guys, keep arguing hypothetically if you want. But any player we would have acquired WOULD HAVE PLAYED MEANINGFUL MINUTES THIS YEAR. If the return to health brought a logjam with it, then you move pieces for different ones or picks.
In other words, the presence of injuries FURTHER PROVES that cakk bakking was stupid.
The amount of injuries we've dealt with is highly unusual this season-- no other NBA team has had to deal with this many injuries across the squad.
Using this season as a precedent for injury insurance isn't wise IMO because rarely will a roster be this deficient. Not only that-- but Alec's injury hasn't even been that detrimental to wing production. Not at all. Our wings have been fine. It's been Derrick's, and Rudy's injuries that have butt-****ed us-- and most of the anti-CBs weren't clamouring for players that backed up their positions. So there's something to consider.
Your anti-cake baking largely hinged on playing Alec most of his minutes at the 1, which some were adamantly against (myself included-- I wanted him to play 20 at the 2 and 10 at the 1). I still don't see us being a contending team with him there.
Accordingly, you would have a logjam at the wing, which was a position of strength for us. Hood and Hayward are very deserving of starters minutes, and even Alec's absence hasn't made our wings ineffective. The problem on offense continues to be consistent PG play. The problem on defense was only injuries.
Advocating for cake-baking is an acknowledgement of this strength. There isn't a need to target a FA to a big contract because we didn't need one, and we don't need to make a ring-run this particular year. If we just sit tight and focus on meaningful growth for one more year, it'll maximize our chances next year, and for the years to come.
And it shows. Trey Lyles has benefitted from cake-baking. Trey Burke has acclaimed some trade value. Favors has shown improvements on offense, particularly at the 4. Hood and Hayward basically performed as expected, while Alec has more or less become the the third fiddle in the wing rotation.
We have a better idea of our squad than we did several months ago, and it makes our future that much brighter because of it.
All of us want this team to make the playoffs-- but I'm willing to accept the 8th seed this year if we get the 3rd seed next year. That's what it's all about.
