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After Manu went down I had serious concerns about whether or not we'd be able to make the playoffs this year. But in stead of falling out of contention we excelled and now we're 2nd in the west.

But the young guys stepped up and played great in Manu's absence and now we look stronger on the wing than we've looked in a very long time. And not only are we strong on the wing but now I think we have a serious advantage over other teams going into the second half of the season because our closer and our best player is still going to be fresh. While everyone else is breaking down because of the grind of the condensed schedule Manu's still going to fresh and ready to attack.

So do you guys think his injury is actually going to turn out to be a good thing for us?

It already has, and is just going to make the team even better

I thought it might be until TJ Ford got hurt too. :\ If Ford stayed healthy, he'd be so ingrated into the system right now we'd be killing it. Alas. . .no Ford until after the all star break. So we're going to have to go through another on court chemistry change for the 4th time this year. We keep shaking it up over a 2 month span, so we won't even know what this team is going to do until late march or possibly as late as April. It's going to be confusing, as it already has been, losing two of the primary 3 ball handlers, then getting them back every 2 weeks. It's gonna be weird. Though I suspect Gary Neal getting put back to his original role will do little more than help the guy be more of an assassin like he was last year.

I hate to seem like I'm hating on Leonard because I don't hate or even dislike him, but he still hasn't proved anything to me besides that he shouldn't be playing as many minutes as he is.

On Green who's been getting more minutes too. . .I also would like to see his reduced. Whenever he does well in a game, he's the type of guy who gets excited and thinks he should try to do even more since "he's been hot", so he forces it and does a lot worse. I understand why he does it. . .he wants to prove himself and retain his minutes, but what he doesn't understand is that doing well within the system during the minutes he's given is why he's going to get minutes, not forcing the issue outside of the system and gameplan. I'd also like to see his defense improve. He's absolutely worse in that department than George Hill was.

Speaking of George Hill, off topic, but I remember commenting to my friend that the Pacers stepped up in their rate of wins because of George Hill's presence being such a huge impact. They disagreed, then when Hill got injured, they dropped off from 3 seed to 6 seed after playing .400 ball in George Hill's absence. Coincidence? I don't think so. We're missing George Hill this year. . .especially on D'. Hill could legitimately lock people down. . .Leonard and Green can't. Leonard might some day, but that day isn't this year. It probably won't be next year either, being a one a done college player that he is.


Anyway, I personally can't wait 'til TJ's back. . .I was happy to get him, so I'd like to see how good our team is with all our ball handlers playing in the same game for once. Not together obviously, but you know what I mean.

I still think we also need another big. Someone similar to McDyess last year. Dude that plays solid D' off the bench and can hit a 15-18 footer. Is there anyone out there we can possibly get in exchange for Anderson and a 2nd rounder or something? Or someone really good in exchange for Blair and a 1st rounder?

Fesenko would be nice, legit defender, young, and agile for a 7 footer... not much outside of set-ups and putbacks though on offense

Could definitely use another big with length

Manu is injured.

Maybe the first one was good, but not this one... Although he will miss only like 5 games, he will need a lot of games to get into shape and get confidence in his game.