Scar4343
Semper Fidelis
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2006
- Messages
- 317
- Reaction score
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I don't agree with this analysis. I think it's highly unlikely that Varejao is going to be healthy and high-functioning through a long playoff run. So that makes us effectively 8 deep.
Even if you make that assumption, you'd have to also assume that A) we're not bringing back JR or B) we're doing nothing to replace him with a productive player. I think that's highly unlikely, so I'll stick with us being at least 9 deep even if you don't count AV(because apparently every other team's Top 9 is invulnerable to injury).
I love Delly but he is going to get exposed like he did in the Finals if you play him for a long period against top-level competition. That makes us 7 deep.
Delly got exposed in the Finals?!?! I thought he outplayed the MVP in Game 3 then after being hospitalized struggled with his shot in the remaining games but still played solid D on one of the best scorers in the league and held him to .443/.385 shooting(well below his normal shooting) and 4.7 turnovers per game. Perhaps most importantly, he kept him off the FT line(4.3 FTA per game). I think that's a solid performance for our 3rd PG playing in a role way bigger than he would or should have to. I'll continue to count him just as much as I'll count Patty Mills(you think he'd have fared better against Curry if he was the only PG on the roster?), Barbosa, Livingston, etc. So, still at 9 deep and likely at 10 if we add JR or another contributor(we will).
Look at the Spurs top 9. Every one of those guys is a proven championship-level contributor when they are healthy, and have showed that they can make it through long playoff runs. If you think of Shump and TT as our fifth and sixth players in the rotation, they are very one-dimensional compared to guys like Duncan, West, Diaw, or Ginobli who you might think of as the 5th or 6th best players on the Spurs.
The Spurs are the exception, not the rule. However, I think Diaw/West/Ginobili are being overrated by many on here like they're in their primes. They're still good players but there's a reason they're playing limited minutes off the bench. Ginobili had a career low in ppg last year, the lowest ORtg of his career, the lowest PER since his rookie year and his lowest TS% since his 2nd year in the league. He'll be 38 years old this year. Diaw at his peak was a nice role player and essentially an above average player. His efficiency was horrible last year and his numbers were down almost across the board. West had pretty nice numbers across the board but at this point in his career is at best equivalent to TT. He's better offensively but TT is a better rebounder and defender.
We need more quality depth to be secure as a championship team. I don't know how anyone who watched Lebron try to drag us to a championship against the Warriors while relying on people like Delly/Shump/TT can miss that.
What does secure as a championship team mean? Add LeBron and TT to the guys we have under contract NOW and we're the best team in the East and have a shot to beat anyone in the West.
It's like we have the opposite of homers around here lately. They look for any flaw or vulnerability they can. They assume the following: we're going to have a rash of injuries, other teams are going to stay healthy(despite some of them having much older players), our guys are no good, other teams have guys that can step in and start a Finals game in roster spots 1-15. None of these things are true and the sooner you realize that is the sooner you could start to appreciate that our front office is assembling a championship contender roster at great expense to the owner. An expense that is almost unprecedented.
Even if you think we NEED 15 All-Star players on our roster, guess what? They ain't coming. Your desire for "bench pieces" isn't going to convince them that they're going to get minutes here and, guess what? Guys who can still play WANT minutes. And, by the way, that INCLUDES guys that are still on our roster. You think LeBron wants to play 28 minutes? GTFOH, he's chasing the all-time scoring record, wants to be in the MVP race and is used to playing a lot. He played a career low in minutes last year and I doubt he wants to go much lower. Kevin Love came back here to PLAY in the playoffs and I don't think that means 26 minutes a night. He was supposedly unhappy with 16/9 last year, how do you think he'd feel about 14/7? TT will be signing a big contract and will want to play to earn it.
Jesus, it's like people can't be happy about anything. I'd offer to hook you guys up with Kate Upton or Bar Rafaeli and you'd be like "Well, what if she's bad in bed?"
Just like the cliché "there's only one ball", there's only 240 minutes. Players want to play.