imagump1313 wrote:GREY 1769 wrote:imagump1313 wrote:I haven't been posting much because there really isn't anything nice to say.
Its like I've been saying all along.
Unless we hit an abnormal amount of contested threes or the opponent totally craps the bed we aren't beating anyone. How many bad teams or depleted teams missing their best players have to stomp us?
Besides Johnson and DeRozan we have no one who can create their own shot consistently. Our useless motion on offense to setup a shot is laughable. Dribble around in a circle, set a bad screen, dont use the screen, not be athletic enough to take a good shot or just jump up in the air and throw it away.
DeRozan depends upon refs bailing him out most of the time and the word is out around the league on Keldon to challenge him with bigger physical guys. Keldon hasn't been the same since the covid break.
Our defense is beyond ridiculous. Cleveland(like most guard dominant teams) feast on our horrific defense. I'm sure it has a lot to do with little practice time, covid...etc but it is what it is.
I'm not mad, I'm just realistic. This team is not a playoff team.
I'd add Derrick to the list, and Rudy and Patty off the bench.
Still disagree about your last sentence though we'll see how we adjust to and handle the rest of the schedule. We were the team that came home after winning 3 of 5 games in 7 nights on the road. But with the covid hit, not only missing players and games, the result is that those games are now pushed into the second half and we have no more than one game off between games for the rest of the season with the second hardest schedule to boot. The thing is, we have not had a fully healthy team but for a few games. With Lonnie returning some time on this road trip, and hopefully Trey healing, too (he can get streaky at times but may have buried himself with the public wish to play elsewhere) we will have fresh bodies who know our system.
Have you noticed that after Covid Tre goes in before Quinn does? I wonder to what extent the Covid outbreak that started with Quinn has to do with that. Wouldn't surprise me if Quinn is not on the team next season. Just a hunch.
I think Tre is better than Quinn actually. I highly doubt the team is holding anything against Quinn regarding covid. I just think the injury and covid season are holding him back.
Are you saying White, Gay and Mills can create their own shots?
Yeah that is a far more reasonable take about Tre and Quinn. Tre showed some nice drives and P&Rs.
Well Rudy, yes, of course. He's done it his whole career. Of the three he has the largest repertoire: post up, drive, fadeaway J after creating space. Patty is mostly either a drive or 3 shooter, but yes he can improvise when a play breaks down to create his own shot from his own dribble; I've noticed he uses the side step and step back 3 more this season. Derrick is the most recent addition to the group after DJ who I forgot to add. DJ can get into his own pockets of space in mid range Js, has a solid cross over to get defenders off balance and drive by them. Derrick is finally calling his own number and asserting his game in driving to the basket, has floaters in the key, and despite the recent drought, can take 3s - and is doing so more off his dribble.
It's clear they're secondary to DeMar, and at our best we have games where multiple players score in double figures, and different guys lead us in scoring.
It's also clear, however, that both more guys have to work on their O shot creation games and we need to acquire / sign a player(s) who can do this all the more. We're had some droughts on O for some stretches with or without DeMar on the court.