Ainge needs to start drafting 6'8" players

[SHAQATTACK]

Actually Turner did a pretty good job on George.

But the big problem last night was Smart. He is injured and should not have been playing.

Yup.....he was NOT himself at all.

I could see from the get go ...he wasn't ready

You have really stay on top of guys like Smart concerning their injuries ......his mindset is not of laying down and resting . 

[CelticGuardian]

I agree that evaluating talent doesn't seem to be DA's best skillset, though he doesn't do as bad as say Kings GMs who had lottery pick after lottery pick being bust after bust (Cousins the one clear exception) He needs to get some guys that can recognize talent, maybe steal a scout from the Thunder?

[Tr1boy]

 I'm not talking about players like Sullinger. We have nobody that can match up against George, Smart on him was in insult. Crowder is about 6'5" tops.
 Smart, Bradley, Rozier, Thomas are all 6'2" and under. Hunter is tall and long and I like that but he can't guard three's. Not yet anyway.

 We need a 6'7" to 6'9" wing that's a stud to match up with these freaks in the NBA

Jordan mickey could guard George. If he ever gets activated

[PhoSita]

I agree that above average size and athleticism is sorely lacking on this team, especially on the wing.

[PhoSita]

 I'm not talking about players like Sullinger. We have nobody that can match up against George, Smart on him was in insult. Crowder is about 6'5" tops.
 Smart, Bradley, Rozier, Thomas are all 6'2" and under. Hunter is tall and long and I like that but he can't guard three's. Not yet anyway.

 We need a 6'7" to 6'9" wing that's a stud to match up with these freaks in the NBA

Jordan mickey could guard George. If he ever gets activated

I think he could cure cancer, too, if given the opportunity.

Free Mickey!

[tarheelsxxiii]

 I'm not talking about players like Sullinger. We have nobody that can match up against George, Smart on him was in insult. Crowder is about 6'5" tops.
 Smart, Bradley, Rozier, Thomas are all 6'2" and under. Hunter is tall and long and I like that but he can't guard three's. Not yet anyway.

 We need a 6'7" to 6'9" wing that's a stud to match up with these freaks in the NBA

Jordan mickey could guard George. If he ever gets activated

I think he could cure cancer, too, if given the opportunity.

Free Mickey!

You're on fire today. "I agree with PhoSita" is trending -- merge all to one thread?

[Alleyoopster]

Actually Turner did a pretty good job on George.

But the big problem last night was Smart. He is injured and should not have been playing.

Yup.....he was NOT himself at all.

I could see from the get go ...he wasn't ready

You have really stay on top of guys like Smart concerning their injuries ......his mindset is not of laying down and resting .

Last year Isaiah, Marcus and Jared all came back too soon from their injuries. It was obvious to anyone watching these games that they were still hurtin'.

Stevens needs to recognize that just because a player is medically cleared to play doesn't mean he has to play them. If a player's ego gets bruised, it's better than furthering the injury and/or impeding the success of the team. 

Last night Marcus was obviously not comfortable and would have been better off waiting to heal up right.   

[Tr1boy]

 I'm not talking about players like Sullinger. We have nobody that can match up against George, Smart on him was in insult. Crowder is about 6'5" tops.
 Smart, Bradley, Rozier, Thomas are all 6'2" and under. Hunter is tall and long and I like that but he can't guard three's. Not yet anyway.

 We need a 6'7" to 6'9" wing that's a stud to match up with these freaks in the NBA

Jordan mickey could guard George. If he ever gets activated

I think he could cure cancer, too, if given the opportunity.

Free Mickey!

You got issues lol

BTW yes mickey can guard him

You will see how good of a defender he is when he gets activated. Prob block 7 tonight down in the d league

[LooseCannon]

I think Ainge still needs to go with best player available next June.

[KG Living Legend]

The Warrior's prove my point as well. Although not all 6'8" they start three guys that are close. Draymond Green is the shortest but he's almost 7'2" I reckon with his wingspan, great defender can switch on anyone.
 Thompson is listed at 6'7" usually. Big off guard. And Barnes is a legit 6'8". With almost a 40" vertical.
 On top of that they showcase the new best player in the world. Steph Curry. And a Defensive precense with Ezil. What a team. Could be the best ever. It's up to them.

