lilfishi22 wrote:Ghost of Kleine wrote:lilfishi22 wrote:
I think that's an exaggeration. It isn't like we don't have a really good playoff big man in DA.
So if we don't land Love, then yeah we don't improve out depth but I don't think it's all that bad given Biyombo is about as solid a back up big as you'll likely get and DA is a solid all-rounder. The only team with big C rotation are the Clippers, now that they've added Plumlee. Could add Wolves in there as well when Towns plays the C when Gobert is sitting. But overall it's not like there's any particularly scary C rotation out West.
Clippers could be an issue, Memphis could be an issue, Bucks could be an issue but we also present issues to them as well because of KD.
Awesome point with DA! So tell me what happens if he just happens to go down with another injury and misses time in a series, Or if he gets in early foul trouble in a series. Keeping in mind that the refs have never really given him the benefit of foul calls anyways, as well as taking into consideration that sans Ayton, teams will strategize against Biyombo's lack of shooting/ ability to hit free throws, and Landale's inability to space the floor effectively or defend at a high level and his propensity to commit dumb fouls. In any event wherein Ayton isn't a factor in a postseason series, Which of Biyombo or Landale do you really feel competent manning that spot against the elite postseason bigs and big dominant frontcourts if needed to play heavy minutes? It just seems to me that gambling our entire postseason success on a great deal of luck surrounding Ayton specifically is not a good thing! But I'll definitely find it entertaining to see how yours' and Qwiggle's perspectives turn out on this.
You could make the same argument for
any other team. What if AG misses time? What if JJJr gets into foul trouble? What if ANY of the other starting bigs misses time? Which team has a strong playoff rotation if their starting big misses time?
Let's be real, most team's rotations are just as trash if their starting big misses time. If Zubac goes down and they replace him with Plumlee, yeah maybe there isn't a massive drop off but what's after that? Mook Morris? Batum? They aren't dominating anything in the paint. Not saying we don't have to add depth because depth is always a good thing but the idea that we're in some unique situation where if our starting C does down then we're in trouble is kinda of overblown.
I hear what you're saying man and it's a fair argument that any team could suffer injuries and other teams depth could be questioned too. But why at all would I be concerned with or invested in another team's depth and injuries equitably to our own as a suns fan?? Any issues for ANOTHER TEAM could only play to our benefit. Obviously I'm invested in our team's success here and within that capacity focusing on our potential depth/ injuries issues and concerns because I prefer to see us finally win a championship after over a half century of creatively finding new ways to lose, choke, come up short, fail expectations, etc or whatever anyone here prefers to phrase it as. It becomes increasingly paramount due to the cost we've paid in the trade to acquire Durant by heavily mortgaging our long term future. I could care less about these other teams concerns as I'm not a fan of their teams and don't consider their implicit stakes involved as heavy as ours dependent upon the final outcome! Have any other teams actually in a similar situation (aside from maybe the Clippers) mortgaged their future through surrendering core pieces, positional roster depth, cost controlled draft assets, cap flexibility for the foreseeable future?? And IF so, compare the acquired piece in terms of long term projection/viability considering age, durability concerns and overall roster composition long term! Only the Flakers and maybe the Clippers should be found in a somewhat similar situation in terms of what they've mortgaged for an "all in" move! That's why in my humble estimation, If you're legitimately gambling with such significant long term assets exchange to go "all in" towards winning a championship, It's critically important to try and mitigate or shore up any potential weaknesses or deficiencies towards the postseason WHEREIN we all know the elite teams we'll have to beat to even get back to the finals will absolutely be dissecting and strategizing against us using these weaknesses in various matchup schemes.
