Not to derail the good thread, but this is pretty much true. And while the pts of RED and others responding are valid and interesting, there's an overriding trusim which I think is in play: when you are facing a juggernaut, and you are simply an inferior team, your shit isn't going to look good, no matter what you do.
Not unlike how we have always looked so janky on defense, especially on the frontcourt, till, surprise surprise....we actually bring in bona fide legitimate NBA center who is good.
What this thread really shows is we need adjustments to look better, at the end of the day. And all we can be asked to do is get better, whether it's good enough or not at the end of the day. MDA is too intelligent a basketball mind in my opinion to not make those adjustments, and field an offense/team that is maximized for what lays ahead in the playoffs. In the meantime, it'll be like it's been all season: steps in the right direction, sometimes two at the expense of taking one back first.
*BUT*, putting the pom poms down, and ending the foolishness of calling Lebron (or Wade) "chokes".....MIA is going to have the best two in the league, by a wide margin, and they got them at premium discounts (along with Bosh) which gives MIA the franchise an edge that is difficult to overstate.
With these truths in place, it's very difficult for any franchise to legitimately compete in my opinion, if they make *any* sub-optimal moves that can't be undone.
This is the main reason the Melo deal was so jank, and a total joke. And why STAT's play is so deeply alarming.
Whether the Melo deal was good is actually irrelevant. We didn't negotiate nor approach the deal shrewdly, and it's clear that whatever shrewdness and negotiating prowess Walsh was displaying to get the *best* deal, and thus the *right* deal, was negated when Dolan put his paw prints all over it.
It's laughable we have people in denial about this, and just wanna go ad nauseum saying that the deal was good because we got the best player, and make these overly detailed player comparisons rationalizing why it was really OK we threw in Gallo, Moz, Felton etc.
The second unfortunate reality we're going to have to deal with is that even when STAT played like the STAT of last year, he was a monumental defensive liability and didn't rebound.
When you splash your max on players they need either fit like a mother****ing glove, or have no major deficiencies. Arguably, Amare did fit like a glove....until the Melo deal, which in itself is pause for the concern.
Barring Lin continues to play at an ethereal level (and it's crazy that so many just had this expectation that he would, especially in his first yr really playing a NBA season), and barring Amare and Melo becoming players they never really have actually been, and have certainly have never been with us, we're in for a world of hurt.
Our one saving grace, IMO, is going back to the up tempo pace we set last year, but with the additional talent, defensive play, and overall commitment to defense.
It's that style that let us compete with teams we really had no business competing with or beating; and despite the broomstick sweep, it's the only reason we run BOS ragged to their least breath and nanosecond of losing for two games, despite how deeply flawed we were as a team at that time.
ray:
