russ is inefficient and is a poor shooter, BUT i will say that PG did have his best year next to Russ. OKC was really good early in the year till PG tore up his shoulders and then went off the cliff the second half of the year. i do agree on butler, but he did turn down a 5 year max from PHI to come to miami. he got fed up in minnesota and chicago, to an extent, bc of immaturity around him. miami needs to find multiple stars next to him to maximize his talents and the rest of his prime. my first choice is beal but he isnt available right now. idk if you can wait another year and risk another year of butlers prime or even injuries. i dont think boston will be a top tier team in the east without horford. kemba is fine, not a max player and hes older than kyrie, but will def fit better. im not high on hayward at all esp at his salary, but thats irrelevant. tatum had a great rookie year and then fell off last year. a lot of their issues were actually combined with hayward AND kyrie not solely kyrie. a lot of the players actually blamed stevens desire to play hayward back into shape.
Haywood was “ good “ player before that catastrophic injury. It even took PG to year two to be right , Haywood’s issue was more upstairs ; at least it looked that way. But it’s not like he was starting , he was just a rotation guy.
That same Boston team was 1 bad quarter away from the finals without Kyrie. The problem is Stevens is a great x/o guy that other nba coaches steal from, including pop. There’s a reason the offense is better without Irving , more crisp and better ball movement.
The stats show it, even this year. Without him their o numbers was better , and their d numbers was light years better. Irving is a give me the ball, watch me dance , then pull up a tough shot or drive. While everyone watches. Which is ok, if he’s your number two or three.
But he came to Boston to be the alpha , he wanted his own team. Then flat out quit in the Milwaukee series , mentally and physically checked out when he knew they couldn’t win.
I guarantee you they win 5-10 games more just by Irving being gone and going back to playing through Tatum. He was obviously out of his norm playing with KI. It was obvious he didn’t want to step on Irving’s feet. Even though ole boy was just going at Lebrons throat in the playoffs the year before , at nineteen. Oh and their d will improve immensely.
Oh and don’t sleep on Edwards from Purdue and the other two kids they picked up. That roster is loaded.
The east is still down , but the four teams I mentioned earlier are noticeably better than Miami 1-12.
Pacers are my sleeper doe. Sneaky nasty. Philly better crap or get off the pot next year. The east sets up perfectly for them, shooting could hold them back.