Russ is nowhere near as bad defensively as people claim. All he needs is help defense from a big because he’s bad on-ball vs quick players or around screens – but he doesn’t give up on plays, is switchable, doesn’t get bullied, good in the passing lanes, closing out quickly/running people off the 3-point line and rebounds (though dropping off there/focusing more on stops than rebounding this year).

Same for the laughable narrative that folks watched PG and Kawhi: do you WANT Russ or Morris to take possessions away from them when they play like that? They picked their spots to contribute as scorers which is EXACTLY what they should do. I think either scored 5 in the quarter, Westbrook went an efficient 2/4 and on one of the misses PG was there for the putback (while Russ was all over the offensive board had PG missed). It doesn’t matter who scores as long as the team scores and people make the right play/take solid to good shots. The negative of Westbrook were the two turnovers in the quarter, other than that he played the way you should want him to play, especially with regards to shot selection and volume.

Instead of those bad takeaways, we should really talk more about issues like team defense or runs for opponents being massive and how to improve there. Or mention some positives as well, PG’s leadership, the team’s resilience, Gordon’s play, the rebounding…

Some get hung up on the record, individual stats or individual mistakes in a one-possession game too much. When they missed 4 guys, that was a scheduled loss. They played better competition and were competitive apart from the Warriors game. Gotta execute better, sure. But a 1-5 record isn’t representative of the team’s overall performance. Maybe Ty and MM performed worthy of 1-5. Everybody else was better, if not much better. No time to panic. I could see them get the 6th seed. Or 7th in the play-in. More important than the seeding – imo – will be health, developing chemistry and avoiding Phoenix and Golden State in the first round, then the season should be okay.

Some of that might just be the Warriors system and having specific plays for Klay, but just offensive skill wise, can’t think of a good reason why Luke can’t get up at least a few more shots per 36, even if it hurts his overall percentage by a little bit.

Making lineup adjustments will help some, but it ultimately comes down to the effort they put out.

I know some folks get mad when you say “defense is all about effort” but it really is, kind of. You still have to be smart, know the opposition, the angles, where the help is, etc. but it starts with EFFORT & energy! You have to want to play defense to be great on that end. You can’t be nonchalant on that end & expect positive results. Another issue with this team is they’ve relied on their reputation instead of the work. What’s worse about this is opposing teams don’t respect them, on either end really, so they take it to them. It doesn’t help that they’re old & slow either.

The rotation of MM defies common sense. And I do not see any FO action on Ty (so far). Creepy!!

“If” Lue maintains status quo, the team will be barbecue chicken for opposing coaches with the FO to blame (for going along with Lue). Ballmer back to square one with circa bubble Doc. Perhaps Ballmer needs put his foot down again now.