Lonnie Walker AND a depth PF/C addition via trade (Springer + 2nd round pick(s))
If you want to go all-in and try for Banner 19 and compete with CLE/OKC, this HAS to happen.
Gonna be honest, watching that CLE-OKC game today and also factoring in our 2nd half vs. OKC, idk if we're really at their level this year. OKC is missing Chet + Caruso too.
It's worth remembering that while OKC and CLE are rolling over everyone else, when it comes to the playoffs, it's a 7 game series against us. Then it becomes less about how good they were thrashing whichever teams they've been thrashing and more about matchups against us. Here's the results of the 2 games we had vs CLE and 1 vs OKC.
- Game 1: BOS (H) 120 def CLE (A) 117 - 65-48 at halftime, we took our foot off the gas in the 3rd but held them out for a win by 3 pts
- Game 2: CLE (H) 115 def BOS (A) 111 - no White or Jaylen, they shot 47% from 3, we led by 10 at the end of the 3rd but a Mitchell barrage from 3 beat us by 4 pts
- Game 3: OKC 105 (H) def BOS (A) 92 - we led 65-55 at halftime but scored 27 pts the entire 2nd half, including 12 in the last quarter, where they shot 42% from 3 (16-of-38 for 48 pts) vs us 19% (9 of 46 for 27 points). That's a 21 point disparity in the shot margin right there, and we lost by 13.
Obviously of the games we lost we deserved to lose, you shoot 19% from 3 in an NBA game, nevermind the volume we take, you're not going to win...and with CLE we lost by 4 where Mitchell 4 or 4 from 3 in the 4th along with a dagger from that kid Merrill. But I didn't feel we were not at their level, there were reasons why we lost those games in terms of poor execution or players on the other team played above themselves...but I didn't walk away thinking "these guys can't be beat, they're too good for us, we played our absolute best against them and they had our measure, we have no answers for them".
I actually think we match up pretty well against Cleveland, more so than against OKC, but we have the bodies to throw against Cleveland's double big lineup, which a lot of other teams don't, which is why they dominate paint scoring and rebounding when you look at the advanced metrics. And we have wings to defend theirs, which again other teams don't have. So I would back us in a 7 game series against them, but they would probably roll over some other teams in the NBA easier than we might.
As for OKC, Shai is definitely a handful. But how often will we shoot 19% against them? At least 4 times in a 7 game series? We let their bench shoot 7-14 from 3 against us, I guess that's how other teams feel when Hauser and Pritchard let loose against them
No doubt those teams have displayed a level of consistency in effort and execution beyond what we have so far this season, against all their opponents, even the crappy ones - and the results reflect it. They deserve to have a better W-L than us. Possibly they feel they have more to prove to themselves, their fans and the league at this point of the season than our team does. But I'm not prepared to concede anything to them yet, I think playoffs come it's going to be a different story in terms of matchups and execution
