RedDawg#8

I mean let's break it down. Trae was cooking them in game 3 before he went down. No way we lose that game despite Middletons heroics in the 4th. Trae would have been able to answer. Series 2-1 Hawks Game 4 is where it gets tricky. If we win game 3, no way the Bucks come out the gates slow in game 4. No way we smother them defensively the way did without Trae. And, it's very likely Giannis doesnt get hurt without Lou to run that play. I see a similar scenario to Philly series where they get even with us out of sheer pride and desperation. 2-2 We go back to Mil for game 5 and no way are we getting blown out with Trae fully healthy. That's the key to this series. Win or lose, Trae would have had these guys playing on their heels and not bulldozing over us. I think it's reasonable to say that we could have snatched game 5 on the road. 3-2 Hawks I think here is where it gets more tricky. Milwaukee proved that they had another gear when they are on the brink of elimination. They were able to close us out easily without their best player, so imagine Giannis still in the lineup. Trae could have gone nuclear and put them out of their misery in 6 games, OR Mil could have pounded us on the boards and grinded out a tough win. Toss up. Hawks win series 4-2, or Bucks even it 3-3 If we don't win the series in 6, I believe that game 7 is a controversial, ref dominated win for Milwaukee with bad whistles all night against us. Nate gets ejected in the 3rd, Trae has a hard time keeping cool and starts to force some bad shots and passes. Giannis goes to the FT line a record number of times. The league office has their fingerprints all over this game. They took a chance against Philly thinking we would crumble on our own under the pressure, but against Mil they leave nothing to chance and make sure to get us down and keep us down. Trae makes it respectable on the scoreboard, but we lose and end our magical run there. Bucks 4-3 So much is hypothetical, but in reality, Im super confident that we win game 3 if Trae stayed healthy. 2-1 series at that point, we have the upper hand and homecourt. I like our odds in that scenario.

This kid is nice. Highly skilled. When he is on like he was again tonight, I never want to see him leave the court. He consistently makes spectacular plays and provides confidence and energy to the whole entire team.

Im trying to get back to .500 by the All Star break. I don't want to hear media slighting Trae all weekend because his team has a losing record. Hovering at .500 or above, within range of playoff spot is much better energy when people have all the attention on you for 3 days.

I think our 7 game win streak still represents our best stretch on both sides of the court. 103 ppg defensively without OO or Dre playing is impressive. We finally have our horses back which makes this run exciting, but we haven't even broken even yet. There is a lot left to do just to be a winning team in the standings.

Great win tonight, let's keep it going. Can you imagine that we have been so bad this season that we could be on a 5 game winning streak and still sit comfortably under .500 Love the good vibes, but we have some serious makeup work to do. We are not even close to out of this mess yet. Heads down, got to keep chopping away.

Doesn't matter as long as Nate is willing to be flexible with the in game rotations and who finishes. I say Bogi only because Kev is a better fit with the 2nd unit. But whoever has the hot hand that night needs to be on the floor to finish the game.

I hate playing teams after they just got embarrassed. They will be looking to bounce back against us. We can't come in lackadaisical tomorrow.

Once Bogi comes back, and assuming there are no more trades, Knox will no longer be in the 10 man rotation unless we decide he is more valuable than LouWill.

To be completely fair, him losing his spot to Knox should in fact piss him off. I would be mad too lol

I noticed it too. I did not know why he looked so pissed but he was definitely cussing and demonstrative like you said. I was at home like, is he mad that he has to inbounds the ball? lol What's really going on here

There should never be a game that OO only gets 16 mins going forward. He should consistently be getting at least 20 minutes a night. There is no reason for Nate roll out the JC-Gallo frontcourt if he is preaching defense and us establishing a defensive identity. Let the kid play Coach!

