Ibaka Back!?!?

[excat]

it doesn't really matter. We shut them out this season and now we have our heads up our rears.
I know surge makes a big difference but when the most of the team is playing terribly even surge can't push us to victory.

You can't look at pre playoff's Spurs vs regular season Spurs. That is why Pop is such a great coach. Regular season he limited all of his older's players minutes, weather they were losing or not. He saved them for the playoffs. The great teams play good through out the year, but they play great in the playoff's. All their starters now are playing their full minutes, and it really shows.

It's like the Miami Brooklyn series this year. The Nets swept the Heat in regular season, but when playoff's came around, the Heat showed them why they are the 2 time defending champs.

We don't have that next level to go to. We struggled to keep the number 2 seed, after coming off All Star break we were the number one (when RW came back).

Since the sports world loves to throw out KD and MJ comparisons, this is the best one:

It took 7 years for the Bulls to get a team built around MJ to win a championship. KD is in year 5. It's time we start making those changes.

 

[excat]

I completely disagree. KD and Russ have shouldered this team for the past four seasons. To say they haven't done enough is nonsense. Elevating your teammates can only be taken so far, and believe me we are at that point. The crop of guys surrounding them for the most part just don't have what it takes and that's really the bottom line.

I honestly wonder how much of that is coaching. We do have talent, while it is not as deep as some people think we are, we have enough to be in the finals this year. It is poorly executed talent though. I think the lack of running a true offense really hurts all of our players but RW and KD. Serge's shot is money in the bank. Collison CAN shoot pretty well, but we never get into a rhythm enough for it to work in our favor. We don't dish the ball to Perk enough. We don't run back door cuts enough for Sef to get layups (but if KD cuts the back, he always gets the ball in his hands). Most all of these guys are good for 6-8 points on any given night. Serge should be averaging 20 pts with his baseline shots and back door cut slams/layups.

Reasons like that are what really push me to believe it is a coaching issue we have. We leave a lot of EASY points off the board due to missed pull up jumpers by our 2 superstars 10 seconds into the shot clock, and it seems that is what Brooks wants us to do, and that simply doesn't win championships.

 

[Oklahomabassin]

They keep filling the stadium and probably will again next year regardless of the outcome of this series.

 

[farmerbyron]

The Harden trade is one of the BEST things we've done. Anyone that thinks we should have kept Harden, never actually watched him play. Harden is FAR from a top talent. Harden is a part time scorer and full time flopper. ZERO defense. He's an average player. There is a reason the Rockets didn't make it out of the first round, and Harden is that reason. Even on nights when he isn't scoring, he still doesn't play defense, he doesn't get assist's, he's a waste of space if he isn't putting up any points. We couldn't afford both Harden and Ibaka, and we chose to keep Ibaka, which was the best decision for us. I would rather have team of 8 players that average 10-15 pts per game consistently, that play solid defense, than a Harden or Westbrook that go for 20+ inconsistently. The Spurs and Pacers are exactly why, they have built real ball "teams". This is very easy to predict, Harden doesn't win a championship in the next 5 years.

It was our only option to remain solvent under the salary cap but in a world free of salary restrictions, we would loved to have kept him. Ibaka is a better and more difficult to find talent than Harden so the decision was easy. However, having a top scorer coming off the bench really is something that we have not been able to replace. No, Harden will not lead the Rockets to the promised land as the #1 option but to say we are better off without him is asinine. Big difference in being the 3rd option on a team and the horse everyone is riding.

They will pony up the cash for KD, not for RW. The thing with RW is outside of his athleticism, he is just an above average player. The only reason he is indeed a superstar, is exactly what makes him a liability. So, KD has already proven that he can get it done with Reggie at the helm, and that we don't need RW on the floor to win games. KD, Reggie, and Ibaka put up more consistent numbers this season with out RW. Why is that? We ran more offense, but still not enough! You don't think the owners see that, especially out of a player that is going to cost them 8 mil a year less, that doesn't have a ticking time bomb bum knee? Exactly what beast said about D. Rose, liability is HUGE with RW. It would be one thing if he was paying it off with Championships every year, but he's not. We can't make it that far because of the one dimensional play, because we have him on the team. We beat better teams with the RJ, KD, Serge line up, than we have with RW on the floor this year. We beat the Heat with the line up, lost to them when RW came back in the line up. Beat Memphis every game with that line up, and saw what happened against Memphis when RW came back......

You can't compare regular season to playoff basketball. There are back to backs, 4 games in 5 nights, etc. that can skew outcomes. Not to mention most teams mail in it defensively in the regular season. We saw last year how well we played playoff basketball without Westbrook. I know it was sudden and not enough time to adjust last year but to base a decision to get rid of Westbrook because Reggie got it done for a month or two in January and February is fool hardy. We need his intensity. The team needs that spark often. Hell, even KD gets down and needs that spark sometimes.

Harden went to a much better coach, and a much better defense orientated team, and he is the reason they lost it this year, lack of consistency and next to no defense, he tries to be RW, and he just will never be that. There are good players, great players, and elite players, Harden is on the verge of being great player, and I doubt he'll ever be much better than that.

It's funny how I can totally agree with you about Brooks being subpar but we vehemently disagree on Westbrook. As far as a coach to replace him, maybe a George Karl? Seems like an ******* and it might be exactly what we need. He just got "Carmeloed" in Denver.

 

[twoguns?]

I honestly wonder how much of that is coaching. We do have talent, while it is not as deep as some people think we are, we have enough to be in the finals this year. It is poorly executed talent though. I think the lack of running a true offense really hurts all of our players but RW and KD. Serge's shot is money in the bank. Collison CAN shoot pretty well, but we never get into a rhythm enough for it to work in our favor. We don't dish the ball to Perk enough. We don't run back door cuts enough for Sef to get layups (but if KD cuts the back, he always gets the ball in his hands). Most all of these guys are good for 6-8 points on any given night. Serge should be averaging 20 pts with his baseline shots and back door cut slams/layups.

Reasons like that are what really push me to believe it is a coaching issue we have. We leave a lot of EASY points off the board due to missed pull up jumpers by our 2 superstars 10 seconds into the shot clock, and it seems that is what Brooks wants us to do, and that simply doesn't win championships.

THIS...
feed the ball to the superstars ,and they are, but when theYre not hitting or tired, which they are, then who's going to score.

The other 3 and the bench are used to giving the ball to the leading scorers, if they arent hitting , for whatever reason, the other 3 and the bench ...Have to learn to score.

Theyre Not going to get that learning ,feeding the ball to the Stars.
Say KD is hitting 40, not uncommon, WB is hitting 30, still not uncommon.

You still need 30-40 points from the other 3 and off the bench, or a Sixth Man to shake up the difference.
OR maybe a coaching shake-up, not necessarily a different one , just a different attitude?

 

[tRidiot]

Tonight they should be well-rested after 3 full days off, and they're back home. If we don't pull this one out, we're done. Ibaka or not... I still am not sure if he'll play, but even if he does, I suspect his impact will be minimal. I hope I'm wrong, though.