Everything (2016-2017) Regular Season Game Threads

[DogeLover1234]

Are we a top team? Because the same could be said about the Warriors not beating any "top teams" either. They've only beaten the Clippers who've been worse than Houston (whom we beat).

Besides this one, all the losses have been close no matter how much people think the opposition simply 'stopped trying'.

The main difference (aside from one team choosing continuity and the other shaking up the roster) is that Golden State can realistically play their top guys 42 minutes in a game and obliterate teams, sustainable in the playoffs, not in the regular season. The depth of the Raps should make them more of a regular season team, and in a sense it has cause they beat the teams they should and don't lose bad generally, but hasn't elevated them to the top tier of teams.

[Lupe]

Boston is only 2.5 games back of us and we have 3 more meetings with them this year.

[The Great One]

It really feels like 2014-2015 all over again. Our defence is absolutely brutal. They brought in Carroll to be their main perimeter stopper but he's been absolutely brutal. Losing Biz in the offseason was HUGE specially on the defensive side of the ball. He was a huge part of their success last year. He gave them that toughness, physicality, rim protection and leadership that they were missing the previous years. They never really replaced him. Noguiera is absolute garbage.

I think they also miss James Johnson and call me crazy Luis Scola. We lost a lot of good veteran players that fits and we replaced them with young players. Rookies.

[Lupe]

It really feels like 2014-2015 all over again. Our defence is absolutely brutal. They brought in Carroll to be their main perimeter stopper but he's been absolutely brutal. Losing Biz in the offseason was HUGE specially on the defensive side of the ball. He was a huge part of their success last year. He gave them that toughness, physicality, rim protection and leadership that they were missing the previous years. They never really replaced him. Noguiera is absolute garbage.

I think they also miss James Johnson and call me crazy Luis Scola. We lost a lot of good veteran players that fits and we replaced them with young players. Rookies.

I agree with you that losing Biz has negatively affected our defense. Even JJ maybe a tiny bit. But Scola? Cmon cuz.

[A.I]

It really feels like 2014-2015 all over again. Our defence is absolutely brutal. They brought in Carroll to be their main perimeter stopper but he's been absolutely brutal. Losing Biz in the offseason was HUGE specially on the defensive side of the ball. He was a huge part of their success last year. He gave them that toughness, physicality, rim protection and leadership that they were missing the previous years. They never really replaced him. Noguiera is absolute garbage.

I think they also miss James Johnson and call me crazy Luis Scola. We lost a lot of good veteran players that fits and we replaced them with young players. Rookies.

Scola lol...

Biz is definitely missed and JJ too, except for whatever reason, Casey had a vendetta against him and only played him as a last resort.

[LJ2]

It's not so much the loss of Scola as it is who he was replaced with. I said it in the off season that you can't expect JV to anchor a defence on his own and having so many young bigs will hurt our D. That shouldn't be a surprise to anyone though.

[mjt20mik]

It really feels like 2014-2015 all over again. Our defence is absolutely brutal. They brought in Carroll to be their main perimeter stopper but he's been absolutely brutal. Losing Biz in the offseason was HUGE specially on the defensive side of the ball. He was a huge part of their success last year. He gave them that toughness, physicality, rim protection and leadership that they were missing the previous years. They never really replaced him. Noguiera is absolute garbage.

I think they also miss James Johnson and call me crazy Luis Scola. We lost a lot of good veteran players that fits and we replaced them with young players. Rookies.

It all boils down to schemes and how we use them.

Either the coach conforms to its players or the GM conforms to the coach. Our current scheme with our current roster is terrible. Other than Ppat (and maybe Jakob), none of our bigs can hedge properly, so our guards are getting destroyed in PnR. In addition to that, Carroll has been useless, Demar can't play D at a high rate, and Kyle takes a lot of gambles.

This is exactly like that season, and I do think if we get to the playoffs we will get knocked out first round.

[LJ2]

It all boils down to schemes and how we use them.

Either the coach conforms to its players or the GM conforms to the coach. Our current scheme with our current roster is terrible. Other than Ppat (and maybe Jakob), none of our bigs can hedge properly, so our guards are getting destroyed in PnR. In addition to that, Carroll has been useless, Demar can't play D at a high rate, and Kyle takes a lot of gambles.

This is exactly like that season, and I do think if we get to the playoffs we will get knocked out first round.

We should probably just fold the entire franchise cause its a mess, lol.

