Game Thread 2020-21 Season | Game #24 | Bucks @ Cavs | February 6, 2021

[cabs]

another game where we have struggled mightily to score after half time

 

[redscoon]

Nice ass whooping. Bad energy. Bad shooting. They aren’t talented enough to get out worked and overcome it.

They desperately need some shot makers. Sexton can only shoot after a long set and gather. Cedi is broken. Okoro is flat as hell. Windler is scared. Garland looks like the only guy who can shoot off the dribble.

 

[Rich]

young players take time, we need to find a 6'8 wing scorer though and that has always been the case even when we were 3-0

To win a title, yea, probably.

But to just be a good, solid team? We shouldn't need that if the players we've drafted are as good as we seem to think they are.

There's decent role player talent here. Problem is, no one looks like a star.

 

[red.]

Okoro is horrible offensively. My eyes.

 

[Rich]

I really don't know what's happened.

I don't know if they were just playing well above their heads early in the year. I don't know if the Nets win got to some heads (Sexton).

But this ain't the same team we saw the first 10-15 games. A team that was winning missing almost all of their "good" players at times, still holding teams under 100 points.

They've been piss poor defensively now since the Boston game. The effort isn't there. Sexton, in particular, is getting lost.

They look like a bottom 3 team right now. They shouldn't be quite this bad.

 

[MirORich]

I don’t know how the sunshine pumpers who felate the org can watch these last few games and leave with a positive outlook. It’s a long road ahead. That’s all I can say.

Anybody who didn’t think it was a long road ahead for a team this young was kidding themselves. This was a team that won at a .292 clip last year. ZERO teams historically jump from that point straight to .500 and above in one season without a massive influx of elite, in their prime talent by FA/trade.

This season was always going to be a year that needed to be judged at the end of the season based on a combination of individual and team prgrsssion over the course of the ENTIRE season and with realistic expectations based on where they were last year, what changes were made, and historical NBA trends.

No one should feel any type of absolute certainty that this team after a few more years can be a long term contender. But its also far too early to say with absolute certainty that they cant or won’t.

The question for each fan to ask is if they understand that our LeBron ascension from 2003-2006 was historically abnormal. As was the turnaround that occurred from the year before LeBrons return and after? And are they willing to watch a multi year rebuild that will involve more losses than wins this season and likely next without hating that process so much that they prematurely write off players who mostly still don’t even have a full seasons experience as pro’s(Garland, Okoro, Windler)

 

[Pioneer10]

I don’t know how the sunshine pumpers who felate the org can watch these last few games and leave with a positive outlook. It’s a long road ahead. That’s all I can say.

Yeah I'm going to get jumped on as this roster is weird

 

[hud11]

5th game in 7 nights, bucks are a top 5 team. Cavs got a bit too high on themselves after beating the nets and haven’t been the same since then. I mean coming into the season if you said they were 10-14, after 24 you’d probably say that sounds about right, maybe a bit better than expected if you knew love had only played 6 quarters.

 

[daddywags]

They're a young team. They're going to have ups and downs.

 

[Rich]

Yeah I'm going to get jumped on as this roster is weird

Their vision seemed to be that they'll be like Portland. Ok. I'm fine with that approach.

Problem: Damian Lillard came into the league shooting more 3s a game, as rookie, than either Sexton or Garland are shooting in year 3 and 2.

This whole philosophy doesn't work w/o at least one of those guys being a fucking sniper that can go off and nail like 6+ 3s every 2nd or 3rd game.

If you're going to try and build a team like that, then one of our players actually needs to end up being as good as Damian Lillard for that to work...

I don't want to beat a dead horse on this whole backcourt issue: But one of these two HAS to become a GREAT 3 point shooter for this to work like they want it to. There's no other to play it, outside of just continuing to suck and drafting players better than they are..which defeats the purpose entirely.

Great 3 point shooter. Have to have it.

 

[CavsFaninNJ]

Their vision seemed to be that they'll be like Portland. Ok. I'm fine with that approach.

Problem: Damian Lillard came into the league shooting more 3s a game, as rookie, than either Sexton or Garland are shooting in year 3 and 2.

This whole philosophy doesn't work w/o at least one of those guys being a fucking sniper that can go off and nail like 6+ 3s every 2nd or 3rd game.

If you're going to try and build a team like that, then one of our players actually needs to end up being as good as Damian Lillard for that to work...

Need 5.5 or more threes per game from both of them, at 38%+, for it to work. That means you get some nights where they go a combined 9/14 from three and it puts you over the top.

 

[redscoon]

It’s not bad to get your ass kicked every once in a while. Should be a humbling week for them.

The intensity has slipped. The unselfishness has faded away. They got a taste of a couple of more well rounded teams and found out the difference between title contender and playoff contender.

I’m still optimistic about the path of the team, but the margin for error is razor thin when you can’t shoot in this league.

 

[Rich]

Yeah I'm going to get jumped on as this roster is weird

Yea.

And I wanted to believe it in early in the year, even though I haven't liked the direction they were going since, well, the Sexton pick.

But hey, they looked like they had a formula early...but now.

Yea, I'm back to where I was last year and this summer. The roster doesn't work. Drafting guards like this won't work.

 

[MirORich]

I really don't know what's happened.

I don't know if they were just playing well above their heads early in the year. I don't know if the Nets win got to some heads (Sexton).

But this ain't the same team we saw the first 10-15 games. A team that was winning missing almost all of their "good" players at times, still holding teams under 100 points.

They've been piss poor defensively now since the Boston game. The effort isn't there. Sexton, in particular, is getting lost.

They look like a bottom 3 team right now. They shouldn't be quite this bad.

I have three suggestions:

1. A lot of the vet teams who played in the bubble and playoffs gave minimal efforts in the first few weeks of the season. We may have capitalized on that a few times.

2. Favorable early schedule. A lot of our wins were against teams who were missing key players to injury or rest or who were adjusting from recent trades

3. More than 60% of our rotation is players with less than 4 years NBA experience( Allen, Sexton, Cedi, Windler, Okoro, Garland). Inconsisteny is a hallmark of inexperience and with a jam packed schedule there is less in season practice time than ever to course correct and re-set things.

The schedule between now and the break is brutal. But we are where we need to be based on the roster talent and experience combo. A swing at another lottery talent is clearly needed. Hopefully the talent in this draft is as good as some purport. And it’s also clear we should be grateful to have gotten Allen because without him, that would be one more long term role/position that we would be needing to fill.

 

[Rich]

I have three suggestions:

1. A lot of the vet teams who played in the bubble and playoffs gave minimal efforts in the first few weeks of the season

2. Favorable early schedule. A lot of our wins were against teams who were missing key players to injury or rest or who were adjusting from recent trades

3. More than 60% of our rotation is players with less than 4 years NBA experience( Allen, Sexton, Cedi, Windler, Okoro, Garland). Inconsisteny is a hallmark of inexperience and with a jam packed schedule there is less in season practice time than ever to course correct and re-set things.

The schedule between now and the break is brutal. But we are where we need to be based on the roster talent and experience combo. A swing at another lottery talent is clearly needed. Hopefully the talent in this draft is as good as some purport.

So next year. Am I allowed to expect wins next year? And if they don't come can I call this first attempt at rebuilding a failure and blame the org?

Because the path I want to avoid at all costs is to just cling to players because we happened to draft them when they aren't gonna cut it the way Orlando has. Orlando is where you never want to be. Shelling out top dollar for your role players that you picked, hoping one day they turn into a star player.