One thing I've noticed

[MARIS61]

Bake it!

 

[Nikolokolus]

Sorry. I consider our All-Star, Przy, Blake, and Travis (6 years in the League) as vets. How is Blake one, and not Travis? And in my book, if you're one of the top 24 players in the league you're by definition a "vet". I understand that's subjective.

Two of those are playing pretty consistently well. Two are very on-and-off. When they're on, they add a lot to the team. When they're off, we lose. It's almost that simple. I don't think I can (though I'm open to someone pointing it out to me) pick one game this year that Oden, Batum, Bayless lost for us. I can pick a few that Sergio/Frye put us in the hole with with poor play. I can point out games that LMA seemed to disappear, or Rudy couldn't hit the ocean. I can pick out a bunch that Blake and Travis didn't play like vets.

That's what I'm talking about.

I guess you have a point with Travis, but I've never considered him a "veteran" because he was such a project for the entirety of his rookie deal. Brandon, I don't consider him a veteran at all even though he's shown himself to be an elite player; until he goes through the fire of a playoff series and has seen more and endured more adversity (like the nightly double-teams he's starting to see) he doesn't qualify.

As for Oden, Batum or Rudy losing us a game (Bayless doesn't count because he's barely been in there) I've seen plenty of breakdowns mentally on shot selection, defensive rotations and general disappearing acts that I know they've contributed to more than a couple of losses ... not to say that they are bad players or deserve scorn heaped on their heads, it's just the reality of being a rookie in the NBA -- thems the breaks.