Game #67: GRIZZ @ Clippers Sunday 3/5 7 PM—ESPN

[Scoundreldays]

There was a time when I gave this guy a slight benefit of doubt but he's been doing what he's accusing others of doing. Looks like my one line posts are getting under his thin skin. Resulting in silly personal attacks.

I thought we had a deal. You and your pals get to ruin every game thread until we win. WE WON. May we please enjoy it for 10 minutes?

If I was constantly on the wrong side of every argument, I'd eventually do some self-reflection instead of just lashing out and calling everybody else "morons," "vultures," and other assorted buzzwords. Just saying.

did you enjoy the comeback win last night?

Clippers take the lead 126-123.

Can we have our game thread back now? You can have it back if we lose, ok???

Then you need to F88* off until the next one with your same shttt over and over

Morris sucks.
Mann is the future.
Westbrook is poison.
Start RoCo.
Fire Ty.
WE GET IT WE GET IT.

WE GET IT.

__________________________________________________________________

The adults are trying to have a conversation here. Please stop interfering with the discussion? WE GET IT.

My reasoning is we need to bring defense into the lineup. Morris provides decent offense at times but 0 defense. Our offense since all the acquisitions has been pretty good but our defense has tanked. The starting lineup has plenty of offense but I think it would be more beneficial to add some defense especially if Russ is going to start.

I'm still of the opinion you can't have Russ AND Morris start in the starting lineup. It doesn't necessarily have to be Roco.

Nico Batum will get as many minutes as he can physically handle at age 34. It's who finishes that matters. Batum is first choice: first choice as the starter and first choice as the finisher. I don't think there's ANY disagreement about that.

Ty Lue is dealing with picking the least worst of bad options:

If you demote Morris, and if RoCo doesn't start, Kawhi has to be the PF. I don't think he wants to be the PF, just like PG doesn't want to be the PG. And RoCo has NOT played himself into the starting lineup--or even the rotation. And frankly Mann has not handled HIS demotion well either. His percentages are good but his production isn't.

I don't expect Morris will handle his demotion well either--as a Clipper he's been a BAD bench player. If you hate him now you're gonna hate him even more if you throw him into the second unit with guys he never played with.

This team's only hope is that Westbrook-George-Kawhi somehow clicks. And Powell has to get it together once and for all as the 6th man. Everything and everyone else has to be calculated backwards from that.

Ty isn't the captain blithely steering us into the iceberg--he's the captain down in the engine room bailing water.

Oh I remember how bad he was but to be fair to him that was when he was in the Reggie/Lou/Kennard lineup.

But at this point we have to go into desperation mode with how the seedings are. Roco could end up not being the answer but I think it's a least worth a try. I'm not saying it turns us into favorites but I think having 1 questionable defender vs 2 is a better option for the starters.

I agree who finishes is a key piece but we also need to cut down on these 2nd/3rd quarter meltdowns where we bleed 35 - 50 points and then have to bust our ass the rest of the game although this issue is more of a team effort than one specific person. Some players are going to have to swallow their pride if they want to maximize this team.

[esqtvd]

There was a time when I gave this guy a slight benefit of doubt but he's been doing what he's accusing others of doing. Looks like my one line posts are getting under his thin skin. Resulting in silly personal attacks.

I thought we had a deal. You and your pals get to ruin every game thread until we win. WE WON. May we please enjoy it for 10 minutes?

did you enjoy the comeback win last night?

Then you need to F88* off until the next one with your same shttt over and over

Morris sucks.
Mann is the future.
Westbrook is poison.
Start RoCo.
Fire Ty.
WE GET IT WE GET IT.

WE GET IT.

__________________________________________________________________

The adults are trying to have a conversation here. Please stop interfering with the discussion? WE GET IT.

Nico Batum will get as many minutes as he can physically handle at age 34. It's who finishes that matters. Batum is first choice: first choice as the starter and first choice as the finisher. I don't think there's ANY disagreement about that.

Ty Lue is dealing with picking the least worst of bad options:

If you demote Morris, and if RoCo doesn't start, Kawhi has to be the PF. I don't think he wants to be the PF, just like PG doesn't want to be the PG. And RoCo has NOT played himself into the starting lineup--or even the rotation. And frankly Mann has not handled HIS demotion well either. His percentages are good but his production isn't.

I don't expect Morris will handle his demotion well either--as a Clipper he's been a BAD bench player. If you hate him now you're gonna hate him even more if you throw him into the second unit with guys he never played with.

This team's only hope is that Westbrook-George-Kawhi somehow clicks. And Powell has to get it together once and for all as the 6th man. Everything and everyone else has to be calculated backwards from that.

Ty isn't the captain blithely steering us into the iceberg--he's the captain down in the engine room bailing water.

Oh I remember how bad he was but to be fair to him that was when he was in the Reggie/Lou/Kennard lineup.

