been saying it on this forum for years, and many here resent me for it. regardless, i’ll keep saying it: the C’s don’t win a chip with the jays as the “leaders” of this franchise. they are too soft, zero killer instinct, low bbiq, and they think they’re entitled to a championship.
tonight proved nothing has changed and the jays reminded us they have no heart or fight. russell, havlicek, heinsohn, bird, pierce, garnett, et al. would be ashamed.
it’s likely brad is wrestling with this sentiment lately.
I'm not quite as far down this road as you, but the evidence is there that there is absolutely something amiss about that pairing. As much as I love JT, he's not currently at that tier-1 level that can win you a title on his own, which I think is primarily because of a lack of that killer instinct combined with just poor overall shot selection. He gets lazy and doesn't do what it takes to win, always falling back on the bad jumpers and lazy isos. As for JB, I think he has more of a killer instinct, but his raw overall talent and BBIQ just limit him too much.
The other aspect is that they're not very complementary to each other. There's a lot of overlapping skillset and ability there, unlike a Lebron/AD, Jokic/Murray, Kobe/Shaq, etc., and that absolutely limits their impact and effectiveness.
All that said, I still think they can win it all as the two best players, and even with this group. But I think that requires better leadership from the top, which I just don't think Joe has in him. You need a coach who is going to hold these guys accountable for their play, as well as be more impactful and direct them more in games since they're just not good enough to do it themselves. Joe simply doesn't seem capable of doing that in the way that Ime did, or even someone like Nurse, Pop, Spo can. In fact, it feels like his "loosey-goosey" style and extreme three point philosophy just exacerbates their deficiencies.
So, I do think you're right in some sense about this pairing, but I don't think all hope is lost with them - they just need the right leadership and roster around them to do it.