Quote:
Originally Posted by dude1394
Gooden's inability to be a true center was a huge reason for the defense stinking it up. This IS a veteran team and veteran teams know when they aren't good enough, they were not good enough and they began to play like it imo.
I believe they were also sort of waiting for josh to assert himself and when he didn't they knew that they were toast.
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Correct. At the beginning of the season, I was of the opinion that if we had EVERYONE healthy, we MIGHT be able to challenge Denver, but most certainly not the Lakers. Given the fact that we never really had Josh, and Damp has been injured the last 3 months, what do you expect? They got deflated, de-energized, and embarrassed a few times. We needed a change. We got that, along with a shit ton of "toughness" in Butler/Haywood/Stevenson. I think that, once we get Butler/Damp/Thomas back, we will be one of the most dangerous teams in the league, and will have the size, length, athleticism, toughness, defense, and offense to match up with anyone, except possibly the Lakers and Cavs.
The only problem I foresee is at backup PG. I don't think JJB is gonna cut it, nor do I think Roddy will get enough time to develop enough to be a consistent threat in the playoffs, against tough, nasty defensive teams. Ergo, I'm hoping come playoff time Kidd can play around 43mpg....I don't trust anyone else on this team at the 1 at this point.