Magicman28 295 Report post Posted February 27, 2016 I get why people wanna blame Skiles, it's easy to blame the coach, but I don't think it's fair in this case. Skiles is in his first year and he took over a team that 50 + games three years in a row. He wasn't fixing that over night. Our roster has major flaws, major major flaws. That falls more on Rob than Skiles. I mean really, watching this team play, how many wins do you think we should have? To me, our record is pretty in tune with our talent level. Maybe we should have 2-4 more wins, but **** we've lost 9 games by 3 points or less. That, again, has more to do with the losing mentality this team has become accustomed to over this rebuild. I really think people on here had unrealistic expectations for our team this year. I will not be calling for Rob or Skiles job until after next season. To me, Rob has done about as good as he could do with where we picked in draft. It sucks we couldn't land one of those top stars but the lottery wasn't great to us. I think Rob has done good with trades and has been smart and calculated in most all of his moves. This summer will really be telling for him. If he can fix some of the holes in this roster, than it's on Skiles to make it work. I'm not ready to blame Skiles yet because the preparation and the mentality this team needed to get to the next level, didn't match that level. Sure they worked on some things but they really didn't get that urgency that one needs and I think that correlates with the JV era. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Magicman28 295 Report post Posted February 27, 2016 I still think a small tweak (like Whiteside or Dwight instead of Vucevic) would fix this team tremendously I agree. I would have a sit down with Whiteside. Dwight? In all seriousness, I don't know if I'd go there right off the bat if at all. Being a part of three different teams and all question his will to win? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HeHateMe 697 Report post Posted February 27, 2016 I agree. I would have a sit down with Whiteside. Dwight? In all seriousness, I don't know if I'd go there right off the bat if at all. Being a part of three different teams and all question his will to win? Whiteside yes, Howard no. People are talking about fixing the mentality of this team, so you think Howard is the answer? I'll pass. But I would love Whiteside. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HeHateMe 697 Report post Posted February 27, 2016 Don't get me wrong -- I ain't calling for anyone's head; just making some predictions. I can see the guys up top getting frustrated at a 5 year rebuild if we don't make the playoffs next season. Rob inherited a mess and did all he could to fix that mess. But 5 years of playoff drought is bad for business. I actually think he did a pretty good job -- but the roster is heavily flawed and this summer is going to be very telling. Every year Rob has made very nuanced moves to the roster but never did an over-haul. It's time for that now. But again, it's going to be very difficult to convince a legitimate max FA to come to this team the way it is now. The way things are going now, I think it's likely that we end up overpaying mid-tier players max money, but who knows. Making the playoffs this year would have put us in such a great position for next year. It is bad for business. Like I said, I think we made out in those drafts about as good as we could have given the circumstances. It's just unfortunate we couldn't have landed (given how bad we've been) a franchise player like Towns, Porz or Wiggins. But it is what it is. We have some good talent, but it doesn't fit. Our roster just doesn't mesh. Hopefully we can sign a big name free agent, if not, I don't see it turning around with the guys we have. We'll improve, but I don't think this core group of guys is ever a title contender by any stretch. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fultz4thewin 2,464 Report post Posted February 27, 2016 Whiteside yes, Howard no. People are talking about fixing the mentality of this team, so you think Howard is the answer? I'll pass. But I would love Whiteside. I don't know if we have a mentality issue. How do we measure that? I'm sure we have a "center sucks at defending pick and rolls letting opposing point guards run wild" issue. I understand that Dwight isn't the perfect choice, but he checks off several boxes for our improvement. And if we have the choice between signing a guy that fixes many of our needs vs fixing none of our needs that's a no brainer Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fultz4thewin 2,464 Report post Posted February 27, 2016 It is bad for business. Like I said, I think we made out in those drafts about as good as we could have given the circumstances. It's just unfortunate we couldn't have landed (given how bad we've been) a franchise player like Towns, Porz or Wiggins. But it is what it is. We have some good talent, but it doesn't fit. Our roster just doesn't mesh. Hopefully we can sign a big name free agent, if not, I don't see it turning around with the guys we have. We'll improve, but I don't think this core group of guys is ever a title contender by any stretch. Depends on where Gordon's ceiling is which could be anywhere. He has a couple moments a game lately where he just abuses his man into the shot he wants and that's the first step in becoming an elite player. Nobody else on the roster can