Minnesota Sports Forum

khans2k5 wrote:

TheFuture wrote:Hahaha, that would create another real competitor for those 4-8 slots. Rubio/Hood/Crowde/Favors/Gobert, Jesus. How fitting would it be for Rubio to lead them to the playoffs while we wind up at 9 or 10 due to a lack of a bench!?!

I don't see how that starting 5 makes the playoffs. Who's gonna score? They have 0 guys who can carry an offense by scoring the ball. Quinn Snyder is coach of the year if that team makes the playoffs. They have 1 star and he's a one way defensive stud. I think they are comfortably out of the playoffs.

I forgot Burks. And Exum. And Ingles. And Joe Johnson. And Boris Diaw. And rookie Mitchell. + more sitting on their bench (Burks likely starts due to creation) Ricky will excel with that cast. It is the perfect setup for him. Do they have a dominant scorer? No. Do they have a damn maestro? Yes. Ricky gets each player the ball exactly where they need it to be effective and they become a super efficient offensive team with very good defense. They will be a very, very difficult team.

TheFuture wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:

TheFuture wrote:Hahaha, that would create another real competitor for those 4-8 slots. Rubio/Hood/Crowde/Favors/Gobert, Jesus. How fitting would it be for Rubio to lead them to the playoffs while we wind up at 9 or 10 due to a lack of a bench!?!

I don't see how that starting 5 makes the playoffs. Who's gonna score? They have 0 guys who can carry an offense by scoring the ball. Quinn Snyder is coach of the year if that team makes the playoffs. They have 1 star and he's a one way defensive stud. I think they are comfortably out of the playoffs.

I forgot Burks. And Exum. And Ingles. And Joe Johnson. And Boris Diaw. And rookie Mitchell. + more sitting on their bench (Burks likely starts due to creation) Ricky will excel with that cast. It is the perfect setup for him. Do they have a dominant scorer? No. Do they have a damn maestro? Yes. Ricky gets each player the ball exactly where they need it to be effective and they become a super efficient offensive team with very good defense. They will be a very, very difficult team.

They lost almost 40 PPG's and their two top scorers in Hayward and Hill. And then we're right back to the argument of whether or not Ricky controlling the ball on every possession is actually good offense with teams going under every screen and forcing him to shoot the ball. I think that team will have monumental struggles in the 4th quarter and lose a lot because of it like a familiar team we watched last year.

I may come down to whether Ricky starts where he left off this past season. If he does, the Jazz could be an interesting team and we could be saying SOB.

khans2k5 wrote:

TheFuture wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:

TheFuture wrote:Hahaha, that would create another real competitor for those 4-8 slots. Rubio/Hood/Crowde/Favors/Gobert, Jesus. How fitting would it be for Rubio to lead them to the playoffs while we wind up at 9 or 10 due to a lack of a bench!?!

I don't see how that starting 5 makes the playoffs. Who's gonna score? They have 0 guys who can carry an offense by scoring the ball. Quinn Snyder is coach of the year if that team makes the playoffs. They have 1 star and he's a one way defensive stud. I think they are comfortably out of the playoffs.

I forgot Burks. And Exum. And Ingles. And Joe Johnson. And Boris Diaw. And rookie Mitchell. + more sitting on their bench (Burks likely starts due to creation) Ricky will excel with that cast. It is the perfect setup for him. Do they have a dominant scorer? No. Do they have a damn maestro? Yes. Ricky gets each player the ball exactly where they need it to be effective and they become a super efficient offensive team with very good defense. They will be a very, very difficult team.

They lost almost 40 PPG's and their two top scorers in Hayward and Hill. And then we're right back to the argument of whether or not Ricky controlling the ball on every possession is actually good offense with teams going under every screen and forcing him to shoot the ball. I think that team will have monumental struggles in the 4th quarter and lose a lot because of it like a familiar team we watched last year.

With the exception of them having arguably the best single defensive force in the NBA in Gobert and trade off in defense at sf (Hayward isn't that great) and pg. I fully expect them to make the playoffs with their depth and coach, whether or not Favors comes into form in a contract year. I don't expect them to get out of the first round, but I would not bet on them not making it.

TheFuture wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:

TheFuture wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:

TheFuture wrote:Hahaha, that would create another real competitor for those 4-8 slots. Rubio/Hood/Crowde/Favors/Gobert, Jesus. How fitting would it be for Rubio to lead them to the playoffs while we wind up at 9 or 10 due to a lack of a bench!?!

I don't see how that starting 5 makes the playoffs. Who's gonna score? They have 0 guys who can carry an offense by scoring the ball. Quinn Snyder is coach of the year if that team makes the playoffs. They have 1 star and he's a one way defensive stud. I think they are comfortably out of the playoffs.

I forgot Burks. And Exum. And Ingles. And Joe Johnson. And Boris Diaw. And rookie Mitchell. + more sitting on their bench (Burks likely starts due to creation) Ricky will excel with that cast. It is the perfect setup for him. Do they have a dominant scorer? No. Do they have a damn maestro? Yes. Ricky gets each player the ball exactly where they need it to be effective and they become a super efficient offensive team with very good defense. They will be a very, very difficult team.