I kind of like our chemistry we have right now, especially with Delon's play and activity on defense. Bogi's return probably means Kev eventually ends up back on the bench, I'm guessing taking Knox's minutes and potentially some of Lou's as well Our 10 man rotation would then be: Trae-Bogi-Dre- JC-CC Lou-Wright-Kev-Gallo-OO

100%, that is exactly what they are doing. But that doesn't mean that we have to go for it ya know. What I do like about the deal is that they are willing to go for John only and not adding Hunter or other key players. So I guess the PIMA fee for taking on 60+ million in salary is that we get two players, 1 a top flight starter, and an all-star level guy, and we only have to give up one top flight starter in exchange. I would hate this only because we would have zero financial flexibility and a TON of money tied up in to the frontcourt wit Dre and OO paydays right around the corner.

I barely want to take Ben's salary at his current level of play let alone Tobias Harris. That's a lot of money added to the books. Tobias is owed 36, 37.6 , and 39 million going forward. That is a toxic contract for a guy who produces the same stat line as John Collins on less efficiency.

I am satisfied with our team results since Know got here. However, the kid shoots worse than TLC. Much worse. I'm glad he has the balls to keep firing, but right now his misses are for real bricks. It goes without saying that he has to get better from the outside or he could be in jeopardy to lose his spot down the road. Hard worker and all

Just more proof that executing the pick and roll is more than just Trae throwing dimes to our bigs. The ability to create space to get open, have great hands and the skill to finish either in flight or down low in traffic, is an actual skillset. Not every big man can do their part of the pick and roll as well as JC and Clint. And I'm talking about against a multitude of defensive schemes designed specifically to eliminate the PNR from our gameplan. Anybody can do it and catch teams slipping. Teams are gameplanning against it and we still find good looks, all because Trae and the Bigs are sharing a brain on the court. They are able to read space and time in unison.

Can we give Lou Will some props too? He has also been playing much better these last few games.

Dammit Nate why are you subbing in Gallo instead of OO?!!! You cannot preach defense and makw those kinds of substitutions. If Charlotte goes on a run its your fault coach

Im not trading for Ben Simmons. He makes too much money to be so limited when the games actually matter the most. He is on a downward trajectory in his career after only 5 seasons because he won't improve his weaknesses. He is not the 2nd star we think he is. He is a name and he is well known. But the league has figured him out and he is not able to dominate in the playoffs like he OCCASIONALLY did in the regular season. Im telling you, this would be a toxic move considering what we would have to ship out for him. And best believe nobody would take that contract off our hands when it doesn't work out. If it was for Bogi and Gallo, plus filler, then you could roll the dice. But including Hunter or Collins, players that fit next to Trae like a glove, is where you lose me. If Clint Capela wasn't around, then Simmons would be a better fit. I do not see how this works out for us other than making fans happy for a couple of weeks.

If Im not mistaken, OKC still has more draft picks than they will have room on their roster the next few years. At some point they have to try and flip those picks in to contributing NBA players (how we did), and not continue to stockpile.

2 full offensive AND defensive possessions. He could barely stand up straight let alone hobble through running up and back twice. No teammate intentionally fouled, no timeout was burned until it was really too late to matter. That's just really poor class if you ask me.

Bud is turning in to a real POS Look at what he just did with his own player Matthews. Inexcusable

Really should be Delon at that point. Mays needs to be in the mix as well.

Or just a technicality lol

I forgot about that change in 2017, but even still, the pool of names for them to choose from is slack since most of the best West frontcourt guys are injured. Besides Bron and Jokic, who is the 3rd best frontcourt guy in the West regardless of injury status? Typically it would be AD, but he has been getting dragged all season and I doubt the media choose him. PG13 has the numbers but has played only half of the season (26 games) and will miss the ASG. I think that it's a good enough question, and that the votes end up getting split several ways as a result. That 50% fan vote for Wiggins will give him a huge leg up in the tallying process. The players (25%) and the media (25%) would have to agree on the same guy for it to overturn (tie) Wiggins. All the best obvious choices left are in the West backcourt. IDK As long as Trae gets to start I am good with it.