06-19-2021, 08:19 AM
(06-19-2021, 01:36 AM)F Gump Wrote: What's weird is that, in light of what the Clipps without Kawhi did to Utah, the Mavs (who proved a much harder test for a better LA roster) are probably much farther along than we realized 2 weeks ago. But all we saw was "a failure to advance to round 2."
Then Cuban's dirty laundry got aired. The management dysfunction became public. True to form, he hurriedly blew it up. I hate what I'm seeing, frankly, but no way to put that genie back in the bottle, and the only solution is someone who knows what he's doing.
This is what some of us (several) have been saying. It used to be that we discussed the "even withs".
Even with KP injured to start the season.
Even with Covid.
Even with resting players more often than most would have liked.
Even with this lesser version of Maxi.
Even with getting basically nothing out of another off-season.
Even with all those things and more, we were the 5th seed in the West. Now we get to add "even with" all of this internal dysfunction, some of which had to have spilled onto the court and "even with" a poor relationship between coach and star and "even with" whiffing on doing anything to help the team at the TDL. It isn't hard to imagine finding five more wins and being tied for the third seed. We were really good defensively against good teams (and just took nights completely off against bad teams). We had one of the best Net Ratings in the league from March 1st on.
It was pretty clear (at least to me) that we needed one more real NBA level player in the playoffs. "If only" we had landed Crowder in the off-season, we'd still be playing basketball. If only Batum signed here instead of LAC, we'd have easily won that series. All the Peyton Place drama makes for an active board, but you've hit on the most important thing. IF we can get someone competent (GM and Coach), this team is totally fixable. In fact, it may not take much. No one really scares me right now. I think we would have had a good shot at the WCF's with the addition of guys like Crowder/Batum. Imagine if we could add someone a little further up the food chain.