Why They Failed…

Why They Failed…

so of course we’ve got the NBA finals coming up and we’re going to have a ton of time to talk about Boston and Dallas over the next two weeks but I want to talk about the teams that didn’t make it there the teams that didn’t get to the finals and why they didn’t because as good as I think both Boston and Dallas are there’s a lot of talent in the league right now and there a handful of teams that easily could have been in the finals right now had a couple other things go on their way it’s important to point out what they could potentially improve whether it be the offseason moving forward to get themselves over that hump and I want to begin with Minnesota because I think this is the most interesting situation by far because they were probably the most criticized team of the Conference Finals because they looked so good at certain points during the Denver series beating the defending champs on the road game seven uh is a difficult thing to do and I think the expectations were really high from Minnesota which I talked about in the video kind of covering their offseason but the reason they lost why they failed wasn’t Rudy goar like a lot of people have been pointing a lot of the blame on him of course the Luca shot early in the series that won Dallas I believe that was game two um that obviously has a lot to do with it but goar was was doing what he was supposed to do he was a good rim protector you could talk about Defensive Player of the Year stuff if you want to but like he was doing what he was supposed to do the guys that weren’t doing what they were supposed to do were a and Carl Anthony towns like that’s why they lost the Series they lost the Series because those two guys weren’t good enough to beat Luca and Kyrie especially late in the games and neither of them really had a good shooting series at all ant looked tired at times he didn’t shoot well from the perimeter cat didn’t shoot well from the perimeter for most of the first couple of games and even though in the last game a put up some pretty good numbers throughout the entirety of the series those guys just weren’t good enough that’s the reason and in terms of correcting that that’s what makes the situation interesting is that Minnesota could explore some options this offseason that involve Carl Anthony towns trades I think those things are going to be thrown out there people are going to try to find Solutions but realistically given his contract given the level of value he might have around the league I don’t know how well that’s actually going to work out for them and realistically I think they’re probably just going to end up with mostly the same team next year which is fine it’s a team that is capable of making the finals but I think some people are going to assume there’s going to be some kind of drastic change with cat when realistically that’s just not really an option for Minnesota in terms of actually improving the team a lateral move sure but in terms of actually improving the team it seems unlikely the real interesting part of this though is an because he’s just 22 years old we all assume that he’s going to continue to grow and continue to improve but with the way the roster is constructed in Minnesota he kind of has to get to that like Luca level for them to really feel comfortable matching up against teams like Dallas that have you know top five players in the entire league Luka arguably the best player in the world right now um and obviously that’s a tough comparison for someone and ant that’s just 22 but at 22 Luca was doing some pretty crazy stuff that ant just just didn’t do in this postseason run and so that’s why they didn’t make it because those guys weren’t good enough and ant should continue to grow and should continue to improve but it’s not a guarantee that he’s ever going to be on the level of someone like Luca and given the strength of the of the western conference with all these other teams you know younger teams that are going to be you know coming up and trying to be these contenders over the next couple years that’s a little bit of a concerning process aspect if you are Minnesota despite you know the ceiling of what we think Anthony Edwards could be on the other side of the Conference Finals the Indiana Pacers this one’s pretty simple um Boston’s really good and and Indiana’s team and roster construction just wasn’t good enough they couldn’t guard well enough and even though like they were shooting the ball really well in that series and offensively they did a lot of things that gave Boston some issues um I don’t think at any point they were really good enough to win the series at least not you know in any kind of easy way like it would have to be some kind of crazy seven game series and of course halberton getting hurt didn’t help early on in the series it looked like it was going to be competitive and even without halberton there were some good games in there for Indiana but I think even had halberton been healthy the series probably ends in five maybe six games um and so Indiana is just going to look to improve defensively this off season they’re going to look to improve on the wing of course bring back Pascal sakam but the answer for Indiana is pretty simple they just weren’t good enough and Boston is Far and Away the best team in the conference another team that’s interesting for me is Oklahoma City because at the time that they lost to Dallas they were the one seed they lost to the five seed in Dallas despite Dallas being a 50- win team um it was seen as a bit of a disappointment that OKC didn’t make the Conference Finals but looking back on that now the fact that they took Dallas to six games looks way more impressive considering the fact that Minnesota was only barely able to take one game off of Dallas and of course uh the the Clippers didn’t Fair well against Dallas in the first round either so arguably you’re more impressed now with OKC than you were when they lost the Series and specific to that matchup they didn’t shoot the ball well enough they needed more size Dallas especially in the front Court live League Gord like the rebounding numbers weren’t crazy in terms of the differential but it felt like Dallas was always able to get a rebound when they really wanted one and even though luuka and Kyrie weren’t fantastic for large parts of that series Dallas’s role players their other guys were shooting the ball well and they were just better than the OKC role players those guys didn’t shoot the ball particularly well and that’s the reason they lost that series specifically and I think that’s definitely informative for OKC moving forward in terms of how do they make themselves a real legitimate finals team they have to add more size in the front Court like Chad long term as the five playing 35 minutes a game in playoff series against every single matchup is just not realistic it’s just not like there are matchups in which he’s awesome as the five but against teams like Dallas against teams like Denver even