Proudiddy

And this is where I throw in the towel on Borrego. I like him, but his negative just outweigh the positives. Defense is about focus and effort and we have neither. Our guys are just going through the motions... and offensively, literally anyone from this board could "coach" what they're out there doing right now... just roll the ball out there and take turns jacking horrible shots up. This has nothing to do with our youth or injuries. They have significant injuries and are still waxing us. And youth will struggle like this when there isn't any structure, which there obviously isn't. This is so frustrating to watch.

Yup, absolutely atrocious.

I hope so, but this is a bad last image to leave with voters. I knew how this game was gonna go after we flamed out that last week of the season. I honestly wish we would've just dropped completely out of the play-in. This is humiliating... guys are just standing around on defense, throwing poo up on offense. It's just tough to watch.

And I've always liked Cody as a person, and I thought he was a solid player for most of his career... he is absolutely poo now. Can't stop anyone without getting beat up in the process, can't get rebounds, can't stretch the floor, little to no post presence, always fumbling the ball now... I just can't take it. We're down 30, put Carey in the fuging game.

Honestly, I think this showing is gonna hurt LaMelo in the ROY race too, more than if we had just not even made the play-in. This is bad.

They don't have LeVert and are playing Brogdon for the first time since April and he's still playing hurt. There is no excuse for us to look this bad. This is purely lack of effort and focus.

I told yall, Borrego is the Ron Rivera of the NBA. We look completely unprepared, unengaged, uninterested. And we look this bad and they don't even have LeVert. It's pathetic.

This is about to get really ugly.

Certainly looks like they quit a month ago.

Do you think he can keep doing it? If it's not a dunk, he has just a good of a chance to miss the shots he's taken even when open. And with both of them, the opposing center just drops into the paint or plays the ball handler on picks bc they dont respect them at all. And he just isn't dependable or consistent on offense when he can't rim run, and defensively he is a liability and gets bullied.

Imagine losing a playoff/play-in game because you let Doug Hot Dog Lips McDermott drop 50 on you.

Please just play Carey or run PJ as the center. I can't take this poo anymore. Cody and Biz fuging suck. They SUCK!

Smh, welp... this is starting out just about exactly how I anticipated.

JB seemed really upbeat and encouraged with what LaMelo did against WSH, so maybe he saw something I didnt and it carries over to tonight. He just still looked really uncomfortable shooting to me, and it just seems the wrist has taken away his confidence in driving and throwing certain passes.

I dont mean to take a complete dump on JB, and obviously the initial post came off that way in the heat of the moment after we just lost a second straight winnable game that knocked us out of 8th and down to 10th. I think all we had to do was win a game over the last week to clinch 8th, and we just couldn't do it. Again, some of JB's decisions like the rotations, who is and isn't playing on any given night, and then drawing up plays for Devontae to take the last shot instead of Terry are what frustrates me. I think he's a good coach, and I would take him every time over our previous coaches, but he is still flawed... hopefully he learns and overcomes those flaws as time goes on. But, the uncanny parallel to Rivera's teams not showing up when something was on the line is a legit issue. I understand we exceeded expectations and outperformed where many thought we would be at this point, but it was just so frustrating seeing us squander all those leads late and the offense go into a complete shell for almost the entirety of the 4th quarter over several games. I understand we had key injuries, but we have to generate offense in someway, and even with the injuries, we had enough to do that... we just didn't. FWIW, I was watching The Jump yesterday, and Matt Barnes and RJ both said they think we'll beat the Pacers and raved about us, and the BPI has us at a 51% chance to win. But, I don't think national guys saw how bad we looked down the stretch here either. Again, I'm hoping for the best, but I was extremely discouraged by what I've seen over the last month.

Agreed 100%. I hope Melo is still able to get the rookie of the year, but his play since coming back from the injury has been pretty rough... like you said, he clearly isn't playing 100%, he is still favoring the wrist and doesn't trust it. He is working it out between plays and grabbing at it throughout the game, and it obviously has affected his shot both on the floor and from the line, as well as his aggression in driving. Furthermore, as you alluded to with MJ, it has been crystal clear that teams are targeting his wrist since he came back. Every game someone has taken a hard slap or shot at his wrist on the drive. It just sucks we, as a team, flamed out so bad down the stretch because I feel just like with Chinn vs Young in the NFL, Chase ended up getting ROY because they played themselves into the spotlight down the stretch and garnered national hype, while we faltered and Chinn lost the hype nationally down the stretch, despite being the best player all season.

True, but what has made this stretch so unbearable for me is that it's not just the 4th quarter of games we folded in, it was the 4th quarter of the season. When we needed it most and when it mattered, we just fell apart.

