Who gets credit for this team’s grit

Boogie

AD looks like he’s getting a little attitude. It’s great. He needs to play like a dick.

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Both are starting to get a good feel for each together closing games.

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Yarp. And others, including Crewz, have made the suggestion that that's the biggest reason that we should focus on adding another big over a Bledsoe type (I know he's no longer available). Add a big so that AD and Boogie get to spend as much time on the court together as possible. They are absolutely brilliant together, but I'd still prefer to trade our first for another 1-3 to take pressure off of them. I think another big would be fantastic, but I think that they're easier to find. I'd rather use the 1st trying to get a Batum type (give Charlotte a solid player in Moore + a pick + save them ~$15m over 3 seasons, maybe throw in Diallo to avoid the tax this season).

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Who gets credit for this team’s grit

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Do not mistake lack of halfassery for grit. While they did play harder in the 2nd half, this team is winning by out talenting bad teams right now, not out playing them.

2 offensive rebounds on missed FTs at the end, one by AD and one by Boogie perfectly illustrates just what it means to have 2 stars. In years past you just get the one star play from AD at the end and there's a reasonable chance Indy goes down and ties it up to go into overtime at home where in the past the Pels likely lose. But now that DC has joined AD you get twice the number of star plays so you can get another offensive rebound on a choked FT to put the game away.

Also with AD/DC on the court together the Pels have a top 5 defense. When it's just one of them they are playing the kind of defense that lets a team score 75 in a half. Last night Cousins got into foul trouble in the first, only played 5 minutes which basically made him and AD stagger most of the first half. On top of that Jrue was in foul trouble as well and only played 9 minutes in the entire 1st half. Again, the difference in the 2 halves wasn't grit, it was talent.

Everyone is happy to be 6-5 instead of 1-10 for once, but if they don't find a way to get better when AD/DC aren't together, we're probably looking at a .500ish team that just misses the playoffs. I really think Rondo will help with that and the reason people were so down on Miller is because he looked like he had the same problem he had last time he failed out of the league. The last 3 games he's made 3 3s each game shooting 56%. If he's turned a corner that would be huge.

Excessive minutes played by Cousins and Davis. These two are playing lots of minutes aganist opponnets seconds.

Would rather Mirotic

Would love to swap Diallo for Portis. Pretty sure if Portis wants to try to man up to anyone Cousins would destroy him pretty quickly.

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I’m wondering what the board thinks is responsible for this what I’m calling “grit.”

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AD and Boogie have been playing unbelievable basketball, collectively on offense and defense in each of the wins.

The 3rd and 4th contributors have alternated. Jrue has been very good in a few, Moore in a couple, and the addition of Jameer Nelson has been huge considering the injury to Rondo.

Again, AD and Boogie have been dynamic, but to answer your question, Boogie has been the grit thus far.

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I don't see Diallo ever being a good NBA player.

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I disagree but he is so raw that he really is an unknown. Trading potential in Diallo for proven playability in Portis is such a classic Demps risk avoidance move that I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet.

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I like the Bobby Portis for Diallo trade idea a lot. I don't know if that's enough to solve the 3rd big problem, but it might be as good as you can get long term because of the tax crunch. He's a better solution than Dante now and he's much better than Diallo was going to be any time soon.

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You could expand on that trade if you really wanted. If you think Asik will not get retirement, you could double down on #doitbig:

Pels get: Portis & Rolo
Chi gets: Asik, Anjica, Diallo, 2018 1st top 3, 2019 2nd

You move worthless players for real contributors. You can stop staggering AD/Boogie and give them a break with #doitbig backups Portis/Rolo. Rolo's salary is only a year, but not so high that you can't figure out a way around it in the offseason.