yoyojw17 wrote:RichCollab wrote:eyriq wrote:Yeah, injuries wrecked the season. We are back, though.
What a bunch of meaningless numbers. It shows we had major injuries for long duration to our top players.
The funny thing is.... We would play certain games.... And most people would be like ... "We better win this game because they are missing "X" player.... It would be inexcusable if we don't" lol
We lost Paolo.... Surprised that we went on a 4 or 5 game losing streak and we should do better. Lose mo....forgets that he is the offensive energy of the team... Expected to do better. Lose Franz.... Expected to do better than they did. Then we lose Suggs.... the leader of our defensive energy. Our top 3 players have only played a whopping 96 minutes together. That should tell a lot.
Paolo and Franz comes back from injury ... Expectations go through the roof without a chance for a transition period for them both... And people questioned whether we should be trading them
Haha.... I get the frustration.... But if we make it to .500 by the end of the season ... I would be disappointed in the position .... But proud of what the team has achieved given the circumstances.
The reason why people are so frustrated is because they can see little improvements that can make things better. Even if it was just a personal improvement of individuals. 3 point shooting (which admittingly has gotten better as of late from those we wished would have shot like this earlier ABs consistency. Isaacs offense. Wendells Aggression.
Those are all things that the FO will have to weigh. But I don't know what all is by design. "Let's see how good Franz and Paolo can be if they force the issue on the offensive end" ... Shoot ... I don't know if that's part of the evaluation.
But for me... Two players that can draw so much attention (double and triple teams)when they have the ball at such high usages.... The second they become better decision makers ... This team could look a loooot different. The supporting cast should feel as though they are a part of the offense and not just a "well I couldn't do anything ... Here's the ball dell/KCP/etc. you do something". If it's not an evaluation period.... And these are the simple sets that are being called by the offense.... Some offensive coaching will need some revamping.... As even with this team makeup I can see better team play making us a 4-6 seed even without suggs and Wagner. I've been praying for it down the stretch and we've seen flashes in a few game. Hope that can get us into the playin and a shot at the first round.
Few problems:
1) Played better without Banchero. Lot better actually
2) Mortiz Wagner isn't prime Al Horford, you just lost guy who can put ball through hoop, and can't defend to save his life. Guy is bench role player.
3) After all you wrote, reality is- you only are one starter and one bench player short from fully healthy roster and you still don't play that well
4) 2024-25 in terms of "normal" injuries in nba is way close than 2023-24, when 8 different players played at least 62 games.
5) we sucked vs great teams ( + .500 teams) last year, and that didn't change this year
6) our offense sucked last year, instead of fixing it, we doubled down on defensive role players ,and that's how we spent whole salary cap. One that we had plenty. But not any more
7) Mortiz Wagner and Jalen Suggs got hurt BEFORE trade deadline. There was more than enough time to fix some of the issues. But... nop.
Weltmant thrown season away at deadline when he did nothing. That's great message to send in lockerroom "oh well, one starter got hurt, better try next year(s)" .
Because there is serious probability of both Suggs and Mortiz ( 100% will ) missing portion of next year, we better do nothing because "Injury" next year, right? After all, you only have 18 men on the roster, you can't deal with injuries of two
Assuming they will play last 4 games, this is actual games played count for key rotation players.
KCP -78
Franz -62
Carter -69
Banchero -48
Goga -71
Da Silva -75
Isaac -72
Cole -67
Black -78
Mortiz- 30
Suggs 35
It is very clear that this team, overall, wasn't as hurt as you try to make it be. Like, Warriors had more injuries than us. They won't have single starter with 70 games played total. Matter of fact, on entire team they will have 2 players to play at least 70 games.
Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans. -John Lennon
