, just wait until you see the TB playoff whistle.

I know

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

The real bummer about Bradley and Morgan being our best options is referees pick on them for being young players. They never ever get the benefit of the doubt with the whistle. Anything remotely close to a 50/50 call is going to be a foul on them. Bradley gets one of the worst whistles I've seen in the NBA this season.

I think the difference is Morgan can actually bother opposing players while getting called for a ton of fouls. Guys move around TB like he ain't even there. But yeah... neither guy is going to get the benefit of the doubt.

 

[LogGrad98]

Like if I was a stockholder or on the board of this team... I'd be super happy... Keep going guys... we ain't Apple or Amazon but that's okay.

As a fan I'm like... push all in and try to beat Apple's ***...

Based on our actions we aren't behaving like a team (from a front office perspective) that believes it is or could be a contender this year. 4 roster spots are G league rookie guys, 1 to Tony who has never been a regular rotation player and let's be honest... they weren't planning on him being a rotation player this year and 1 spot to Niang who is a borderline rotation player... contenders don't construct their roster that way.

They are playing money ball

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

They are playing money ball

I'd be cool with it if they were playing the guys that might make a meaningful difference. Play em now and hopefully they are ready when the playoffs come. It's really only Morgan and Brantley that could provide something useful this year imo… maybe now that the deadline and buyouts are basically over we try it. Can always go back to TB, Niang, Davis if it doesn't work.

 

[LogGrad98]

I'd be cool with it if they were playing the guys that might make a meaningful difference. Play em now and hopefully they are ready when the playoffs come. It's really only Morgan and Brantley that could provide something useful this year imo… maybe now that the deadline and buyouts are basically over we try it. Can always go back to TB, Niang, Davis if it doesn't work.

I wish they would too but I don't see it. Look at Conley. He came back from injury and saw how well the team was playing, so he offered to come off the bench, which was beneficial. He could see we had a groove going and didn't want to mess it up. Then they moved him back into the starting lineup and it had a negative impact. And why? Because the FO only knows how to make a plan and stick to it regardless of the evidence. Hell it too them 4 years and a really stupid contact extension to figure out exum was going nowhere, and a lucky draw to get rid of him. They'll ride the Conley starting horse into the ground because that was the plan regardless of the impact. Hence the same with TB and Niang. The publicly made them the bench and they will ride that horse until it dies out from under them, and then beat it a while longer before moving on.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]