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Are we just not a very good team?

mdalby

mdalby

Well-Known Member
It seems like it has been a while before everyone has been on the same page. Players are having turns at not really being at their best.

Conley had his turn
Mitchell - DEN
Gobert, Royce - POR

Is this just a bad run against good teams that we can't compete with if everyone is not at their best? Or are we just not a very good team?
 
I’ve said for weeks our defense is about average. We’ve slipped to 10th in defensive efficiency and I expect us to slip to 12th or so in the coming weeks. There is absolutely nothing special about it outside of Rudy.

Here’s the biggest problem as I see it. Royce should probably start and certainly close. He’s our best perimeter defender in a league that plays small ball and not having him on the court when it matters most is bad. It is a major problem. Rudy, O’Neale and Mitchell absolutely should be closing games. Ingles and Bogey should be the others imo. It just makes too much sense from an offensive, defensive and chemistry standpoint, no matter how much money we pay Mike.

If the guy wants to truly win that badly, he’d suck it up and volunteer to come off the bench. If he wants to have his ego stroked, we need to ship his *** out this summer.
 
The game is very psychological and our team rides very much on momentum. Our poor defensive play tends to throw us in funks that we have a hard time getting out of. Quin has said it best when he described our play in the 40 point blow out, as well as our road win against the Clippers, as being bookends of this team — that they’re both us. I think that’s the thing everyone tends to forget when we’re on fire or when we’re sucking. I believe the FO is good at recognizing this when we suck, but I believe they still allow themselves goggles when things are going well. During our run I had said that we’re being lulled away into passivity as everyone became pacified with Bradley and Niang off the bench. This is what that looks like.
 
We got complacent bullying teams that fought a little but didn't punch us back in the mouth. These last 4 teams have come out punched us in the mouth first and we've wilted and wanted nothing to do with it. It has nothing to do individually but as a complete team we are extremely soft against teams that want to be aggressive. Teams know this.
 
Our problem is that we gave up too much for Conley, losing toughness and rim protection -- i.e. Crowder and Favors. We have obvious holes now that can be exposed. Yes, we have added some real offensive weapons in Bogey and JC, but our defense is porous and soft. This is where we need help, and I think a guy like Tucker could be another 3 and D we could develop like Royce and be even better. While Conley adds something, at the same time he takes away from other players like Jingles, Mudiay, and JC. He also takes away the Rudy-Jingles connection by taking the ball out of Joe's hands. Conley needs to go, pronto. It seems, however, that we are stuck with him, and probably a first-round exit.

So, what are our options? I think we should put Mike back on the bench and play Mudiay, Tucker, and Brantley some minutes. Niang is good in spot minutes for 3-point shooting but look what happened last night -- how many wide-open 3's did he miss. Enough to have kept us in pace with Portland and maybe even win the game. It's obvious we are not going far into the playoffs with the team as currently constructed so we should start developing guys who have potential for improvement like the aforementioned. And we have to find another rim protector. Maybe Faves would resign next year, or look for a young big with a lot of upside. Let's sign Ekpe for the rest of the year once his season in China ends. He would be a big help to spell Rudy. Why did we let him go and sign Ed? A big mistake in my opinion. We have plenty of 3-point shooting. And of course, we need to unload Mike after this year. He is a bad fit, and while a better player than Rubio, I have to admit now that Rubio despite his poor shooting was a better fit. This is reality and we have to accept it and move forward.
 
I hope the team doesn't bother reading the complaining on this website, no way that could help anything.
 
Meenie, I wasn't referring to you, just a general comment. I think you have above average takes here. Some people make some good points, but there are also a lot of terrible ones. From the player's perspective, methinks they would be well advised to avoid this cesspool of negativity altogether. They need to focus on their own experiences and come up with their own truths, not wade through the hundreds of opinions of anonymous critics who may or may not be more intelligent than a potato.
 
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Truth said:
Meenie, I wasn't referring to you, just a general comment. I think you have above average takes here. Some people make some good points, but there are also a lot of terrible ones. From the player's perspective, methinks they would be well advised to avoid this cesspool of negativity altogether. They need to focus on their own experiences and come up with their own truths, not wade through the hundreds of opinions of anonymous critics who may or may not be more intelligent than a potato.
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That's a good point. But I think there is a consensus, as HH commented that we are good but that we're not good enough to contend for an NBA title yet and that we have some serious holes to patch.
 
I’m not sure we are very good. I would say we are above average. We have one of the more difficult remaining schedules in the league and the second most difficult (behind Denver) of potential western conference playoff teams. I have a feeling the rest of this season is going to be challenging.
 
Wes Mantooth said:
I’ve said for weeks our defense is about average. We’ve slipped to 10th in defensive efficiency and I expect us to slip to 12th or so in the coming weeks. There is absolutely nothing special about it outside of Rudy.

Here’s the biggest problem as I see it. Royce should probably start and certainly close. He’s our best perimeter defender in a league that plays small ball and not having him on the court when it matters most is bad. It is a major problem. Rudy, O’Neale and Mitchell absolutely should be closing games. Ingles and Bogey should be the others imo. It just makes too much sense from an offensive, defensive and chemistry standpoint, no matter how much money we pay Mike.

If the guy wants to truly win that badly, he’d suck it up and volunteer to come off the bench. If he wants to have his ego stroked, we need to ship his *** out this summer.
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Ya I LOVE the chemistry, fit, and offense/defense balance of the Mitchell, Royce, Joe, bogey, gobert lineup and want to see that lineup together for as many minutes as possible.

And that's nothing really against Conley. I just think that lineup is as close to perfect as we can get with our roster.

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Niang is kind of the definition of fools gold.
I love him when he is shooting %50 from three for a stretch of games and start thinking he belongs in the rotation.

But if he isn't shooting lights out from three then he is kind of worthless.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using JazzFanz mobile app
 
The acquisitions of Conley and Bojan were supposed to make us less dependent on Joe. My sense is that they haven’t. The probability of a loss skyrockets whenever Joe’s scoring isn’t clicking.

If Joe is clicking, we’re a “very good team.” If he isn’t, then I think we’re 4/5 seed who puts up a good fight in the 2nd round (with an uncertain outcome).
 
NAOS said:
The acquisitions of Conley and Bojan were supposed to make us less dependent on Joe. My sense is that they haven’t. The probability of a loss skyrockets whenever Joe’s scoring isn’t clicking.

If Joe is clicking, we’re a “very good team.” If he isn’t, then I think we’re 4/5 seed who puts up a good fight in the 2nd round (with an uncertain outcome).
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I think we only put up a good fight if Joe is clicking and he doesn't seem to be clicking with Conley in the lineup.
 
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