Prez wrote:I'm still a firm believer that both Giannis and Dame have a switch that they can flip for the playoffs. I know with 100% certainty that Giannis has one. The BITW-level two-way destroyer is still in there, it's just a matter of when he chooses to flip that switch, like we saw in the Cup game against OKC. Dame I saw that switch flip in the first two games of the Pacers series before he got hurt. It literally just comes down to health with those two imo.
My concerns outside of health is that Horst seemingly didn't think it was worth getting an athletic C (no, Jericho Sims doesn't count lol) or 2nd ball handler (no, KPJ doesn't count lol) when both are glaring weaknesses that almost certainly will be our downfall when it really matters. Also Doc doesn't seem to grasp what our best lineups are or what lineups shouldn't see the floor.
I think if our full rotation is healthy we have a puncher's chance against almost anybody, but realistically against the likes of Boston/Cleveland and probably NYK, Brook/Bobby are going to get smoked and our lack of a 2nd ball handler is going to get exposed, and Doc won't have the answers in the moment.
If we lose 1 of our big 2 for a significant period we're done. I thought the was the main reason we acquired Dame in the 1st place, was to increase the margin for error. That was eliminated by a combo of Khris' injuries & them giving up on him for Kuzma.
Kuzma's Lakers' team did win it all w/ a big 2, while Kyle was around their 3rd leading scorer (2 players in 10's w/ him being 1). But he was never forced to being any more than that. Can you imagine him, Bobby, Trent, or this version of Brook having to be our 2nd option? That's totally untenable. So we have to get lucky now, have solid role performance, & expect Doc to push the right tactical buttons. That's a tall ask. If we got rid of Doc I'd at least think we'd have a decent chance if Giannis & Dame stayed healthy.