Over the last month or so, we completely folded. And I dont want to hear any poo about Borrego being a good coach. He is our fuging basketball version of Ron Rivera. If the game is of consequence, we are fuging blowing it. We are never prepared when it matters and his rotations are still beyond mindless. We all came to justify we had to overpay for Hayward to get any B+ player to come here, and initially the returns looked good... but, here we are, as we came down the home stretch needing just to win a game or two to secure at least two playoff games, and where was he? Sitting in his fuging street clothes on the sideline, where he usually is and has been his career. Completely useless. Your best ability is availability, and he has none. We went from 4th fuging place to completely flaming out to 10th. If this had been any previous year, we would have completely been out of the playoffs altogether, but now thanks to the new play-in games, we get the opportunity to embarrass ourself on national TV and play one meaningless game and go sit home with everyone else. To say the last month has been deflating is an understatement. I understand the injuries and Miles going into protocol were tough hands to be dealt, but we had everyone back but Hayward the last two games and still lost, and today, we took a death blow from fuging Ish Smith. ISH SMITH. ISH. SMITH. It's a fuging joke, and there is absolutely no excuse for it. And I love Melo, and the wrist injury was unfortunate so I won't be too hard on him, but he definitely has not been the same player since coming back and is clearly still favoring the wrist. His shooting has went to absolute poo and it has hurt his game tremendously. Also, I'm fuging tired for PJ. How do you go from being able to score 40+ points in a game against SAC before the Allstar break, to falling off the fuging face of the Earth since. And today, in clutch moments, he was called for a travel two different times and missed two wide open threes before being benched. He is ridiculously inconsistent and unreliable, and I've had it. It's like he just doesn't give a poo... he's always laughing and poo in clutch moments like win or lose, it means nothing to him. I'm tired of dude. And finally, if we don't go all in to find a legit offensive threat of a big man this offseason with ability to at least switch on defense, I will fuging lose my poo. We have ignored the need for almost the entirety of our history since our franchise's reincarnation, and time and time again, it bites us in the ass... so, instead of addressing it, we were busy swinging deals for Brad fuging Wanamaker in an already crowded backcourt at the deadline. For all the great things Mitch has done so far, ignoring the need at the big spot has severely handicapped us and is constantly costing us games. I love Cody as a locker room guy, but he is a liability. And same for Biz, except even more so. He can't stretch the floor on offense and is unreliable near the rim as well. He is constantly getting bullied and beat up defensively. And then Biz has hands of stone on offense to the point teams don't even defend him. It is so fuging frustrating to watch. Anyway, sorry... I just had to vent. This poo has been unbearable for the last month and I'm really not seeing how we quickly turnaround from losing out on the 8th seed and a guaranteed 2 games, to 10th and facing a possibly one and done. The way we completely tanked to end the year, I just don't see how we can turn the momentum back around and for all the good we did this year, it just feels like it was all for naught. I'm hoping for the best, but expect to lose Tuesday... I just don't believe in Borrego. I like him as a person,, and don't get me wrong, he's better than any coach we've had since we got a team back, but he is literally the basketball version of Ron Rivera lol, which is why I don't expect a great effort Tuesday. I want him to prove me wrong, I desperately do, but we controlled our own fate and completely bombed.

If we had practiced it more, would that have helped him from missing a wide open throw to DJ against Minnesota? Getting son'd on the goal line against GB? From throwing a 2 yard drag route on 4th and long against KC (after he burned a TO and took a sack, iirc)? From taking a sack against NO and forcing us to kick a world record FG? From throwing a horrendous pick against the Falcons on the final drive on TNF? Sure, we should prolly practice situational football more, but all those instances I mentioned were his own individual failures... they weren't systematic. It was him making dumbass throws and decisions. As I've said before, we have only had 3 great QBs in our history - Steve Beurelein (sp?), Jake, and Cam. Outside of those guys, we have had some really bad and dark periods at the position - in no particular order, Jeff Lewis, Weinke, Lytle, Pike, Grier last year, Fasani, Pickles, LeFors, Kyle Allen, St. Pierre started... and never, ever, ever, had I been more frustrated and hopeless watching a QB here than I was with Teddy.

TBH, I kept up with it almost as religiously as football and basketball growing up, but it fell by the wayside as I got older. I hardly have kept up with it in adulthood, aside from maybe league leaders and playoffs here and there. It's boring to keep up with from a distance, but man, is it a beautiful experience and qorth following in-person. That's why I'm all for it... and I think once a team is in place here, people will go all in to support it and fan out just like they have for all of our pro teams. I know I will.

I think NC is overdue for a MLB team considering the history here... I think I read some years back though that the studies showed Charlotte wouldn't be a great candidate because of various factors relating to already having an NBA, NFL, minor league baseball team (and now a pro soccer team). There has been a huge push to get a team in Raleigh. I think the viability studies showed Raleigh is one of the top potential markets, so that would be dope. I dont care which city would get it, but it would be awesome to finally have one... I feel bad for Oakland fans, but it's Cali... they have plenty other teams to pull for that no one cares about.

Everyone here knows how reactive and generally pessimistic I tend to be, but I am optimistic. It seems like for the first time, in possibly ever, we have a sense of direction and an actual plan in place for building our team. Decisions seem logical,, reasonable, sound, and fit together, which was never the case in the past... Fitt, Morgan, and the new-look FO seem to be everything we have spent decades hoping for from their demonstrated measured approach and moves they have made so far. Free agency was calculated and a massive win with additions like Reddick and bargain signings like Bouye and Jones. Draft was possibly the most value-laden class we have ever had on paper. Tepper is passionate about winning and putting the right people in place and then stepping back and letting them do what they do... something that we didn't have in place before and obviously held us back from the ownership standpoint. I also believe Rhule is one of those rare game-changing strategists as a coach, of which there is only a very small few present in the NFL, so that gives us a huge advantage over most teams as well. And we already have a proven and promising nucleus in place. Now, the only thing I'm pessimistic about - Darnold. I'm hoping for the best, but not expecting much and really hope I'm wrong. But for all the good we've done thus far and the moves we've made, if we trust Darnold to be THE GUY, and he is actually just the guy he has been, then we have wasted another year. Any success and progress made this season hinges on Darnold.

Isn't part of the rumored issues behind his wanting out of GB his is wife's desire to make a life somewhere more conducive to her career? I think it's California, New York or bust.

Yes, finally we have started getting the better of them.

Also, has it occurred to anyone else, as it did to me upon looking at the depth chart following the draft that they actually plan on shifting Chinn to be the primary FS now being that we signed Denzel Perryman, have Shaq, and Carter came on strong late last year to round out the LB corps. I don't think they're looking at FS as big of a priority as we are.