[KG Living Legend]

And I forgot About Iggy, who's about 6'7" he comes off the bench and even he's way better than anything we can throw out there. Sigh.

[crimson_stallion]

 I'm not talking about players like Sullinger. We have nobody that can match up against George, Smart on him was in insult. Crowder is about 6'5" tops.
 Smart, Bradley, Rozier, Thomas are all 6'2" and under. Hunter is tall and long and I like that but he can't guard three's. Not yet anyway.

 We need a 6'7" to 6'9" wing that's a stud to match up with these freaks in the NBA

A few corrections.

1) Crowder is 6'6"
2) Smart is 6'3" - 6'4"
3) Bradley is 6'3"

Also Bradley did a great job on George in the first game against Indiana, we just got killed.

Anyway we had a guy who met your description - his name was Jeff Green.  He routinely shut down guys like Paul George.  Unfortunately he also had a Real Plus Minus of something like -3.5 and seemed to overall hurt us more than he helped us.

To be honest I don't think we are too badly equipped, with both Crowder and Turner out there.  I also think Hunter could have probably done a decent job on George (thanks to his 6'6" height and 6'10" wingspan) if he was on him more.  Surprisingly I wouldn't even have minded trying Mickey on him (6'8', 7'4" wingspan). 

Honestly, we could have had that game if we didn't have (what felt like) about 12 turnovers in the 4th quarter.  Seriously, it felt like we had unforced turnovers on 2 in every 3 possessions over the past 5 minutes. 

It felt to me like Boston had a turnover or two just as Indiana were going on a run, then the team kinda got anxious, gave up on the "team" thing, and started trying to force things way too much.  Sully let at least two passes slip straight through his hands, Thomas lost the ball on a couple of possessions, Crowder got way too overzealous and started driving wildly (and out of control) to the basket - we just turned into an absolute mess.

I think that not having Bradley really hurts - his defense and perimeter shooting has been so important to us this year, and while we can kinda scrape by without him, I think we are a much worse team without that devastating Smart/Bradley defensive combo. 

Don't get me wrong I would never complain about having a big wing (part of the reason I've been all for going after Derozan / Thaddeus young to replace Crowder) but I don't think it's something we NEED so much as just something that would be nice to have.

[crimson_stallion]

Actually Turner did a pretty good job on George.

But the big problem last night was Smart. He is injured and should not have been playing.

Yup.....he was NOT himself at all.

I could see from the get go ...he wasn't ready

You have really stay on top of guys like Smart concerning their injuries ......his mindset is not of laying down and resting .

Last year Isaiah, Marcus and Jared all came back too soon from their injuries. It was obvious to anyone watching these games that they were still hurtin'.

Stevens needs to recognize that just because a player is medically cleared to play doesn't mean he has to play them. If a player's ego gets bruised, it's better than furthering the injury and/or impeding the success of the team. 

Especially on a team like this. 

It's early in the season, we are a young team, and we have a ton of depth.  We can afford to rest guys an extra week if we need to, even if it means dropping one or two games in the process. 

While we surely want to win as much as possible, it's not worth taking the risk of worsening an injury just to fight out an extra couple of wins - especially since playing injured guys doesn't necessarily mean you'll get those wins.

That said Bradley was out, and with both he and Smart out we would have been pretty thin on the perimeter.  We'd basically be going with a Thomas / Turner / Rozier / Hunter rotation, which i'm actually kinda ok with in emergency situations.

[Eddie20]

 I'm not talking about players like Sullinger. We have nobody that can match up against George, Smart on him was in insult. Crowder is about 6'5" tops.
 Smart, Bradley, Rozier, Thomas are all 6'2" and under. Hunter is tall and long and I like that but he can't guard three's. Not yet anyway.

 We need a 6'7" to 6'9" wing that's a stud to match up with these freaks in the NBA

Jordan mickey could guard George. If he ever gets activated

At first I thought you were being serious than I realized it was pure sarcasm.