The deadline for a waived player to be on a team's roster to be eligible for the playoffs is March 1.
Is this your understanding or do you have this confirmed. I am pretty sure a player simply has to be waived by 3/1, not cleared waivers or on a roster.
I think we can also ease up on the defensive issue. The two teams we just played are great offensive teams who had great games at home both following losses welcome to the NBA.
The other issue is that guy wearing 5 isn't exactly up to speed. He is the key to the defense and he is about 2 weeks away from getting his timing back.
Bill is on point about guys getting let go who have ending deals. I think on top of just being kind hearted I can imagine that some owners saw what was being talked about all year with P.J. Brown as well as what just happened with KVH and are going want rid of these Bird rights situations. They don't need agents and opposing GM's demanding these massive ending deals be created to complete deals when there is already plenty of salary on the books.