alexftbl8181 wrote:khans2k5 wrote:Thad wasn't a good fit (which some of us called out the second we got him), he has no leadership qualities to help a young team develop and grow and the stats he did put up were empty on a bad team. At the end of the day, the pick we traded for him didn't go to Philly yet and we got KG back who has always been a leader which this young team needs. Thad was just the wrong guy at the wrong time for this team. He needs to go to a team with a DJ/Drummond type defender and rebounder next to him for his team to really have any chance at success.
Yet the Nets pushed into the playoffs after the KG/Thad trade, weird.
They made the playoffs on the last game of the season while being 6 games under .500 in the East ffs. That couldn't possibly have happened because D Will dropped 15 and 8 the last month of the year or Brook almost being a 20-10 guy the last two months. It was Thad's 14-6 that made them a playoff team. Not the improvement of those other guys. That clearly shows how good Thad is that we made a terrible mistake.
Philly couldn't have made the playoffs only twice (once with a record above .500) because their best player was this year's finals MVP except in his prime, could they? Or their second best player was an emerging PG who made more all-star games in his first 4 years than Thad has his entire career? Or a defensive C like Elton Brand covering for Thad?
No, Thad was the guy that made those teams playoff teams. He wasn't a stat guy who let the top players of those teams lead and carry them to the playoffs while he got his almost standard 14-6 in support. Look at his career stats. There is almost no true improvement that he's built on since his second year in the league, yet he got a raise to 10 million and people think he is a significant piece to playoff contenders in the East. He's been on 1 team that's done better than .500, but that's everyone else's fault right, not his, even though he's the common denominator?
I don't hate Thad. I just don't understand the love for him. He is barely above a replacement level player in my mind, but he was getting paid like an impact starter.