'25 Playoff Rotation Predictions: A Collaborative Deep Dive

[Winter]

Yes I think it is much more likely he closes games than start games.  Klay will finish some and maybe someone else will close a few.   

It feels the team feels comfortable with the ball in Christie’s hands.  I can envision have Kyrie off ball while a guy like Exum or Christie brings the ball up.  They did this quite a bit against Golden State.

There's a lot more options with ball movement when Luka is not part of the offense. 

Most of our players now have multiple skills. We've seen Naji, Exum, Kyrie, Dinwiddie, PJ, and Williams bring the ball up. AD, Prosper, and Klay have not been discouraged from bringing it up off a rebound. Christie seems entirely competent there as well. 

While none of our players have passing skills like Luka, all of them regularly have assists and look for open players either cutting or in set positions. The exception to this is Hardy who frequently just goes to the hoop no matter what.

I can imagine this is a team that will be difficult to defend - especially if Kessler continues his development. There's not a lot of predictable isolation anymore that we saw from Luka. We still see it from Kyrie and Dinwiddie, but no one looks like they are just standing in the corner and watching like they sometimes did with Luka. Not for long anyway. We have some decent 3-point shooters without having a single one you can pick on. All our centers are pretty competent at setting screens out on the elbow, and everyone knows their roles.  Our entire rotation looks comfortable in this system.

Defensively, enough of our wings look like above average defenders. Kessler is a pest, and Christie, Naji, Exum, and Williams all really move well. My excitement is coming back after seeing them win these last two games so short-handed. I hope I get to see them healthy soon.

I miss Luka's theatrics, but I could get used to this.