MarylandHawk

I noticed a few weeks ago he had his legs back and his energy level was top notch. It has just continued. I figure he made a mental note to himself that he was going to take it easy in the first half to let the new players settle in and then go all out on the second half season run and playoffs. We have to punctuate Lou Will’s career with the first NBA championship in his hometown. The story is writing itself.

Another reason I think the current rotation works is because Kevin is a better role player with the staters. He has a very versatile skill set and works really well with Trae and John. Bogi, Gallo, and Lou are savvy vets that really know how to play and can out duel any bench combination in the NBA including Phoenix. Throw in OO17 and Wright’s emergence, we are really cooking. Bogi gets more of a green light offensively when he is on the second unit but he also knows how to maximize Gallo and Lou so that hey can still be effective. It’s beautiful.

To answer your question, I still would like length and experience in the front court. I would love a deal where we traded TLC and a 2nd for Robin Lopez.

I see the Trae Haters faded to black once we started winning. I wonder what changed? Oh I know, urgency and defensive effort by the whole team.

Da man. It is more related to team defense but he is playing his role. The one thing I said before and will keep saying is that Trae can overcome his size issues with his scrappiness and his high basketball IQ. When he understands what the other team is trying to do offensively he can anticipate the actions and disrupt the play development by gumming up the actions. He can also call out their offensive sets so our defensive stars like CC and Dre can be in a better position to make a play. We are starting to see this now. Right now, we are playing better than we ever did last year.

It can end when the Pierce scapegoating ends….

That is still a good thing because if they keep playing like this and they continue to win their long term value goes up. So Bogi gets to win without diminishing his value.

Not to mention during a winning season with the allstar game in Atlanta.

You can’t underestimate Kevin’s chemistry with Trae and John. Plus I think Kevin and Dre is a better defensive combo especially with Clint. I was wondering how Bogi would affect the second unit but tonight proved he fit in super well. I hope Kevin earns the starting spot the rest of the way.

This game was super fun to watch. We may have found something with this rotation.

This is a bad brother.

It is definitely a worse situation. He is not pushing Evan or RJ out of the starting line up anytime soon. Also, Thibs is notorious for short rotations even in the regular season, so I think he plays less minutes iff of the bench too. If he was thinking about trying to earn a max extension this year, it ain't happening.

I really wanted to see Cam with starting unit with Dre and Capella in it to see how good we could be defensively but I guess we will never know.

What was telling about the situation is that the whole team knew he requested a trade including Nate. It must have put the team off since he was playing so many minutes and everyone knew he wanted off the team.

Bob Rathbun with the “Oh Ish”. Lol on the Ish smith blowing the bunny layup.

Leads Luka in Allstar votes and is 8th in Jersey sales. Not to mention his shooting percentages are up across the board. Let’s get these W’s.

Say it.

I loved the defensive effort tonight. It was consistent the whole game. It translated into great ball movement on offense. Dare i say it, I even saw some fast breaks tonight off of great defense!

Waiting too long? Nobody came up to receive the ball. On the previous play, Kevin came quickly when he recognize Trae was being trapped and Trae quickly made the pass and Heurter quickly found Dre in the corner. It takes two to tango.

OO17

Where’s Embiid? Lol. He’s git three babies.

It’s pure speculation based on the information he is hearing. He is putting it in the context that everyone understands and responds to. If Trae wanted to play off the ball it would have happened in a heart beat. I think his dad and the coaches realize that is the best path to winning and Trae’s dad knows he can do that very well too. Trae needs to feel like the team can be successful doing it that way and he needs time to adjust his mentality. Its hard when he knows there is nobody that can stop him when he has the ball in his hands. This is where someone like Simmons could really make a difference. Simmons would initiate the fast break much better than Trae. Also, in the half court, they could run the triangle offense through Ben that gets him closer to the basket but still allows him to pass out of the triangle. Trae would be confident the Ben will find him when he is off the ball. Of course 4th quarters wont be a problem because Trae could just take over.

Your clip breakdown is great. However, the focus on Trae here is misplaced. The only reason we are in this situation is because of Bogi’s idiot dead ball foul that resulted in a technical free throw and his horrible effort at guarding Herro immediately after the free throw in which he made a three pointer. 4 points in 5 seconds to erase our lead late in that game. Nobody here is satisfied with any of our players making mistakes including Trae but to go out of your way and blame the whole loss on him seems incredibly biased against him. Trae is a hero and sometimes he has to play hero ball. He has put this franchise on his back against all the haters and detractors and made us relevant and fun to watch. He also gives us a chance to win. I am riding with him to the wheels fall of. You can go back to your Horford days with no heroes.

Good post. I think we have to take two things into consideration though. 1. We have been getting blown out before we even get into the fourth on a lot of these games and everyone including Trae is playing desperation ball. 2. You hear Nique, Bob, and Vince say it all the time that Trae needs to set his teammates up in the first 3 quarters and then take over in the 4th. I can imagine Nate telling him the same thing. But that formula isn’t quite working because the tram is inefficient especially defensively. The only real issue with this team is it’s overall effort level on offense and defense. Most teams we play are in playoff form because of the new play in format. We were caught with our pants down coming in to the season thinking we were better than everyone else. Then we had all the disruption with covid. Trae can and will adjust his game to win. He already has his money and fame all he wants to do is win. He is not going to bottle up his talent when everyone else is playing below theirs.

Tyler Herro tip the ball. Miami’s scrappy defense should be credited for this not Trae’s handles.