do that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HeHateMe 697 Report post Posted February 27, 2016 I don't know if we have a mentality issue. How do we measure that? I'm sure we have a "center sucks at defending pick and rolls letting opposing point guards run wild" issue. I understand that Dwight isn't the perfect choice, but he checks off several boxes for our improvement. And if we have the choice between signing a guy that fixes many of our needs vs fixing none of our needs that's a no brainer I guess when I say mentality I'm more reffering to our inability to show any type of killer instinct when the game is one the line. Last night is a prime example. Essentially the season was (maybe i'm being a little dramatic) on the line, and we came out with zero energy. Teams with a winning mentality find ways to win like last night's games. We just don't have that. I wouldn't be mad if Dwight came home here. I think it would make us a better team. But he just worries me. The injuries, the attitude, i'm not sure. He clashed with Stan he will clash with Skiles. Also, he's going to get a max deal, so are you comfortable paying him super-star money until he's 35 when he's already seen his production take a major hit the last couple of seasons? Again, I wouldn't be upset if we signed Howard, I just don't know if that is a smart move in the long run. It would be a cool redemption story though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HeHateMe 697 Report post Posted February 27, 2016 Depends on where Gordon's ceiling is which could be anywhere. He has a couple moments a game lately where he just abuses his man into the shot he wants and that's the first step in becoming an elite player. Nobody else on the roster can do that. Yea AG clearly has the most upside on the roster. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fultz4thewin 2,464 Report post Posted February 27, 2016 I guess when I say mentality I'm more reffering to our inability to show any type of killer instinct when the game is one the line. Last night is a prime example. Essentially the season was (maybe i'm being a little dramatic) on the line, and we came out with zero energy. Teams with a winning mentality find ways to win like last night's games. We just don't have that. I wouldn't be mad if Dwight came home here. I think it would make us a better team. But he just worries me. The injuries, the attitude, i'm not sure. He clashed with Stan he will clash with Skiles. Also, he's going to get a max deal, so are you comfortable paying him super-star money until he's 35 when he's already seen his production take a major hit the last couple of seasons? Again, I wouldn't be upset if we signed Howard, I just don't know if that is a smart move in the long run. It would be a cool redemption story though. Definitely not comfortable paying Dwight near the max. Ideally we'd leverage his recent trade value and reputation into a more cap friendly deal. Plus we could sell him on how him coming home would rehab his image. Wouldn't be thrilled about paying Whiteside either. But you do that, trade Vucevic and Payton or Vucevic and Oladipo for an upgrade. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HeHateMe 697 Report post Posted February 27, 2016 Definitely not comfortable paying Dwight near the max. Ideally we'd leverage his recent trade value and reputation into a more cap friendly deal. Plus we could sell him on how him coming home would rehab his image. Wouldn't be thrilled about paying Whiteside either. But you do that, trade Vucevic and Payton or Vucevic and Oladipo for an upgrade. If we could get Dwight on any type of reasonable contract I'd go for it. I'm really on board with trading either Dipo or Payton. I think one of those guys need to be traded. Not sure that's ever a good enough backcourt. I can't think of any legit title contending team in the NBA that has a point guard that can't shoot and a 2 guard that is super inconsistent. I would break them up. I would probably prefer keeping Dipo. But if we could trade payton and bring in a Conley or even Teague I would do that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fultz4thewin 2,464 Report post Posted February 27, 2016 Yea AG clearly has the most upside on the roster. If we don't make up this game by beating a good team or start losing more winnable games we need to just take a game and feature Gordon and just see what happens. Right now he's scoring with only a few plays run by him a game. It's mostly broken plays and offensive rebounds for him. Let's give him the Demar Derozan playbook for a night. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fultz4thewin 2,464 Report post Posted February 27, 2016 If we could get Dwight on any type of reasonable contract I'd go for it. I'm really on board with trading either Dipo or Payton. I think one of those guys need to be traded. Not sure that's ever a good enough backcourt. I can't think of any legit title contending team in the NBA that has a point guard that can't shoot and a 2 guard that is super inconsistent. I would break them up. I would probably prefer keeping Dipo. But if we could trade payton and bring in a Conley or even Teague I would do that. I don't know if Payton can't shoot now. Since returning from injury he's shooting 41% on 1.7 attempts per game. Lately he's made about one per game. That's like John wall/Jeff Teague last season numbers Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