But at this point we have to go into desperation mode with how the seedings are. Roco could end up not being the answer but I think it's a least worth a try. I'm not saying it turns us into favorites but I think having 1 questionable defender vs 2 is a better option for the starters.

I agree who finishes is a key piece but we also need to cut down on these 2nd/3rd quarter meltdowns where we bleed 35 - 50 points and then have to bust our ass the rest of the game although this issue is more of a team effort than one specific person. Some players are going to have to swallow their pride if they want to maximize this team.

I did say I would probably make the change to RoCo too, if only for the sake of making a change. But working in Westbrook is the priority, and Zubac was also out for several games. Gordon has also been taking Powell's minutes, and of course Plumlee's joining the mix too.

And RoCo has not played himself into the rotation while Morris is weirdly/mysteriously putting up his best plus/minus of the year, better than both PG and Kawhi, meaning he's actually helping not hurting. Look, I don't see how either, but the scoreboard doesn't lie.

Tell me how our bottom 2 +/- guys lately are Mann and Leonard. I don't care what you think of +/-, there's no way you can be at the very bottom and still be playing well. There's nobody below you to drag you down!!

https://www.nba.com/stats/players/traditional?LastNGames=5&TeamID=1610612746&dir=A&sort=PLUS_MINUS


Ty needs every game at this point and is not anxious to hand out PT on spec. Probably my biggest question is the input of Kawhi and PG. Kawhi was sitting next to Westbrook at the Intuit ceremony today, which suggests to me Kawhi is onboard with a full commitment to Russ. If Kawhi doesn't return to superstar-level production damn soon, we're DOA anyway.

There's a LOT of political tug-of-war going on behind the scenes that explains everything. We just don't know what it is.

[esqtvd]

Oh I remember how bad he was but to be fair to him that was when he was in the Reggie/Lou/Kennard lineup.

But at this point we have to go into desperation mode with how the seedings are. Roco could end up not being the answer but I think it's a least worth a try. I'm not saying it turns us into favorites but I think having 1 questionable defender vs 2 is a better option for the starters.

I agree who finishes is a key piece but we also need to cut down on these 2nd/3rd quarter meltdowns where we bleed 35 - 50 points and then have to bust our ass the rest of the game although this issue is more of a team effort than one specific person. Some players are going to have to swallow their pride if they want to maximize this team.

Mysteriouser and mysteriouser.

Read on Twitter

__________________________

ADD:

Read on Twitter

[Captain Ballmer]

Plus/minus is the only stat that matters for any player except Austin Rivers, whose -3.0 career BPM doesn't count because reasons. Got it.

Don't do it to him. He has secret ties with Rivers family under the desk.

[madmaxmedia]

But at this point we have to go into desperation mode with how the seedings are. Roco could end up not being the answer but I think it's a least worth a try. I'm not saying it turns us into favorites but I think having 1 questionable defender vs 2 is a better option for the starters.

I agree who finishes is a key piece but we also need to cut down on these 2nd/3rd quarter meltdowns where we bleed 35 - 50 points and then have to bust our ass the rest of the game although this issue is more of a team effort than one specific person. Some players are going to have to swallow their pride if they want to maximize this team.

I would tend to agree our defense is more of a problem than our offense right now, which definitely favors RoCo. It would also favor more Mann over Morris as well.

Mann is an efficient scorer but doesn't score enough. If he was just more aggressive at the offensive end I think the extra production would shift plus minus in his favor, even if his efficiency went down a bit (currently 52.6%/39.5%/78% which are all excellent.) He doesn't need a bunch of 28-30 point nights to help the team, he just needs to turn the 2-4 point nights into 10-12 point nights.

I think Morris can still be an effective piece off the bench, but not a main cog/starter.

[madmaxmedia]

Mysteriouser and mysteriouser.

Spoiler:

Read on Twitter

__________________________

ADD:

Read on Twitter

It's just been a weird sequence of events.

1. In a postgame Lue mentions wanting to get Morris going, or not sure why he's not playing better (though his month over month statistical decline could not be more black and white.)
2. Morris sits out a couple of games due to injury, speculation begins that it's not injury.
3. We get reports that Morris is being phased out of the lineup.
4. Morris suddenly returns and starts.
5. Everyone shows up at the ceremony except for Morris.

It's very possible he had some important other thing to attend to, etc. But weird nonetheless...

[clipperlover]

Mysteriouser and mysteriouser.

Spoiler:

Read on Twitter

__________________________

ADD:

Read on Twitter

It's just been a weird sequence of events.

1. In a postgame Lue mentions wanting to get Morris going, or not sure why he's not playing better (though his month over month statistical decline could not be more black and white.)
2. Morris sits out a couple of games due to injury, speculation begins that it's not injury.
3. We get reports that Morris is being phased out of the lineup.
4. Morris suddenly returns and starts.
5. Everyone shows up at the ceremony except for Morris.

It's very possible he had some important other thing to attend to, etc. But weird nonetheless...

Maybe he was at the gym working on his D.