They lost almost 40 PPG's and their two top scorers in Hayward and Hill. And then we're right back to the argument of whether or not Ricky controlling the ball on every possession is actually good offense with teams going under every screen and forcing him to shoot the ball. I think that team will have monumental struggles in the 4th quarter and lose a lot because of it like a familiar team we watched last year.

With the exception of them having arguably the best single defensive force in the NBA in Gobert and trade off in defense at sf (Hayward isn't that great) and pg. I fully expect them to make the playoffs with their depth and coach, whether or not Favors comes into form in a contract year. I don't expect them to get out of the first round, but I would not bet on them not making it.

I think Denver and MN jump into the playoffs for sure with the moves they made and LAC and Utah are fighting with Portland, MEM and NO for the 7-8 seeds. I have GS, SA, HOU, OKC, MN and DEN comfortably in with the moves they made this offseason.

Utah has some guys that if they stay healthy and either improve of return to what they were they could be a playoff team. There are plenty of questions though including health of some key and young guys and what they can get with the cap space left with Hayward gone. It's gonna be pretty tough without a single high level guy that can create their own shot. They will likely be fun to watch though in a lot of the way Memphis has for the past few years.

Call me a pessimist (I am). But until we get a bench I don't have us as a lock. I've seen too many years of no bench to convince me of that. Until I see what our bench wings I will consider us one injury away from just falling short, like 40-43 wins. Same goes for all other teams, I know, but we also have our top player in Jimmy who has a propensity to miss 15 games a year. That doesn't bode well in today's west.

My locks as of today: GSW, SA, Houston, OKC.

Dog Fight: Utah, MN, Portland, LAC, Denver

Won't make it: NO (Shocker!) they have zero wing play, Memphis (Shocker!) they lost Randolph, likely VC, and Tony Alle.

Not worth typing but did anyway: LAL, Kings, Suns.

Further on dog fight: as of today, we have the most star power of any of these teams, yet we have the least depth and two super young "stars" with zero competitive experience. That said, If we add two decent wings we should easily be a 5-7 seed.

TheFuture wrote:Call me a pessimist (I am). But until we get a bench I don't have us as a lock. I've seen too many years of no bench to convince me of that. Until I see what our bench wings I will consider us one injury away from just falling short, like 40-43 wins. Same goes for all other teams, I know, but we also have our top player in Jimmy who has a propensity to miss 15 games a year. That doesn't bode well in today's west.

My locks as of today: GSW, SA, Houston, OKC.

Dog Fight: Utah, MN, Portland, LAC, Denver

Won't make it: NO (Shocker!) they have zero wing play, Memphis (Shocker!) they lost Randolph, likely VC, and Tony Alle.

Not worth typing but did anyway: LAL, Kings, Suns.

Further on dog fight: as of today, we have the most star power of any of these teams, yet we have the least depth and two super young "stars" with zero competitive experience. That said, If we add two decent wings we should easily be a 5-7 seed.

Did they move Dallas to the East?!? ;-)

khans2k5 wrote:

TheFuture wrote:Hahaha, that would create another real competitor for those 4-8 slots. Rubio/Hood/Crowde/Favors/Gobert, Jesus. How fitting would it be for Rubio to lead them to the playoffs while we wind up at 9 or 10 due to a lack of a bench!?!

I don't see how that starting 5 makes the playoffs. Who's gonna score? They have 0 guys who can carry an offense by scoring the ball. Quinn Snyder is coach of the year if that team makes the playoffs. They have 1 star and he's a one way defensive stud. I think they are comfortably out of the playoffs.

And yet... that team would be an expected playoff team in the East.

Cle
Bos
Tor
Wash

Who else is definitely better? Maybe Milwaukee and/or Miami? Utah would be in that mix.

60WinTim wrote:

TheFuture wrote:Call me a pessimist (I am). But until we get a bench I don't have us as a lock. I've seen too many years of no bench to convince me of that. Until I see what our bench wings I will consider us one injury away from just falling short, like 40-43 wins. Same goes for all other teams, I know, but we also have our top player in Jimmy who has a propensity to miss 15 games a year. That doesn't bode well in today's west.

My locks as of today: GSW, SA, Houston, OKC.

Dog Fight: Utah, MN, Portland, LAC, Denver

Won't make it: NO (Shocker!) they have zero wing play, Memphis (Shocker!) they lost Randolph, likely VC, and Tony Alle.

Not worth typing but did anyway: LAL, Kings, Suns.

Further on dog fight: as of today, we have the most star power of any of these teams, yet we have the least depth and two super young "stars" with zero competitive experience. That said, If we add two decent wings we should easily be a 5-7 seed.

Did they move Dallas to the East?!? ;-)

They won't make it either. This is the second time I've forgotten about them in a western conference talk. Likely because they've been unusually quiet this whole offseason. Have they made a single move? Not the typical Cuban style.