RedDawg#8

f***….Scott Foster tonight, smh.. The NBA goes full BS when we play the cHeat, man lol

I’m not worried about size versus the Heat, they play one of the smallest regular rotations with 6 nothing Kyle Lowry, a bunch of 6-5 guys and Bam/Love who are 6-8/6-9 respectively. Where the Heat give teams problems is with their physicality and gang defense. Hawks have to be ready to play through contact, hold on to the ball, and get back on defense. Miami’s game, without Jimmy, is to force mistakes and get out in transition. Just stay patient and play smart basketball.

Dre is not reliable man… you can’t count on him to be healthy let alone bring his A game.

Trae is killing it, but let’s check back in after the Miami game before we start pounding our chests. He is liable to get beaten in to a pulp tomorrow and have one of those patented “I told you so” games from his haters. I would love for him to tie or pass Oscar’s record streak for 30-10 games but the cHeat are going to be a huge speed bump in his way.

Foul trouble on Trae is the only thing that kept the Rockets in this game. They have been off balanced since he returned to the court.

AJ’s days may be numbered. I think it’s definitely a psychological thing too, reminds me of when Vic Beasley fell out of love with football in the name of religion. AJ had so much going for him at the end of last season but was pretty unspectacular in SL, and has only gotten further and further away from the lineup. I never thought he was as good as some were hyping his potential, but he is still plenty talented enough to be a regular contributor. Something has been up this whole time beyond the X’s and O’s of basketball.

Here’s exactly why I want us to make a move regardless of Jalen’s health. 8-7 is not a needle moving record even at full strength. We are not going to magically go on a run once JJ comes back. We will be better, but not much better than the .500 team we were with him.

Never listen to Koonin regarding injuries. His timeline has always been more optimistic than reality.

Trae is up to 37.9% shooting from 3, which is amazing considering how bad he was to start the season. Idk how much longer he can keep up his positive shooting but his turnaround has been incredible.

With our lack of size we should not be bashful about Bruno getting playing time. Unless we plan on signing someone off the street, the answer is NOT to keep rolling out more 6-5 guys. The game felt much different having physicality in the lineup from Bruno. Even when JJ returns, I hope we start playing big more often now that we have seen that we can still score points with OO at PF in small stints.

I’m down for trading for rentals and clearing the books in the offseason. If we somehow can get off Dre and CC’s contracts, we can get under the actual salary cap, sign a FA outright and extend JJ this offseason. Everything else is roster filler. Trae, DJ, Bogi, JJ, OO + FA would be your core pieces going forward. I get OO looks bad lately but OO next to JJ has been an elite duo. JJ’s emergence as a starter has limited the actual game minutes these two have played together, but going back to last season, they are a dominant pairing. We could go after a true hard nosed 3-D Forward, and a rugged big man.

Dear insiders, based on your intel do you feel we are being any more aggressive than usual in our pursuit of an trade/roster upgrade or are we still sitting on certain deals wanting/hoping to “win” any potential trade? From the sounds of it, seems like the decision makers are split on what we actually need to get better.

Is be being held out because he is on the block? I haven’t been keeping up too much the past few days

Dumb trade so I guess yeah I would be mad.

I feel bad for the kid, man. Got dealt such a shit hand. Hot take media put him in a box where he had to be Steph/Luka, or else he was the next Jimmer Fredette. It was always either/or, he could not be anything in the middle like his peers were allowed to be. He never had a chance like SGA or Tyrese to just grow in to stardom naturally or like Ja/LaMelo where they were given the hype and the praise from day one with no apologies. Everyone was betting boom or bust from the day he was drafted, and any slippage from him and they pounce to say I told you so. He admittedly gaslit the narratives about him by playing in to the noise on the court. And unfortunately, he lacks the off court charisma to defend himself on a mic. Not many young stars know how to change a media agenda, but most of them don’t deal with the same scrutiny either. Maybe Zion and his body issues but that’s it. Ja will return this season and they will pick up right where they left off before the guns. Meanwhile Trae is stuck in purgatory. No longer special by their standards. Which is a disgrace.

My biggest concern is our FO thinking that waiting until JJ gets back will be the answer to our struggles. As good as he has been, our FLOOR should not be this bad without him in the lineup. We have much bigger issues to address with this team. We are loaded with wings but no versatile big men who can take the offensive pressure off of the perimeter players. Defensively, we cannot finish possessions with the rebound consistently even when we actually get stops. We are devoid of size with skill. Even when JJ comes back, we still miss his presence when he is on the bench. I personally think we need to consolidate more than ever and give people defined roles and identities.

Cam wanted to the leave the Hawks. He wasn’t forced out. And 7ppg on 40% as a Laker is far from making us miss him. The media always overhypes role players who play next to Lebron. Don’t let that confuse you about what he is really worth. Austin Reaves would be Garrison Mathews on our roster and vice versa.

9-13 staring us in the face.

Bally Sports app is bugging, I can’t watch, but by the sounds of it it is a good thing I can’t tune in …smh 9-13 staring us in the face, I will be there Monday to see that L.

We NEED to add help to the frontcourt. We have no PF on the roster without Jalen and it is showing up in the most glaring ways. It’s like trying to play football without TEs or LBs. There is a glaring lack of size/length that impacts our defensive upside. Even when Jalen returns, we need to invest in a true rotational four. My imagination says Dre and Bey should be able to get the job done but reality says otherwise. Sign a journeyman for all I care, just get some size on the roster.

I get that it’s nice giving both of the Matthews more playing time with JJ out, but we are in desperate need of size inside. I would much rather call up Silva and Norris to bolster our frontcourt rotation regardless of their inexperience. That’s more fouls to give to protect Hunter, and just allows us the physical presence that 6-5 guys don’t have.

Bogi has been playing like our 2nd/3rd best player most nights. We have been playing our best when he plays well. We need more size and skill up front.

What are we arguing about today? sheesh

So, par for the course, like many have said. Over his entire career Trae’s worst months are early in the season. I wish this wasn’t the case and he could start faster, but nobody in their right mind would have looked at a few bad shooting weeks and concluded that was who Trae was now compared to his 5 year sample size. He is too good not to figure it out eventually. He literally always has adapted to every new challenge since he has been in the league.

Can we finally put our death lineup in please lol