Smart out up to two rounds!

[CelticSooner]

As long as it means more minutes for Hayward, I'm cool with it.

If our chances in the playoffs come down to Marcus Smart, this roster was a giant failure anyways.

I love Smart but I agree. Hayward is the X factor for a deep playoff run this season.

[Ogaju]

I know people have kind of perfected burying their heads in the sand when it has come to Stevens' shortcomings, but, man, how you can rationalize this one away is beyond me, Pho. This is literal harm with no benefit coming from Stevens' poor decision-making, yet somehow it's not his fault? Give me a break.

I guess I just don't agree with the idea that the team should rest every single important rotation player once seeding is determined.

I mean, Smart is important but he's arguably the 4th or 5th most talented player on the team.  Brad had to play somebody.


Also I tend to think that Brad's ability to simply say "All of you guys are sitting tonight" is hampered by the players themselves wanting to play.  Knowing that he was going to sit basically the whole team minus Jaylen and Terry in the season finale, it's hard to imagine Brad getting all the guys to agree to sit out Sunday as well.


And the fact remains that this is the sort of injury that could happen anytime.

Why does it bother you so much more that it happened at some point in a relatively meaningless game against Orlando as opposed to happening during the blowout against Indiana, or during the first few minutes of the first game of round 1?


Is an injury only acceptable if it occurs during a part of the game that was "meaningful"?  Does it matter if the play in question was one that did or did not affect the outcome of the game?


Shoot, Smart has injured himself tons of times by risking his body for loose balls and the like even when the play wouldn't really make a big difference and the game wasn't that important.


In fact, I seem to recall that Smart was injured heading into the playoffs last year because of something just like that.



This is part of the Marcus Smart experience.  He's going to get some wear and tear injuries related to his style of play, and it could happen anytime. 


I don't put it on Brad to prevent that stuff.

the  bolded part is why you sit Smart for   the playoffs when the playoff seeding has been determined. It is the reason QBs get yellow shirts in practice.

[gpap]

I know people have kind of perfected burying their heads in the sand when it has come to Stevens' shortcomings, but, man, how you can rationalize this one away is beyond me, Pho. This is literal harm with no benefit coming from Stevens' poor decision-making, yet somehow it's not his fault? Give me a break.

I guess I just don't agree with the idea that the team should rest every single important rotation player once seeding is determined.

I mean, Smart is important but he's arguably the 4th or 5th most talented player on the team.  Brad had to play somebody.


Also I tend to think that Brad's ability to simply say "All of you guys are sitting tonight" is hampered by the players themselves wanting to play.  Knowing that he was going to sit basically the whole team minus Jaylen and Terry in the season finale, it's hard to imagine Brad getting all the guys to agree to sit out Sunday as well.


And the fact remains that this is the sort of injury that could happen anytime.

Why does it bother you so much more that it happened at some point in a relatively meaningless game against Orlando as opposed to happening during the blowout against Indiana, or during the first few minutes of the first game of round 1?


Is an injury only acceptable if it occurs during a part of the game that was "meaningful"?  Does it matter if the play in question was one that did or did not affect the outcome of the game?


Shoot, Smart has injured himself tons of times by risking his body for loose balls and the like even when the play wouldn't really make a big difference and the game wasn't that important.


In fact, I seem to recall that Smart was injured heading into the playoffs last year because of something just like that.



This is part of the Marcus Smart experience.  He's going to get some wear and tear injuries related to his style of play, and it could happen anytime. 


I don't put it on Brad to prevent that stuff.

Derrick Rose suffered that serious knee injury in game 1 of the 1st round of the playoffs back in 2012 which led to 2nd seed Chicago getting eliminated by 7th seed Philly.

Injuries can happen at any moment.

[Silky]

Losing smart hurts.

He is the defensive heart of this team.

Love this guy.

[LarBrd33]

As long as it means more minutes for Hayward, I'm cool with it.

If our chances in the playoffs come down to Marcus Smart, this roster was a giant failure anyways.

I mean, if the team was actually going to go on a deep playoff run, Smart is exactly the kind of key role player you need to make big plays in close games.


Didn't the Warriors' chances in 2015 come down to Andre Iguodala?

Our Iguodala is supposed to be Jaylen Brown.

This team has had "too many guys syndrome" all year.

If we can't win a couple playoff rounds with Kyrie, Hayward, Tatum and Horford - we need to clean house.

[Who]

Good opportunity for Rozier. He can get the backup minutes he needs now with Smart out of the way. Good opportunity for Jaylen too. No longer the 20-25mpg bench guy. He is the C's top perimeter defender now. Good opportunity for Hayward to play more and be more involved too.

Not worried about losing Smart. He is a loss but C's have the quality depth on the perimeter to survive and even excel without him.