These are problems every team has. We aren't a perfect team and not every loss can be avoided by doing something differently. I do think long term moves have to be made to bump us into legitimate contenders, but that's on MU. For now I think we are pretty much pushing the limits of what our roster can give us. We've gotten a lot out of a squad that didn't have a top 15-20 player in it until Kyle and DeMar's development this season.

[DanH]

It's not so much the loss of Scola as it is who he was replaced with. I said it in the off season that you can't expect JV to anchor a defence on his own and having so many young bigs will hurt our D. That shouldn't be a surprise to anyone though.

If we wouldn't freaking start a rookie, which we have no need of doing (well, had, right now we kind of have to with Pat hurt), we'd be fine.

[mjt20mik]

We should probably just fold the entire franchise cause its a mess, lol.

These are problems every team has. We aren't a perfect team and not every loss can be avoided by doing something differently. I do think long term moves have to be made to bump us into legitimate contenders, but that's on MU. For now I think we are pretty much pushing the limits of what our roster can give us. We've gotten a lot out of a squad that didn't have a top 15-20 player in it until Kyle and DeMar's development this season.

I am not saying we should fold. I just think that this season isn't gonna be as good as last. Every year we seemingly improved on something. This year it feels like we hit our peak and are regressing.

[jimmie]

If we wouldn't freaking start a rookie, which we have no need of doing (well, had, right now we kind of have to with Pat hurt), we'd be fine.

Good lord. Patterson in the starting lineup is not some kind of panacea for everything that ails this roster. "We'd be fine" is a vast overstatement, if the goal is continuous improvement resulting in a championship before 2020.

[3inthekeon]

Don't know if anyone listened to the Raptor part of the Duncan/Leroux EC podcast a few days ago but a few notes

Leroux was at the Warrior game. BTW. Some here are game notes, some general thoughts by both..

Impressed with the fight we showed despite going down big vs GS.. Quality depth few teams have. Start Patterson (duh). Saw Sully pre-game - he was moving around pretty well. They love watching Lowry play. They think Giannis is best in East, but maybe Lowry? Leroux skeptical about how Lowry will age, but Duncan pointed out Leroux was skeptical 2 years ago, which Leroux conceded. Duncan questioned why Kerr kept switching bigger players onto Lowry instead of DD or Ross, Lowry stopped Durant on multiple occasions. Big question is Lowry's lack of playoff success. Team as a whole is built more for regular season than playoff success.

[S.R.]

So are we okay with just getting to the 2nd/ maybe ECF or are we hoping Masai shakes it up at the deadline? I'm not okay with continuity for the sake of continuity. The franchise now has the monkey off it's back, go out there and make this team a true contender by any means. This lovefest with the fanbase won't last long when Kyle is old and beaten therefore can no longer bail this team out.

Great question, probably comes down to how good the available "win now" deals are. If you can get Millsap etc. for a reasonable offer, the Raps are automatically focused on the Lowry window with a couple of young guys on the roster for future proofing. But if the ask for Millsap etc. is too high, Ujiri won't move and we could end up riding out the next year or two of Lowry's prime with the current level of talent. There's good youth on the roster, but not championship level. Whether now or in the future, they're still missing an additional piece (or two) to hit the top level. At this point in roster building it all comes down to availability, doesn't it? Get too panicky about winning now and you end up like the Dallas Mavericks.

[3inthekeon]

Masai has to make a big move no matter what the cost. If the Orlando GM had been as much of a chickenshit as Masai, he wouldn't have made the Ibaka trade and the Magic wouldn't be the elite team they are now.

[LJ2]

If we wouldn't freaking start a rookie, which we have no need of doing (well, had, right now we kind of have to with Pat hurt), we'd be fine.

With Sullinger out we have to play a rookie(s) at some point until he gets back. Start of the game could perhaps do the least damage since we are a good second half/4th quarter team. Frankly, I don't know what good starting Patterson does against the teams we've lost to. It's the two losses to SAC and the one to PHX that throw me off a bit, but DMC is that good and PHX was on the second half of a back to back.

I don't see how results change with 2Pat starting. Actually I could see us being worse off if we are giving up leads later in the game by playing a rookie. There wouldn't be as much time to dig ourselves out of that hole.

Quite frankly if we want to go deep into the playoffs we need Pascal specifically to get up to speed as soon as possible. Who else on our roster is better suited to guard George, LeBron type players? I fine with them experimenting for now.