this will probably seem crazy but brad needs to do something radical to awaken this team. small lineup tweaks, team meetings, second half benchings, etc. have not had the desired effect. to really shake things up, i would try the following immediately:
starting lineup
kyrie (obvious)
smart (defense, toughness)
hayward (facilitator)
al (better at the four)
williams (rebounding, rim protection, energy)
backups
terry
tatum
brown
morris
theis/baynes
the second team lineup would allow most of last year’s late playoff team to reunite, possibly rekindling the chemistry they found. this would also serve to humble guys like tatum & brown, who may have been given too much too soon, leading to their entitlement & lack of consistent effort. hopefully, this lights a fire & teaches them they need to play hard every night.
if the first team struggles with scoring (a real possibility), hayward & morris can be switched.
admittedly, it’s a bit extreme but it can’t be worse than the current lineups. barring a trade, which seems unlikely, this team needs a major shakeup.