- Joined
- Aug 29, 2025
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- Reaction score
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Our saddest game grades to date... only 3 submissions, and one of them is me.
Scotts Notes:
- Bottom line, we're going to struggle if we can't shoot. This should be obvious in the modern NBA and we really have to wonder if Brian is going to do anything about this or the solution is to just play through it and get Devin back (which admittedly, should help). We're 2-4 in the last 6 games and in those 6 games we've only averaged 106 ppg. For comparison, Brooklyn is currently dead last in the league at 108.7 ppg. On the flip side of the coin, over those same 6 games we are only allowing 105 ppg, and by comparison OKC leads the league at only allowing 108.1 ppg. So our defense is playing very well but our offense is just... offensive.
- Part of this, in my very humble opinion, is a continued desire to funnel usage to Stephon Castle. I'm glad he had somewhat of a bounce back game against OKC, but honestly I still wasn't super impressed with him in this game. Another 5 TOV (following up 7 against MIN), and I believe his USG% for the game was over 26 while Fox's was below 20. Fox and Castle deserve plenty of their own criticism for their play of late, but I mostly put this on Mitch. I stan for Fox, but I would not have wanted to trade for him if we were just going to turn him into an off-ball SG with occasional ball handling duties. Likewise, I don't really care for a turnover prone Castle going full Kobe on us game after game. I do not know the rationale behind doing this, but it's apparent it is our gameplan and I hate it. Please Mitch, make it stop.
- I also do not for the life of me understand Wemby's minutes pattern here. I don't think Wemby is on "minutes restriction" in the sense that the medical staff is saying he can't play over X minutes... I think Mitch has made a coaching decision to play him only 26-28 minutes. There are times when Wemby looks like he could use a breather, and that makes sense, but it still doesn't explain Wemby's rotations. The first quarter rotation of pulling him after 4 minutes then putting him back in at 2 minutes makes no sense to me. Then we played him almost the entire 3rd quarter and then a long stint to start the 4th, necessitating a quick breather late into the 4th... what the hell is this? If he can play almost an entire quarter, the 4th should be the one to do that. I just hate what they are doing with these rotations and they completely ruin the flow.
- With that said, it is clear that Mitch likely feels he is a little short on options right now missing Devin, getting zero from Barnes, and not being able to rely on Sochan, Bryant or Olynyk. He very likely feels he has one arm tied behind his back and I can't blame him for that. Dear Brian Wright: your head coach is sending you explicitly clear signals that he wants more options at the end of the bench. It is absolute managerial malpractice to have a team with the Top 3 record but have an entire third of your bench (Sochan, Bryant, Biyombo, JMac, Olynyk) who the coach clearly feels are unplayable in most situations. Absolutely unacceptable.
- @LeBowen - Scheduled loss. At least Castle and Harper showed signs of life...unlike Barnes.
