We are bad, but not this bad. I thought I’d give my insights/feelings as to some reasons why and try to hand out the blame:
- Injuries - Memphis was missing 5-6 guys last night and they were HORRIBLE. Looked lost, tired, and energy was way off (search for Marcus Smart yelling at the team video). This is the best basketball league in the world with worldclass athletes/skill. No team can have the injuries/sickness that we have had and even be decent. IMO, this is the #1 contributor to the losing streak - Who’s Fault? IT’S JUST PART OF THE GAME, or our trainers (but I have no clue)…45%
- Ivey/Killian Situation - We don’t have the full story and maybe only Monty and Jaden do. They seem “fine with it” so I will choose to be as well. Mainly because I do think Ivey is trying harder on defense and I choose to believe he sees Ivey as a budding star with a glaring issue that he wanted to address (also there is a chance that Killian kills people in practice and it doesn’t translate). Perhaps, bad timing…but now he’s back and Cade is better because of it and it looks like Ivey is ready to flourish with more minutes. We’ll see…but I think Ivey is a core piece and think we’ll see it this year (please stay healthy!). - Who’s Fault? It’s complex…maybe no one…10%
- Youth - This team does SO MANY dumb things every game. Throw the ball away, pick up dribbles way too soon, miss seemingly every bunny shot, frustration fouls, AND we have a bunch of young guys putting shots up to get the reps/improve which our fanbase forgets regularly…Personally, I think it’s great that Ausar/Sasser/Umude keep shooting (even though last game was rough)…now Killian, Wiseman, Stew, etc is another story. - Who’s Fault? Too much youth, so I suppose Weaver AND I’d like to see more sound basketball so Coaching as well…This one had the most variance for me on %, but lets say 20%.
- Veteran Talent - Where is it? Injuries for sure hurt this, but it was arrogant for Weaver to walk into this season thinking the corpse of past players would contribute at a high level. We could really have used any decent veteran player (and not ancient) with a winning background…I know people hate on Grant Williams, but he’s definitely the type of player we could’ve used…20%
- Cade’s Body - He’s out of shape. It’s so clear and I’m not sure how our fanbase can’t collectively see that it’s the #1 issue with him (personally, not team-wide which is his need for spacing)…He’s in “gym” and “beach” shape but not in basketball shape as it’s played today. Guys fly up and down the court now at a crazy speed and Cade needs to drop 15-20 and up his cardio ASAP. How much of this has to do with recovery vs poor training advice (my opinion btw) is a good question. Guess what you do when you’re tired and pressing? Turnovers and easy missed shots. I think we see a thinner and faster Cade by year end, but next year he should be leaner and bouncier with proper training. 5%
Writing this out made me feel a bit better as I get lost in the extreme downs. We’re not gonna stay injured forever, or at most this should be a 1/2 or 1 season ordeal. Ivey is a good basketball player and Killian’s mins are dwindling. We’re young but we will grow up or I hope be shipped out. However, this is where Weaver really bothers me. You gotta move on when you know (Wise/Kill especially) or you block potential contributors while people start to accept mediocrity. We will add a real solid Vet or 2? (again, Weaver failing here) Finally, Cade is going to be fine…and I hope it’s with the Pistons and our fanbase doesn’t push him out the door. You can also blame other players, lineup decisions, etc…but most of those are found in the categories above, but maybe then they deserve more of the pie. Who knows. What do you think?
Take a look at this spreadsheet. Look at all the red showing how poor our players ranked relative to the rest of the league last year.
I’m not sure how anyone is supposed to have success when you are this talent depleted relative to every other roster, now add in Wiseman, Killian and injured vets.
To use the famous Dennis Green line, “They are who we thought they were.”
Saying Cade needs to drop 15-20 pounds when he just spent all offseason adding 10-15 pounds of muscle is pretty dumb. He’s just not in basketball shape because he didn’t play basketball for 10 months. He’s still working his way back
I think his diet might play a role too, but yeah he expends a lot of energy getting to his spots because of Roster and lineup deficiencies… He also gained muscle. He also is coming off an injury. He also was one of the top guys in usage and minutes played.
Give Cade a more reasonable workload and half a season to get into game shape. Give him consistent spacing. Give him easier shots by letting Ivey create for him and his second halves of games might look similar to his first halves.
I’ve said this is in a couple posts but all I wanted to see from Cade in the first 20 games was him be healthy and strong and show some glimpses of him being a great player. We’ve seen that. The 20 game mark is almost here so I want to see improvement now and more consistency. Over the last 3 games he’s averaging like 27/6/3 so it’s trending upwards. Just need to see more efficiency with his shots. Needs some help too. Every shot he takes has to be created by himself. Ivey needs to play more on ball to take the load off Cade
Agreed on this take.
I do not agree with the amount of muscle/weight added I guess. I think you need to be more bouncy/agile/quick as a ball handler now…but there are examples of both I suppose. It’s annoying how much faster Ivey gets the ball up. If we move Cade to mostly off ball then I’m fine with it I guess.