Baynes was -16 in just under 9 minutes of action against the Blazers. It isn't like he did much of anything when he was on the floor except let the Blazers score at will. He was better against the Jazz, but it isn't like Gobert's 17/15 isn't inline with his season averages.
I don't think those numbers really tell a useful story.
The problem we have had with size is a two-big-body problem that we currently keep throwing one big body at.
Basically, what teams have been doing to us is looking to see if Horford plays to switch or double on the ball-handler. In our typical 'small' configuration, with only one big on the floor, that means that an undersized SG/SF-sized guy has to pick up the roller, who is (lately) typically a seven footer. That's the mismatch that teams are exploiting of late. Alternatively, if Al doesn't switch, then our guard has to fight through or under the pick to stay on the handler. That creates a big advantage for the handler. Hence we've been getting killed alternatively by either rolling bigs or quick scoring guards.
When Horford has been on the floor this season, it hasn't been with baynes. Horford has played only 3.5% of his total minutes with Baynes (and only two possessions with Theis, just 7 possessions with Williams and none with Yabusele) this season. That means that our "PF" this year with Horford has primarily been fulfilled by one of our various wings.
Similarly, Baynes has shared the floor with Horford on only 10.3% of his own minutes and none with Theis, Yabusele or Williams.
In other words, we are playing almost exclusively with just one 'true big' on the floor at a time. And that's been true for Baynes and Theis (just 10.4% of his possessions have been with another big on the floor) as well as Horford. For good or bad, Brad has gone all-in on playing with just one big on the floor the vast majority of the time.
So, when you cite that the team played poorly with Baynes on the floor in the last game, that isn't really addressing what folks in this thread are calling for.
Because what they are suggesting is that we try playing both Baynes and Horford on the floor at the same time.
Shocking thought, I know.
It's only something that worked really, really, really well all last season!!!!
And this isn't about just how good Aron Baynes is or not. One doesn't have to claim he's an all-star to see the reality that playing him WITH Al works really well. Al Horford has played soooo much better for us since he came here when he's been able to play the 4, with a true big man sharing the floor with him.
Last year, Al played about 43% of his minutes at the 4. And his differential PER at the 4 was +2.0 compared to at the 5. The team was a +10.6 with Al & Aron up front as opposed to +8.0 with Al as the only big.
So far, this year's strategy of playing almost exclusively with only one 'true big' on the floor is getting mixed results. We started off strong on defense, but lately, teams with size seem to be picking on it using pick & roll in a very targeted fashion. A lot of that would be neutralized if the small lineup were to return some of the offensive benefits that it is supposed to. But for a variety of reasons the team has gotten off to a truly horrendous start offensively.