If Beal is healthy ( first game would be IST semifinals) do you play him, or do you wait till after?
Next Friday 12/8 is 3 weeks. He gets seen then I guess, so if he plays in it it would be the next day for the final. Or he plays on 12th or 15th. Somewhere between 10 and 17 days.
If it’s longer than that, I think you have to start wondering if he is going to be of use to the team this year. Basically a devastating scenario where everyone will gaslight and make it seem fine.
If he’s healthy, they’ll play him in short bursts/limited minutes til he gets into game shape.
Of course play him 🙄 it’s bad enough we haven’t had a single big3 on same court this season
I’d bring him off the bench.
Whatever protocol they have set is what they should go with. Teams cannot stop us with just booker and KD with the role players we have. Beal at this point is just an added extra—a failsafe.
At this point I’ve contemplated if we should flip Beal for even more depth, but that would just be unfair lol. Then again, if Beal isn’t healthy all season long, it’s possible the team looks into that at the end of the year if it’s looking like the finals are pretty much a lock without him even being in the rotation.
It’s almost better to just keep Beal in reserve until he’s certain he can play as competitively as he wants, because we are legit still so solid without him.
The ultimate powermove would be to list him as available and then not play him until garbage time as a victory cigar after Book and KD have well and truly cooked the Lakers
If you were a hot dog, would you eat yourself?