2020-21 game thread

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Originally Posted by ecart

Even before the trade deadline, the FO didn't really make an attempt to replace the talent that left. I'm not sure that Bembry, Yuta or Johnson are better than RHJ. It's not like RHJ was commanding loads of money either. Even Yuta was a last minute addition when Len unexpectedly got dumped. Baynes and Len were pitiful additions to the team. It's obvious they were going after Giannis, but it is almost like they didn't even try.

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I wasn’t arguing that RHJ wasn’t better than what we have, I just think any difference is pretty negligible in the big picture. His size, defends and rebounding were nice but the lack of a shot was a liability in our offence. I think they figured Bembry might offered some playmaking and have a better chance to contribute with his shot.

Some of the losses on the bench are through players bumped into bigger roles (Boucher, Norm), some was regression (ie. Davis), some is attrition (Ibaka, Gasol).

Some of our starters have struggled at times throughout the year too. They’ve been hit on every front.

All I'm saying is, regardless of how you look at the team and who you value, we can all agree going into this season that they needed help. That help never came so you have to wonder what direction this team is going. Even if you're hopelessly optimistic about this team, you can't say that any of the guys they brought in are better than even the end of our bench from last year. So you have to wonder, what gives? What is the front office doing? Even lottery teams have more inspired signings.

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Originally Posted by ecart

All I'm saying is, regardless of how you look at the team and who you value, we can all agree going into this season that they needed help. That help never came so you have to wonder what direction this team is going. Even if you're hopelessly optimistic about this team, you can't say that any of the guys they brought in are better than even the end of our bench from last year. So you have to wonder, what gives? What is the front office doing? Even lottery teams have more inspired signings.

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Oh I don’t disagree with the premise at all.

The following question, “what gives?”

I think the answer is that they viewed 2021 off-season as a pivotal moment to make this team a sustainable contender. The second Giannis extended, that plan (even if it is as low probability) became far less compelling.

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Originally Posted by pebloemer

Oh I don’t agree with the premise at all.

The following question, “what gives?”

I think the answer is that they viewed 2021 off-season as a pivotal moment to make this team a sustainable contender. The second Giannis extended, that plan (even if it is as low probability) became far less compelling.

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Right that's the excuse but the way I see it, Masai is trying to have his cake and eat it as well. They're trying to sell us that they wanted to remain competitive but I find that suspect with the pieces that they brought in. I highly doubt they were banking on internal growth with Nurse being reluctant to play them and how quickly we moved on from some of them.

It still feels like we're stuck in that weird place pre-kawhi with Masai being reluctant to commit to anything and that prevents us from taking advantage of real arbitrage opportunities.

But then not only do you have to worry about free agency but isn't Masai's contract as VP of basketball operations coming up this summer as well? I'm just sayin unless you guys have extended Masai and how about Webster is his contract even secure? Serious questions im askin cuz this organization is leaving more questions than answers at this point

This is a pretty important off-season. We can't screw it up. But there's just so many distractions. Even in a normal year, Masai hasn't always hit it out of the park. I also don't feel confident offloading it all to an unproven Webster. This can all go pretty badly pretty quickly.

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Originally Posted by ecart

Right that's the excuse but the way I see it, Masai is trying to have his cake and eat it as well. They're trying to sell us that they wanted to remain competitive but I find that suspect with the pieces that they brought in. I highly doubt they were banking on internal growth with Nurse being reluctant to play them and how quickly we moved on from some of them.

It still feels like we're stuck in that weird place pre-kawhi with Masai being reluctant to commit to anything and that prevents us from taking advantage of real arbitrage opportunities.

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I need to correct my post. It should read the i don't "disagree" with the premise at all. I completely agree with the premise that they needed help. I don't consider it an excuse that they focused on 2021. The upside of that plan was legitimately worth the risk. They need a plan B and I share your uncertainty with how that will work out. I agree there shouldn't be excuses moving forward.

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Originally Posted by pebloemer

I need to correct my post. It should read the i don't "disagree" with the premise at all. I completely agree with the premise that they needed help. I don't consider it an excuse that they focused on 2021. The upside of that plan was legitimately worth the risk. They need a plan B and I share your uncertainty with how that will work out. I agree there shouldn't be excuses moving forward.

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To me it feels like Baynes and Len were after thoughts as well as some of our other pieces. Even if they thought this year was a wash, it just feels like they could have signed or traded for other additions that were more inspired without sacrificing their flexibility. I feel like they could have done more even if free agency was their biggest priority.

