i'll quibble: by the time DFS got here, he had a pretty substantial record of not being very impactful (this is why i lol'd when the nets were going around asking for three firsts for him), so the leeway he got from both fans and jj was about as deserved as laravia's, and for the same reasons--not past, present--he's willing to do the dirty work on both ends. laravia has actually been a better player for us than DFS was last year (don't even look at DFS this year), and that's with the bad shooting.
Umm arguing that DFS was overrated and not good is one thing but the metrics hate Jake People give a lot more leeway to guys who are likable (i.e. hustle, look like they give a s***) but I'm really surprised especially if you've been watching games over the last month of how bad Laravia has been. Teams literally do not close out on him on the perimeter. It's not just missing shots but they are playing 5 on 4 defense similar to what teams did to Vando in the playoffs. This isn't good when it's regular season and teams are doing this without the prep time of playoffs. rapm lal last year RAPM
ironically, you should be arguing for your favorite player vando to be getting jake's minutes, lol. anyway, this is the hayes thread, and he is, sadly, our 4th best player this year by the numbers, with smart/ayton/kennard/vando after that. it's slim pickins.
I’ll rescue you from page 2 Jax. Great game last night. He was a blocking machine. Got to make you free throws though.
What's this stat? Rui's numbers and Smart's offense are atrocious Problem is he got outplayed in the playoffs. That's a liability and shortens the rotation. You're pushed to go small even if you don't have the personnel. Ideally you'd have a big or 2 you can play in the playoffs. He's better this year so maybe he works out in this postseason I also don't think we solve our center situation this summer. But I'm also not sure Ayton's comes back. He's highly inconsistent and can be outplayed mentally. I think the playoffs will determine how we approach the center position in the summer Sent from my ABR-NX1 using Tapatalk
eh, gobert's been an absolute liability in deep round playoff games many times. lots of times, teams simply don't play bigs in big moments. again, unless they're an allstar. i'm all in on not paying big for centers unless they're like, jokic. hayes/ayton can get you to where you're playing lebron as draymond center in the closing lineups.
Are we ever going to stop talking about the MN series last year? WTF! Reaves is stronger and at a higher level of play this year which along with Luka being in shape and our center situation vastly improved compared to last year, Smart, LaRavia, Kennard and a deeper squad …. which all contributed to us sweeping their a**es THIS year. Same thing with Hayes this season with 10-15lbs more muscle and improved all around game. Eff MN!
True, but that's why they have Naz and Randle/Towns. I don't think we have that guy yet. Playing Rui/Bron at the 5 is not ideal. I think Rui is even worse just because he rebounds so little. Which leads me to think thatmaybe is something we look for in the summer. Maybe we try to pry Collins or someone in that frame Playoffs are a completely different game than regular season and that one is the most recent. It will stop being talked about after the first series this year.
lebron's better at center than randle; he just refuses to accept it, lol. i just think if you have a forward who can rebound and credibly block a shot (like DFS), you can steal minutes--including in end-game situations--with them at center. dantoniball can work in small doses, quite effectively. but never full dantoni. collins is definitely someone who, could, at least in theory, serve in this capacity. he at least rebounds fairly well. his defense is maybe not where i want it to be for that role, but it's not as bad as advertised. but yeah, rui's really not ideal at it, and DFS is gone/dead. so right now we only have lebron to play this role, and if lebron's gone next year, we have nobody. but back to the point: hayes (and ayton) for 20-24mpg at a total salary of 13 million per is probably a wiser use of salary than like, walker kessler at 30+ million per.