you know down the road maybe wimy whatever the case may be they need a bigger option there I think they’re going to explore that whether it be Jared Allen whether it be Clint capella I know that those guys aren’t you know the strongest guys in the world but at least bring give you some more size and give you another option as a more traditional fiveman it’s nothing against Chad hren it’s just they generally have a roster that is kind of slight in the front cord and if it’s going to be Chad and and Wing Jaylen Williams in the front Court that’s going to be a mismatch problem for them it’s going to cause mismatch issues for other teams as well but they need a little bit more variability a little bit more flexibility versatility in the front Court when it comes to chat some of these other guys and maybe they think that big jayen Williams is going to be the option for them of course they’re going to have options this offseason to improve but that needs to be an addition for them as well as as I think they could use kind of a spark plug perimeter Creator one of those not not necessarily the exact same but one of those like Jordan Clarkson kind of guys like someone that you know maybe the offense is struggling a little bit SGA comes out of the game and you put someone in that can get you a quick six points get you a couple of assists can really create some things for you and certainly I think that would be helpful for OKC I also expect them to explore getting rid of someone like Josh Giddy and a potential maybe not star trade but fifth starter someone to replace giddy spot in the rotation uh on the perimeter there OKC future is incredibly bright but they can’t afford to be complacent in a conference as strong as the west and as strong as the West is going to continue to be again as I mentioned with Minnesota earlier with some of these other teams they’re going to be coming up right behind them back to the Eastern Conference as well the New York Knicks another team that I think certainly could have made the finals this year had they been fully healthy the obvious answer for them is that they just had a million injury issues they were up 20 against Indiana even without Julius Randall ogn anobi was dealing with an elbow thing Mitchell Robinson was hurt then obviously as the series WI on Jaylen Brunson got hurt they just ran out of guys I mean Alec Burks was out there running offense for them at the end of game seven against Indiana that’s clearly the issue for for the Knicks in terms of why they didn’t make it this year terms of improvement moving forward for them they’re going to be aggressive and trying to get you know another option in the front court or a wing of course they need to bring back OG and anobi Julius Randle is someone that’s always going to be kind of on the trade market for them considering the fact that yeah they could have used him in the front court but they they always are kind of looking to upgrade that spot it feels like but they need to find some kind kind of complimentary option that works well alongside Brunson whether that’s Randall or otherwise and I honestly think that if that Nick’s roster was completely healthy they would have given Boston a lot of issues I I I truly truly believe that I don’t think the Gap in a playoff setting between Boston and New York was all that big obviously we didn’t get a chance to see that series but fully healthy those two rosters I don’t think the Gap was that big and I think they had an outside chance of making the finals had they been completely healthy which obviously they were far from it but still some improvements to be made for them for sure back to the Western Conference as well as we kind of get to all these like semi-finals teams all these teams that were pretty close either the Conference Finals or the finals Denver Denver is a team that I think has gone kind of completely overlooked throughout this postseason narrative um the answer for them is pretty clear whether it be against Minnesota or other teams they have a a severe lack of depth especially in the front Court Nico yic having to play every single minute of a of a crucial playoff game is just not tenable if you want him to be as good as he is and not only do they not have you know an option in the front court that can at least like tread water for them so that they’re not just completely terrible in the nonic minutes they didn’t have a backup five at all they barely had a backup point guard in Reggie Jackson they don’t then DeAndre Jordan was the backup five Aaron Gordon realistically is the guy that ends up playing backup five for them but like they just need more depth options they went kind of this younger route Christian Brown pton Watson these kinds of guys that uh Watson specifically didn’t really play that much towards the tail end of the series they went with other more veteran players um I think in the offseason it’s very clear backup on the wing back up the five back up the point like those are the players that they need they need a little bit more offensive creation outside of just Jamal Murray and niic and whether they try and do that by trading away someone like Michael Porter Jr or otherwise those are clearly clearly the points of improvement for Denver they’re still very good there’s a reason they won the title last year it was not a fluke they certainly could have done way better in this postseason had a couple of other things going their way but also I think it’s clear that given how well Dallas played against Minnesota and how much Denver struggled offensively against innesa there’s definitely some improvement to be made in Denver then one other team to mentioned here of course is Cleveland the other you know semi-finals team that we haven’t mentioned at this point obviously Mitchell getting hurt didn’t help I don’t think the series would have been particularly close even with him healthy and it’s not really worth pointing out possible improvements for Cleveland here because I don’t think the Rost even going to be remotely the same uh going into next year they can say whatever they want to publicly I’d be shocked if Darius Garland and Jared Allen are both on the roster next year and quite frankly I think there’s a decent chance that neither of them are on the roster next year I think there’s going to be some significant changes whether it be Mitchell and Moy moving forward for the franchise whether it be Garland and Moy and Allen moving forward whether it be some combination of something else whether they get stuff for Mitchell they get stuff for Garin whatever the case may be um Improvement isn’t even necessarily the name of the game in Cleveland it it’s just change and and that’s why all these teams uh were unable to make the finals and and Dallas and Boston were

Why These NBA Teams DIDN’T Make The Finals… including the New York Knicks, Minnesota Timberwolves, Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, OKC Thunder, and Cleveland Cavaliers

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