The problem with Donovan is that we haven't adapted to the new players. For most of the first half of the season, he has played amazing basketball. He earned his All Star status. However, the addition of Clarkson and return of Conley has disrupted his rhythm. It's obvious. He's a very good teammate and willing passer. Well, Conley and Clarkson are ball dominant not even mentioning how Ingles can run the offense and Bojan can put his head down determined to shoot. Donovan is deferring to these guys too much.
If we are going to be a contender, it's on Donovan. Right now, I feel like we are screwing with his upward momentum because we are all over the place with what offense we are trying to run. When we slump, it's because we don't keep our identity and people panic. That includes Donovan sometimes too. We go from one streaky scorer in Donovan to sometimes 4 or 5. It's illogical to think we are always going to know when to feed the hot hand. Mudiay caught fire for a bit last night, and then he cooled off yet we kept feeding him. He doesn't have the skills to maintain scoring at that rate for 20+ points regularly enough to abandon the offense on his behalf. Clarkson is the same way although he is a better scorer than Mudiay for sure.
If we keep taking the ball out of Donovan's hands, we're going to pay the price. We aren't going to be a legit contender. Guys like Harden, Lillard, Westbrook, and many other elite scoring wings were relied on even in tough times early in their careers. They became elite because they were allowed to figure it out. We aren't letting Donovan figure it out when we throw him in a corner and abandon him for a guy who can't maintain scoring as well as he has shown in his still just 2.5 years in the league.
