Aron Baynes has broken hand

[bdm860]

Broke it reaching in between Kyrie and Sun player at 10:32 mark in 1st quarter

That's what it looks like to me, but it's hard to really tell, because I don't really see anything happen.

But at about 10:30 you see him wince, look at his left hand, not hustle down court.

But then the next play down, about 10:14, he's using that left hand to defend Ayton, even grabs Ayton's elbow with that hand at 10:11.   Doesn't seem like something you'd do with a broken hand...

Then as they go to timeout after his dunk (which was with his right hand) you see Baynes squeezing his left hand.

https://streamable.com/3la2z

[footey]

Don't take this the wrong way, I like Baynes in limited situations, but...

Losing him for a long stretch will benefit this team by year end. It will force feed more minutes to Williams. Williams will have to get up to speed faster, including on defensive rotations. Will force Brad to figure out ways to take better advantage on offense.

By season's end, I am hopeful that Williams can give us an edge on interior defense, rebounding, shot blocking (which leads to more easy buckets usually).

[RockinRyA]

Speedy recovery to Baynes....

Two words
Time lord

I’m a huge fan of Timelord but let’s be honest he’s got plenty of improving to do. Love the flashy dunks and blocks but I think he needs to do a better job defending the pick and roll and just switching in general. Hes offensively limited but we don’t need him to score, we need him for defense and to get boards for us. Obviously the more he plays the more comfortable he will be in the teams defensive schemes and his effort is first class.

This will be a baptism of fire defending the rim against Giannis on friday though

He is a rookie, not a seasoned vet

He knows that and his statement has that in mind.

"I think he needs to do a better job defending the pick and roll and just switching in general"
Why not just say he needs to improve every aspect of his game? this is meaningless to say about a rookie

Its not meaningless. Its what's keeping him from being serviceable right now and I agree. If he can do that, it's okay if the rest of his game come along slowly.