GT 53: Gafford's Old Team @ Gafford's New Team

[nate33]

Love Poole. Perfect tank commander. Don’t change a thing. Fingers crossed he plays better in a couple of years so we can extract a second rounder for him.

We don't need any help tanking at this point. We are already guaranteed a bottom 4 finish (6 losses behind Portland), and with Charlotte playing better, bottom 3 seems pretty likely. Our lottery odds are essentially the same anywhere in the bottom 3, and only slightly worse at #4.

[badinage]

Terribly reffed game in the fourth. They got no calls. Luka got star treatment — egregiously so; laughably so. And while Deni’s star is ascendant, the zebras treat him like a G-leaguer: no respect, none; he got hosed six, seven times in the quarter.

It’s a shame, because Keefe has these guys playing good, focused, mostly disciplined ball. And hustling. And playing for each other. They outclassed Dallas for about 43 min.

And Deni … what can I say? I love the kid. His emergence is thrilling, truly, and a development that makes the cupboard seem much less bare.

[Runner300]

Gafford, coming from the worst rebounding team, suddenly posts 17 boards, with 7 of them offensive.
Haven't seen the game, but this one stands out...

[Kanyewest]

Love Poole. Perfect tank commander. Don’t change a thing. Fingers crossed he plays better in a couple of years so we can extract a second rounder for him.

We don't need any help tanking at this point. We are already guaranteed a bottom 4 finish (6 losses behind Portland), and with Charlotte playing better, bottom 3 seems pretty likely. Our lottery odds are essentially the same anywhere in the bottom 3, and only slightly worse at #4.

Maybe it will help the tank for next season somehow by building momentum.

[nate33]

I'm going to keep pointing out that the team has played much better starting in early January (after those three blowout losses to CLE, CLE and NYK). Wes scrapped the Gallo experiment, put in a real backup center, and we started paying more attention to defensive rebounding.

Our Net Rating from the start of the season through January 7th was -8.6. That projects to a 17-win season.
Our Net Rating since January 7th is -5.1. That projects to a 25-win season.

Since January 7th, we have had the 28th ranked offense, but the 13th ranked defense. We have been unfortunate in close games too. Our point differential says we should have gone 6-12 over our last 18 games. Instead, we've gone 3-15. For over a month now, I'd say we look like an actual competent team that is only missing a star. If we keep this up for the remainder of the season, I will consider the season a success. Tanking with dignity.

[tontoz]

The defense is encouraging given that our starting backcourt is so bad on D.

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

Jordan Poole

It's really hard to watch at this point. Please, sit him. It's for his own good.

I think this gets overlooked.

[trast66]

I'm going to keep pointing out that the team has played much better starting in early January (after those three blowout losses to CLE, CLE and NYK). Wes scrapped the Gallo experiment, put in a real backup center, and we started paying more attention to defensive rebounding.

Our Net Rating from the start of the season through January 7th was -8.6. That projects to a 17-win season.
Our Net Rating since January 7th is -5.1. That projects to a 25-win season.

Since January 7th, we have had the 28th ranked offense, but the 13th ranked defense. We have been unfortunate in close games too. Our point differential says we should have gone 6-12 over our last 18 games. Instead, we've gone 3-15. For over a month now, I'd say we look like an actual competent team that is only missing a star. If we keep this up for the remainder of the season, I will consider the season a success. Tanking with dignity.

We had 4 games against Detroit and San Antonio in that stretch and also had Gafford. Feels like most teams can take it serious for one quarter against us and know that’s all they need to do. Some wins would be good for morale but next month of schedule is brutal.