Landing a top pick will ease some of my concern, but it is just unsettling that they don't seem to have a back up plan. With other top front offices, you see them set up and plan well in advance. We just seem to be floating along and hoping we get thrown a life vest.

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Originally Posted by ecart

To me it feels like Baynes and Len were after thoughts as well as some of our other pieces. Even if they thought this year was a wash, it just feels like they could have signed or traded for other additions that were more inspired without sacrificing their flexibility. I feel like they could have done more even if free agency was their biggest priority.

Landing a top pick will ease some of my concern, but it is just unsettling that they don't seem to have a back up plan. With other top front offices, you see them set up and plan well in advance. We just seem to be floating along and hoping we get thrown a life vest.

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What type of back up plan would you have liked to see? I liked Christian Wood, but not sure we had space to afford him. Don't remember other options out there this summer.

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Originally Posted by pebloemer

What type of back up plan would you have liked to see? I liked Christian Wood, but not sure we had space to afford him. Don't remember other options out there this summer.

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Depends. If they thought this season was a wash and were just waiting for Giannis, I would have liked to see them be aggressive from the get go instead of waiting until the deadline. They pretty much knew they were cutting ties with Davis and Thomas. I think they shouldn't have waited until the deadline. I would have liked to see them take on riskier prospects. They kinda just added the most vanilla guys with low ceilings as stop gaps. When Giannis was extended, maybe they should have pivoted right then and there. Even post-Giannis, there were a lot of trades they could have gotten in the mix of. For instance, Allen a guy they are rumored to be pursuing this offseason would have been relatively cheap to acquire. That 2022 Milwaukee first rounder the Cavs gave up is basically a second round pick.

If they wanted to be competitive and give Pascal a redemption arc in the playoffs (or give Lowry a final playoff run), there were a lot of established guys that would have been much more inspired signings. A guy like Kanter for instance, would have been much better than Len. JaMychal Green is another front court signing that would have been much better than what they went with. There were plenty of people they could have added without affecting their future flexibility. And yes hindsight is 20/20 but a lot of ppl foresaw the Baynes and Len signings failing spectacularly.

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Originally Posted by ecart

Depends. If they thought this season was a wash and were just waiting for Giannis, I would have liked to see them be aggressive from the get go instead of waiting until the deadline. They pretty much knew they were cutting ties with Davis and Thomas. I think they shouldn't have waited until the deadline. I would have liked to see them take on riskier prospects. They kinda just added the most vanilla guys with low ceilings as stop gaps. When Giannis was extended, maybe they should have pivoted right then and there. Even post-Giannis, there were a lot of trades they could have gotten in the mix of. For instance, Allen a guy they are rumored to be pursuing this offseason would have been relatively cheap to acquire. That 2022 Milwaukee first rounder is basically a second round pick.


If they wanted to be competitive and give Pascal a redemption arc in the playoffs (or give Lowry a final playoff run), there were a lot of established guys that would have been much more inspired signings. A guy like Kanter for instance, would have been much better than Len. JaMychal Green is another front court signing that would have been much better than what they went with. There were plenty of people they could have added without affecting their future flexibility. And yes hindsight is 20/20 but a lot of ppl foresaw the Baynes and Len signings failing spectacularly.

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I agree with the following suggestions as options. Cleveland did quite well getting in on the Harden trade for Allen. Not sure why Houston wouldn't have wanted him as part of the deal...

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Originally Posted by pebloemer

I agree with the following suggestions as options. Cleveland did quite well getting in on the Harden trade for Allen. Not sure why Houston wouldn't have wanted him as part of the deal...

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Simmons made an interesting point that GMs are purposely acquiring draft picks to prolong their tenures. Can't really judge them on these trades if all the picks are 5 years from now. But if they trade for a player, you can instantly judge them. XD

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Originally Posted by pebloemer

What type of back up plan would you have liked to see? I liked Christian Wood, but not sure we had space to afford him. Don't remember other options out there this summer.

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Wood actually was available before the season started but so were others that you could have used to replace Ibaka and Gasol because the following players were available too like Trezz Harrell, JaMychal Green, Jerami Grant was available so many players that your team could have used

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Originally Posted by Tg11

Wood actually was available before the season started but so were others that you could have used to replace Ibaka and Gasol because the following players were available too like Trezz Harrell, JaMychal Green, Jerami Grant was available so many players that your team could have used

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Wood and Grant were more expensive than we could afford being an above cap team. Doubt Trezz wanted to come here. He signed a cheap deal with Lakers pretty quick. JaMychal would have been a nice fit

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