7 of Pels' 12 losses have been in games after leading by double digits, including the abysmal Grizz game in which Willie watched dumbfounded as Ja--in his first game back, and with an injury ravaged team--got to the rim over and over and over.
Willie's poor offensive scheming (or the failure to get the players to adhere to the schemes), lack of in-game adjustments, and refusal play Trey (sufficiently) and Hawk (at all), has nullified the Pels' many advantages, and drags a talented roster and its fans into mediocrity, once again. I guess we should be used to it by now, having only won two playoff series in 20 years.
Finally, as you note, the advanced stats are SCREAMING for Trey. He led the team in win shares last year, while being 10th in usage percentage. He also led the team in VORP, and in FG added and TS added, with 50% more than second place in both categories.
Do you believe there’s a drastic difference in Trey starting vs Trey closing games? Like does Trey starting change dynamics of the game that much? Curious
Yeah I think the most successful teams play their best players together as much a possible. The Spurs model with Manu is an outlier. When it comes to shooting and Trey's specific skillset, that needs to be welded together next to Zion (and BI). Manu was a high usage creator so that definitely created different opportunities. But the goal should be the make the game easy for Zion at all times. Including getting off to good starts. Needless to say, they need the same skillsets in crunch time too.
So knowing Willie and the rest of the staff, do you see a change coming soon, soon as in the next month or so. I see they truly value defense but has it gone too far in one direction, hence Trey getting benched which I assume was mainly for defense purposes and Hawkins getting DNP prior to what looked like he was on his way to break rookie shooting records.
I’m also optimistic by nature, so I wonder if a collapse like that on national tv plus the clear outcry from fans over the Trey situation is something that needed to happen for the greater good of the team. Fingers crossed 🤞🏾
I generally think Willie and staff have been much more responsive this year than in the past. The stuff they did early season with Hawk and Matt Ryan was unprecedented for them, so I think they should go back to a similar thought process.
Great insight as always man! My only question is…..is it too late to change?
Definitely not too late. It's only been 8 games since Trey has returned. Huge part of the season left to leave this issue in the rearview.
7 of Pels' 12 losses have been in games after leading by double digits, including the abysmal Grizz game in which Willie watched dumbfounded as Ja--in his first game back, and with an injury ravaged team--got to the rim over and over and over.
Willie's poor offensive scheming (or the failure to get the players to adhere to the schemes), lack of in-game adjustments, and refusal play Trey (sufficiently) and Hawk (at all), has nullified the Pels' many advantages, and drags a talented roster and its fans into mediocrity, once again. I guess we should be used to it by now, having only won two playoff series in 20 years.
Finally, as you note, the advanced stats are SCREAMING for Trey. He led the team in win shares last year, while being 10th in usage percentage. He also led the team in VORP, and in FG added and TS added, with 50% more than second place in both categories.
I’m curious how much say or input Borrego has. He was brought on to be the offensive guy and change things up.
Seems to me Borrego's influence was on full display when Matt Ryan was healthy
Do you believe there’s a drastic difference in Trey starting vs Trey closing games? Like does Trey starting change dynamics of the game that much? Curious
Yeah I think the most successful teams play their best players together as much a possible. The Spurs model with Manu is an outlier. When it comes to shooting and Trey's specific skillset, that needs to be welded together next to Zion (and BI). Manu was a high usage creator so that definitely created different opportunities. But the goal should be the make the game easy for Zion at all times. Including getting off to good starts. Needless to say, they need the same skillsets in crunch time too.
So knowing Willie and the rest of the staff, do you see a change coming soon, soon as in the next month or so. I see they truly value defense but has it gone too far in one direction, hence Trey getting benched which I assume was mainly for defense purposes and Hawkins getting DNP prior to what looked like he was on his way to break rookie shooting records.
I’m also optimistic by nature, so I wonder if a collapse like that on national tv plus the clear outcry from fans over the Trey situation is something that needed to happen for the greater good of the team. Fingers crossed 🤞🏾
I generally think Willie and staff have been much more responsive this year than in the past. The stuff they did early season with Hawk and Matt Ryan was unprecedented for them, so I think they should go back to a similar thought process.