Gomes3PC wrote:More than one guy WAS at fault:
1. Kyrie, duh
2. Brad, forcing the issue with Hayward
3. Hayward himself, lacking confidence
4. Tito, thinking he should be getting 15 shots a night
5. Mook, thinking he needed to lead the team in scoring
6. Tatum returning from Camp Kobe and jacking up a million midrange jumpers
And that's just the totally obvious things from the outside. I am sure there's 50 other things we never even heard about.
What nobody is really admitting is that when the playoffs started, we got crushed by a more talented team with the best player. We didn’t “underachieve” against Bucks. Team got its ass kicked by a much better squad.
All the drama that happened all season didn’t help....but by the time playoffs happened it didn’t really matter. Kyrie’s no show after game 1 and Tatum/Rozier failing to play at the level of a year ago were huge problems. Ultimately, it was the inability to keep pace with Bucks high scoring that doomed the team.
If the team had been functional and cohesive....they could have won 58-60 games. And then lost to Bucks 4-2.
1. Bucks, Sixers and Toronto massively upgraded rosters. We thought we did....but didn’t.
2. Bucks added Lopez and Hill. Bledsoe had a full year to integrate. They got a legit good coach and played a great style of basketball.
3. Kyrie didn’t make us better. His ability as a closer never mattered against Bucks.
4. Hayward didn’t make us better.
5. Baynes was injured most of season. Theis wasn’t fully recovered from knee.
"I think the criticism's stupid," Stevens said. "So I don't care. I'm with Jaylen (Brown) on that. Those two had achieved more than most 25 and 26 year olds ever had. I'd rather be in the mix and have my guts ripped out than suck."