JJZFL

Usually takes him a couple of games to get going. I expect better from him tonight. More pace would help also. He only got 3 shots in 27 minutes last game (and made 2 of them).

And our offensive rating was 92, which is the very worst of all 30 teams in their last game. Our defensive rating wasn’t great by any means, but our offensive rating was off the charts terrible. That’s the main reason we lost. It gets back to your earlier point, which I agreed with, that we should play to the strength of this group by speeding up the pace.

I mean we held Detroit to 103. Scoring 33 total points in the second half killed us last night.

The whole idea of a faster pace from my standpoint, though, is to get down the court quickly enough so the defense doesn’t have a chance to get set. That should make it easier to get good shots. This only applies after the other team misses, of course. With our defense there’s usually plenty of those opportunities.

I don’t think it works that well no matter who’s off the ball. I’d like to see an end to that combination.

I was thinking the same thing. We’ve got a faster team out there without having to go through Vuch, so why not take advantage?

You’re right. But the fact that he could only manage it for a few minutes is concerning.

I don’t see anything positive to take away from this game.

No ball movement. And missing the few open 3’s that we’ve had. Ugly ugly game.

I guess we have an aversion to passing the ball at the end of quarters. Augustine was going to take that shot no matter what.

Well things have taken a sudden turn for the worse

Don’t know how Augustine could be +9. Aside from looking terrible, didn’t we lose our big lead when he was in?

That’s correct. He looked great the rest of the time he was in.

That's for sure

Which requires much better ball movement than we've seen in the second unit so far.

We can’t create a game plan for the second unit based on hoping that one guy is hot every night. We’ll lose a lot of games that way. There needs to be good ball movement in the second unit also, not just throw it to one guy, have him shoot it, hope it goes in, rinse and repeat. Otherwise, not only do we have trouble when he misses, but also the other four guys get stagnant on offense, and the whole team struggles.

Birch didn’t “look lost”. He had a positive +/- and history tells us he’ll look better with more playing time. As far as Ross is concerned, our ball movement absolutely stops when he comes in. The scheme becomes pass it to Ross, who then shoots about 75% of the time, regardless of whether the shot is a good look. If he misses a few in a row, which has mostly been happening, the other team goes on a run, and our offense grinds to a halt. That dynamic needs to change quickly.

We're done with 3 day breaks for awhile now. Indiana 7 point favorites, possibly in part due to the perception (which may or may not be true) that our injuries make us much worse.

If he starts, he'll have Fultz, Isaac, Gordon, and Fournier surrounding him. Spacing should not be a big issue. Probably more shots for Isaac, Fultz, and Gordon, and hopefully a faster tempo.

This is misguided. Birch will do fine defensively. He doesn’t get pushed around easily, he’s faster than Vuch, and he has excellent defensive footwork. None of what I just said applies to Bamba, though. I’m hoping Birch starts and gets the majority of the minutes

He is not close to being ready to start and you don’t develop young players by giving them undeserved playing time.

I’m ok with starting Bamba as long as you take him out after about five minutes and put in Birch :)

Thank you for posting that update.

We played better two years ago when Vuch went out with an injury for a month and Birch got to play. History doesn't repeat itself exactly but Birch brings an edge and excellent defensive footwork, and it seems to be contagious after he's out there for awhile. We're also faster with Birch instead of Vuch.

I think he rolled it and it's a sprain. Not sure if he's ever had one before, and if not, it will seem pretty bad at first.