SOUL wrote:Are you saying making the playoffs, a thing that every player on our roster is aiming towards and has worked very hard towards, is actually bad for them because they will lose to a contending team with actual championship expectations? And that the need to have yet another season of trying to get raw rookies up to speed usurps that goal?
Disagree 1000%.
I don't think it's as binary as simply good or bad for them, as a whole. I'm saying that there is more of a chance that the experience is detrimental for our key pieces than there would have been had the FO used the trade deadline effectively to balance the roster. If you're Franz and Paolo going into your first playoff series, is it more beneficial to get beaten in the manner we did against Miami the other night, driving into brick walls and chucking up difficult shots, or playing in a balanced system learning how to beat those defenses?
The experience might still be beneficial for them, but I don't think it will be maximised with the roster as it stands.
SOUL wrote:I agree in the sense that it would be nice to find Black more minutes again in the rotation, but if anything, losing in the playoffs shows exactly what our flaws will be, and we have a few guys slotted to expire where Black can take over a role while hopefully finding a nice trade to balance our shooting and scoring.
I mean, I think regardless of acquisitions made at the trade deadline, most people considered us a team at the very least that should be competing in the play-ins (which we have been all year), and striving for 6th seed (which we're still in the race for). We were going to lose at the play ins or 1st round no matter our roster this year, and while some little tweaks would've been nice, there's something to be said about them running into that wall this year and getting that experience.
I mean, sure, but I can tell you what our flaws are now without a heavy playoff defeat. If you're a professional GM getting paid to figure these things out and you need a playoff humbling to work out what's wrong with your team then you're in the wrong job.
As to the second point, good is the enemy of perfect. Just because we set a goal at the beginning of the season and are on track to meet it isn't a valid excuse for me not to address the issues preventing us from exceeding it.
Whether or not we could advance past the first round this year with the right moves isn't particularly relevant to me, it's about what maximises the development experience for our core pieces in Franz and Paolo, which as I said above I don't think we are doing.
SOUL wrote:The only fail will be if somehow our FO decides that shooting isn't that important and re-signs everyone yet again, which I'll admit, has some probability but I think specific guys not be re-signed and drafting Black/Jett shows that they may just slot into Fultz/Harris spots after this year and hopefully chasing scoring guard this offseason.
Either way it's a fail, as if they let those contracts expire then they've not extracted the maximum value that they could have done from them.
