MettaWorldPanda wrote:carnageta wrote:Everyone keeps mentioning the lack of size on our roster - the same lack of size is what's gotten us to 2 finals and 3 ECF in the last 5 years. (please, lets not act like Meyers Leonard starting at C for half the regular season in 2020 was why we made it as far).
Injuries are a legit concern for this team, and that is something the front office can't really control. We acquired a 20ppg scorer in Terry Rozier and then he has a neck / spinal injury that ends up costing him the season. We lost Jimmy in the play-in game that we shouldn't have been participating in. Tyler Herro missed 42 games. We missed the 6th seed by 1 game. We missed home-court advantage by 2 games. These guys dress up a bit more and we probably get the job done.
Jimmy Butler took a 'rest' day 3 games into the regular season, and now likely wants a max contract extension to boot - and ya'll are upset Pat called him out?
Last year was a cinderalla type run. The previous years we might have been small in height with Tucker and Crowder but both were wide and hard to move off the blocks. Love also played PF and Zeller was brought in to give us more beef up front last year for the stretch run. Also during the Crowder run we had KO coming off the bench. This years version of small ball was similar to when we got mollywopped running out Ariza, Harkless, and Iguodala.
We matchup extremely well against Boston and Milwaukee due to our defensive versatility and Bam being able to switch out on the perimeter and guard elite wings. Adding a big next to him full-time can only work if it's a mobile big that can space the floor. Jovic did a great job of that this year, and should continue to improve. Our PF spot this season was far and away better than the Trevor Ariza year. It's not easy to find a big that is mobile and can space the floor; there are only a select few of them in the league. KO is way too immobile and would get beat off of the dribble every single possession by Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Derrick White.
The reason why we got mollywhopped in the yoffs' against Boston was not because we didn't have a big man next to Bam, it was because we couldn't impose any sort of offensive pressure on the Celtics. We have 4 20ppg scorers on the team but 2 of them were out (Jimmy and Rozier). As a first and second option, Herro and Bam will not work. However, you add in 2 other players to that mix that can also score 20+ and the dynamic completely shifts.
Again, Butler got injured from a fluke accident in a play-in game that we shouldn't have been participating in. Butler took a rest day 3 games into the regular season against the Milwaukee Bucks (a game in which we lost by 13). Maybe if he plays that game, and a couple others that were missed for the same purposes, we avoid the play-in entirely.