[ozgod]

Terrible news but we should have the depth to cover for him. I'm not ready to slit wrists quite yet. Same attitude as last year, we lost Gordon at the start of the season and then Kyrie just before the playoffs, then lost Brown for a couple of games during the playoffs. Next man up. Just have to collectively do what Smart does defensively to lock down opposition players.

We're not the only team dealing with injuries...the Bucks have a couple of players missing too and obviously Indiana is missing Dipo. We can handle this. We're not a one man team.

[LarBrd33]

Good opportunity for Rozier.

It better not be.  I want Jaylen and Hayward to eat all those minutes.

[Sophomore]

Good opportunity for Rozier. He can get the backup minutes he needs now with Smart out of the way. Good opportunity for Jaylen too. No longer the 20-25mpg bench guy. He is the C's top perimeter defender now. Good opportunity for Hayward to play more and be more involved too.

Not worried about losing Smart. He is a loss but C's have the quality depth on the perimeter to survive and even excel without him.

I hope you are right about Rozier. I was hoping (if Smart was healthy) he’d fall out of the rotation entirely.

[blink]

Well this is bad news.  Smart is the glue guy that every team needs to win tough playoff games.  It doesn't mean we can't still win them, but you know that they guys from Indy and Milw are happy not to have Smart pestering them the whole series.  Next man up.  I am torn on who should go into the starting lineup between Brown and Gordon.  I tend to think Brown because he becomes more of the wing def stopper now that Smart is gone.   

Get well soon Marcus.  That last update of 4-6 weeks makes it feel like he is done for the year unless we make the finals.

[gpap]

Good opportunity for Rozier. He can get the backup minutes he needs now with Smart out of the way. Good opportunity for Jaylen too. No longer the 20-25mpg bench guy. He is the C's top perimeter defender now. Good opportunity for Hayward to play more and be more involved too.

Not worried about losing Smart. He is a loss but C's have the quality depth on the perimeter to survive and even excel without him.

The last thing I want to see is more Terry Rozier but I guess we don't have much of a choice in the matter.

[gpap]

Well this is bad news.  Smart is the glue guy that every team needs to win tough playoff games.  It doesn't mean we can't still win them, but you know that they guys from Indy and Milw are happy not to have Smart pestering them the whole series.  Next man up.  I am torn on who should go into the starting lineup between Brown and Gordon.  I tend to think Brown because he becomes more of the wing def stopper now that Smart is gone.   

Get well soon Marcus.  That last update of 4-6 weeks makes it feel like he is done for the year unless we make the finals.

I'd definitely go with Brown. He's a better defender and has more length to defend Bogdanovic and then Giannis, if we make it to the 2nd round.

[PhoSita]

As long as it means more minutes for Hayward, I'm cool with it.

If our chances in the playoffs come down to Marcus Smart, this roster was a giant failure anyways.

I mean, if the team was actually going to go on a deep playoff run, Smart is exactly the kind of key role player you need to make big plays in close games.


Didn't the Warriors' chances in 2015 come down to Andre Iguodala?

Our Iguodala is supposed to be Jaylen Brown.

This team has had "too many guys syndrome" all year.

If we can't win a couple playoff rounds with Kyrie, Hayward, Tatum and Horford - we need to clean house.

I mean, seems like that's already kinda been determined, no?


Smart is much more significant to winning tough games than Jaylen at this point in their careers.

[PhoSita]

Good opportunity for Rozier. He can get the backup minutes he needs now with Smart out of the way. Good opportunity for Jaylen too. No longer the 20-25mpg bench guy. He is the C's top perimeter defender now. Good opportunity for Hayward to play more and be more involved too.

Not worried about losing Smart. He is a loss but C's have the quality depth on the perimeter to survive and even excel without him.

Yuuuuuck it hadn't even hit me yet that this means a lot of minutes for Terry.

Good God.

[LarBrd33]

As long as it means more minutes for Hayward, I'm cool with it.

If our chances in the playoffs come down to Marcus Smart, this roster was a giant failure anyways.

I mean, if the team was actually going to go on a deep playoff run, Smart is exactly the kind of key role player you need to make big plays in close games.


Didn't the Warriors' chances in 2015 come down to Andre Iguodala?

Our Iguodala is supposed to be Jaylen Brown.

This team has had "too many guys syndrome" all year.

If we can't win a couple playoff rounds with Kyrie, Hayward, Tatum and Horford - we need to clean house.

I mean, seems like that's already kinda been determined, no?

Not really.  Too many [dang] players.  There's evidence that suggests we're better when less guys play.  11-3 without Kyrie.  8-0 without Jaylen.   Won our first 6 without Horford.  I'm fine with Smart sitting if it means we have an easier time of managing this mess.