Knowing and accepting that it already takes a tremendous amount of luck to even make it to the finals and win a championship, and understanding that even though the game slows down, the postseason becomes exponentially more physical, grinding, difficult and strategic matchups will be prevalent, depth absolutely becomes a very tangible concern. Now how that factors into my initial premise of needing another big for depth is as simple as the fact that another team's injuries are irrelevant to my initial premise. For example, IF by some chance Ayton does go down to an injury or even has to sit due to foul trouble (it's not like he gets the benefit of the whistles now is it)? Then we really only have Biyombo, who while solid defensively has nearly no offensive game to speak of and can't hit free throws either. Now what's to keep opposing teams from systematically targeting him with the "hack a Shaq" strategy or simply sagging off of him and packing in the paint to further complicate trying to score in the midrange? And with Landale not being able to adequately space the floor either or even defend well without making continuous dumb fouls that could render him irrelevant? On top of that, Which of those two bigs (given what they've shown so far) do you honestly feel confident being able to defend the AD's, Jokic's, JJJr's, Giannis's, Adebayo's, etc IF we even get that far sans Ayton? Beyond that, And beyond playing Durant consider/ excessive minutes throughout the entire postseason maybe even occasionally at the three, who would we have in our frontcourt that could even remotely guard the elite bigs such as AD, Jokic, JJjr/ Adams combo, Kwahi/ George (who still dominate in the frontcourt, Doncic/Kleber/ Powell which will absolutely look to switch and target our lack of frontcourt size (sans Ayton premise)? Can we expect any of Warren, Craig, Bazely, Ish to even reasonably defend against these aforementioned bigs we'll have to beat to even make it to the finals again to face whichever of the Bucks, Celtics, maybe even Heat that make it to the finals?
I get the whole Durant factor to offset opposing teams strengths against us strategically. And perhaps you and Qwiggs might be right that his acquisition alone offsets any of those concerns. But even so, the general idea here is to shore up all available positional weaknesses and depth weaknesses against the possibility of other teams being able to more easily strategize against us. And Durant for all his greatness, is not the shimmering example of durability! especially not IF he'll have to play significant minutes at the center position against the bigger, physical, dominant bigs we'll possibly encounter or have to go through in the postseason. Honestly, neither Durant nor Paul are great examples of durability and are absolute wild cards in the event of excessive usage resulting from potential injuries, foul trouble, strategic matchups. It's wonderful to field such incredible and unyielding optimism that this is our year finally!! But we've seen this perspective before haven't we with having such blind optimism, only to be sent home every season the past three years while skirting/ neglecting the need to shore up positional weaknesses. Milwaukee utilized our lack of size with a frontcourt lineup of Giannis, Lopez, Portis. to dominate us in the frontcourt once they got Ayton in foul trouble, and then by shot making, and physicality once we got rattled. Just last season, the Pels first utilized our lack of size, youth, athleticism to almost beat us in the first round. We had no answers defensively for Ingram or Valuncias, etc and were absolutely on the verge of being sent home embarrassingly UNTIL Paul and Ayton BOTH had epic outlier dominant performances just to save us from elimination. Then in the 2nd round against Dallas was an even more obvious example of opposing teams exploiting our size, and positional depth weaknesses repeatedly in switching matchups and through size and physicality with Kleber/Powell against Ayton. So in any of these potential postseason matchups, Sure we'd have the X factor of Durant, But IF something unforeseen does happen (probably won't though because as we know, us suns fans are so unbelievably lucky .....right) other teams knowing that neither Biyombo nor Landale is an offensive threat consideration, they'll more easily be able to double or maybe even triple (as Book and Paul are great but still erratic and oft unpredictable in big game situations) Durant to minimize his impact while their frontcourt simply outplays ours after wearing down Durant. It just seems incredibly shortsighted to me to not seek/prioritize shoring up any available positional weaknesses that would obviously be targeted/exploited in order to better sustain our key stars workloads doesn't it?
Again, I really hope that you and Qwiggle's are right that the Durant acquisition is the solution to all of our concerns, as it would mean our first ever championship. But history and our excessively poor luck over the past couple years have shown it to be a more than valid concern. Regardless, I'll find it very interesting to see the outcome of both differing perspectives in the coming postseason.
