PJSteven22 wrote:Infinity2152 wrote:PJSteven22 wrote:The thunder were a better team with Giddey on the bench last year. Hence why his minutes dropped in the postseason as well. Also he was pedestrian at best last year in the regular season and at times this season as well. While this is a nice stretch from Giddey how sustainable is this play and how scalable can he be are two legit reasonable questions to ask. Regardless we should let the market decide his worth and be in such a rush to pay him.
If the Thunder were a better team with him on the bench last year, why did they start him 80 games? Do you know something they didn't? Again, his minutes went UP the first series. They only dropped the second series. Facing Kyrie and Luka, maybe the two toughest guard covers in the league. And again, THEY LOST. So what if they benched him. They lost when they did it. To a team they were just 2-2 with. Great decision. They were probably using analytics to make that decision too.
By all means keep bringing up they benched him in the playoffs and dropped his minutes. I'll keep bringing up they lost both games and got bounced when they did that.
You brought up the fact that he was a “key contributor” for a number one seed. I just provided context to it. He was maybe the 5th best player on that team and that’s pushing it. They lost against Dallas because Dallas had two of the top three players and they had a better defense. Even though they lost it still doesn’t change the fact that he was hurting their team and the coach had to bench him. You’re welcome for the additional context. Playoff series are tough and it’s concerning how he will scale up on good teams. I personally just see him as a good stats mid team type of guy. His flaws are too limiting and he can’t really fix them.
You brought up context. Most of the time the Thunder play in the playoffs the other team will have 2 of the top three players. After SGA, there's Holgrem and Jalen Williams. They're not better than Lebron/AD, Jokic/Murray, etc. Mav's had possibly the two shiftiest most creative guards in the league in Kyrie and Luka. SGA is already a PG and he's not getting benched. Maybe it makes sense to start with a defender on one of them and keep your other PG to relieve Shai? Funny how all your logic fails when they started him the entire previous series and won 4-0. Or won 57 games in the regular season with Giddey playing 25 minutes, which is a lot of minutes.
The guy starts 8 out of 10 playoff games, and everybody wants to point to the 2 games as the norm instead of the 8, lmao! Like the Thunder had a revelation tied at 2-2 in the second round. After three years, plus a first playoff series, it just occurred to them to bench Giddey. Or MAYBE, as coaches do, they changed the lineup due to matchups. Happens frequently in the playoffs, usually without so much drama over 2 games. That they lost. It definitely changes the facts. Nobody's presenting any facts that they played better after benching him. If you're going to keep bringing up the benching, you need to prove they played better with him on the bench. Or it does not support the benching. It's a coaches decision, are coaches infallible? They always make the right substitutions and put the right player in? If that's the case, they made the infallible decision to start Giddey for 3 years, plus the first playoff series. You say they lost against Dallas because of players and better defense, but somehow they were 2-2.
They won 50% of four games against this "far superior team" with Giddey starting. They won 0% of 2 with him coming off the bench. That's a fact, apply all the context you want. Wins and losses are the only thing that matter. They lost at a higher rate against the same team with Giddey off the bench. It's the same players they went 2-2 against. Dallas wasn't even a better overall team, imo.
Games 6, they got eliminated. Shai had 36, Jalen Williams had 22. Luka had 29, Kyrie had 22. Holgrem scored 15, more than their third best player. So much for the best three players theory. Cason Wallace plays double Giddey minutes, or Giddey's usual minutes (25), goes 2-8 from the field, 1-7 from 3. At least the guy they started over Giddey, Isaiah Joe, put up astounding numbers right? Only 11 pts, 3 assist, 3 rebounds in 29 minutes, but good shooting!
Game 5: Luka 31, Kyrie 12. Shai 30, Jalen Wiliams 12. Of course, the Thunder benched Giddey (5-8 from the field) for the analytical darling Isiah Joe, who went 2-9, 2-8 from 3. A staggering 10 pts, 0 assists, 3 rebounds. They also played Cason Wallace double Giddey's minutes for 1-7 shooting. Absolutely brilliant. Giddey shot better, got the same amount of rebounds and more assists and points in 11 minutes as Joe did in 21.
Giddey ever puts up crappy numbers like the guys they replaced him with, he'd get crucified. But it's his fault they replaced him with players he's clearly better than. 10pt, 0 assists, 3 rebounds, 2-9 shooting in 25 minutes? That's not why they lost, cause they replaced Giddey with those guys, it's the Mavs super team. That they just beat 2 out of four. It's crazy their coach isn't ridiculed for benching a player who put up 12, 5, and 6 in 25 minutes at 34% 3 pt shooting for these bums and lost.
Is this enough context?
