Next Season

[esel1000]

Disagree. If this year's team couldn't win a championship, then why would we bring back the same team next year?

Because this year's team was not the team that fell in Game 7.  We did not have Avery Bradley, Jeff Green, or Chris Wilcox.  All of these players would have received significant minutes in the playoffs, and you could make the case that we would have won with Avery Bradley.

you could also argue that with all of those guys if the Bulls were fully healthy we wouldnt have made it out of the 2nd round again, and if Bosh was healthy we wouldnt have gone 7 games with the Heat. Look injuries are part of the equation, forget this "if we had these guys" stuff, sure we would better but no one was 100% this year and guys could be injured next year as well.

  Do you just ignore injuries though? Should we have broken up the team in 2009 because we barely escaped the first round when KG was out?

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That's completely different, that wasn't year 6 of a 3 year plan. We can't expect these guys as the main core to get us through an entire season and playoff series without injury or fatigue thats just irrational. I'm as impressed as everyone with what they did this year but the entire big 3 was injured by then end (even kg he's had hip flexor problems but fights through it). Its father time, the NBA is a rigorous season and playoffs and its tough for guys as they get older.  I understand the FA pool is dry and im all for keeping paul and kg for a lower contract but we need to at least make some changes and it needs to be a transition year to next year when the FA pool is huge. We don't even know if kg retires or not at this point... the smart idea is to keep 1 or 2 of the big 3 and use them to train the future core of this team.

[esel1000]

^ no clue why my post merged with the quote...

[st.jimmy222]

Let Ray go, but keep the rest of the band together. The lineup at the end of the season with Rondo and Bradley in the backcourt was killing people. Keep Pierce and KG in the starting lineup but limit their minutes to no more than 28 per game by resigning Green and Wilcox to back them up.

No reason this team can't contend again next year with some fresh legs, Jeff Green in the mix, and a little luck on the injury front. The following year, when KG and PP retire, use the cap space for Dwight Howard and Josh Smith to team up with Rondo and for the most fun, fast breaking (worst free-throw shooting) team in the League.

"(worst free-throw shooting) team in the League." lol'd hard when i read this