Regarding trades, definitely would be tough. Morris and Luke are still probably net negative or neutral contracts. Zu and Mann probably contribute more to this team than they would fetch on the open market. Bled as basically an expiring contract, is a nice usable piece to match salaries, but value is probably pretty much zero. Maybe you could trade him for Davis Bertans? try and get Ricky Rubio and his bird rights?

I feel like Serge has the best name recognition and reputation which could bring something back, but still depends on (1) how he feels about staying on this team and his relationship with Kawhi, and (2) how little other GMs have watch him play this season.

I really think this team is still good enough to win games without their stars, but that still might require the rest of the roster being pretty healthy. Even missing a few key bench pieces like Kennard and Hartenstein might be too much to overcome, especially against the other good teams in the league. I said it a few games ago, and even more now, it’s getting pretty glaring how bad this team is missing their 15th man in Hartenstein. He really was the engine that propelled the bench.

Still haven’t won a game in the Crypto.com arena. Already can’t wait to leave this building, haha.

Lue kept mentioning the lack of physicality on the post game session constantly. You hear that guys? He’s calling you soft. If you’re gonna continue to give poor effort especially at home, your sorry asses should be sent to the G league. In fact, give up your paychecks to refund the hard working people who were actually present at the game because these people deserve better.

It’s hard to expect too much out of this team when guys are being put into different roles they haven’t played before and lineups are fluctuating day to day and week to week.

This is the same predicament for pretty much every team in the league though. Hell, even the Grizzlies today didn’t have Ja, Steven Adams, or Dillon Brooks. I’m not expecting domination or like a long winning streak, but I don’t think “effort, and not getting consistently blown out by teams we should be competitive against” is too much to ask.

The two biggest problems I see from the offense are:

1. We’re super iso-heavy – 80% of the “set” plays we run are “pass the ball to Reggie or MM and see if they can make something happen.” MM is probably the best 1-on-1 guy we have available right now, but remember how awful that Knicks team was when MM was their best player? We’re probably a hair better than that right now. Ty Lue’s gotta figure out a way to get guys moving off-ball and cutting to the basket…unfortunately I don’t think that’s something we can install on the fly mid-season – especially w/ injuries and H/S protocols kneecapping us.

2. The team is super TO happy somehow, despite being iso-heavy. I don’t understand how tf we turn the ball over so much when we aren’t even running a pass-heavy offensive system. It just looks like lazy, ugly, careless passes out there.

Unfortunately, I don’t know what the fix is for this team. PG13 and Kawhi aren’t coming back anytime soon, and at this rate it won’t even be worth it for them to rush back. Also, even if the team is open to trading some combination of Serge, Bledsoe, Luke, Mann, and/or Zu (those guys are our best assets), who could we even get back? John Wall and his fragile knees? Eric Gordon and his traffic cone defense? Our pupu platter ain’t bringing in Ben Simmons. I hate to be so negative (I try to be Team O as much as possible), but it’s hard for me to see a way outta this funk. I guess the only silver lining is that Boston and KJ are getting some experience (even though neither of them is ready yet).