Couple things.
Firstly, I think people are way too hard on Afflalo. He never got to really integrate into our system before his injury and a shoulder injury could really hamper his ability to score. He was never supposed to be the starter. He was supposed to provide scoring off the bench. He was thrust into a role that wasn't intended and then he was hurt very quickly after that. Agreed. At first glance, it appears to have been a mistake of a trade. What people don't realize is that we were clicking almost immediately after getting Afflalo but then Matthews went down and roles were changed in the bat of an eye. Arron probably isn't the best starting shooting guard in the league, but he's exactly what you want off the bench. Also, his shoulder wasn't right and really shouldn't have been playing. He's a must better player than he showed in the postseason. The big question remains: Is there enough room for McCollum, Afflalo, and Matthews?
Secondly, there is something going on with Dame's shot, and I don't know what it is. Whether it's an injury, overall fatigue, or just a confidence issue, his shot is completely off right now and that played a large role in our demise. If Dame is hitting his threes, he's better than Conley. I don't think there's any question that he's better than Conley when he's firing on all cylinders. Yes, there's definitely something up with Dame that he doesn't want the media to know. It's pretty obvious he is not at 100%. We all saw him land on his fingers awkwardly at the end of the Indiana game and we all saw the spill he took against the Heat near mid-court. The dude's a flat-out warrior and he gave it his all this season. It's very apparent to me that the Dame we saw in Game 4 was the real Damian Lillard and the Dame we saw down the stretch of the season was a bi-product of fatigue and banged up body parts.
Does he need to improve defensively? Yes. Again, I think this will come in time. He can't be expected to shoulder such a heavy offensive load and be expected to lock down elite point guards on a nightly basis. Really, I think he was fatigued from the season, especially when you consider so many other key guys missed time. He will get better, but he needs better defenders around him. Only Wesley Matthews was an above-average defender amongst our starters.
Lastly, what happened to Robin Lopez? It doesn't look like he can jump at all. Most of those silly slap outs that he was doing were because he couldn't get any elevation to grab a rebound. Is he hurt? He just doesn't look like the same guy at all. To me, this is the most baffling of them all. He definitely wasn't the same since the hand injury ... but it's not his hand that causing other deficiencies in his game. Like you mentioned, he looks slow - much slower than usual. No one will ever mistake RoLo for being agile on the basketball court, but I really noticed his lack of mobility early on in the series when he just couldn't go out for rebounds. Is his back bothering him? We all know he rests on his back while being substituted and during flights to and from games. Whatever is going on with RoLo, it vastly impacted his performance on the court. He's always been a fiery player, but he was losing his cool much too often during the playoffs. Maybe it was a bi-product of all of the frustrations going on with his game? The slaps, like you mentioned, were a prime example of Robin losing focus. I want RoLo to return but the cost must be at the right price.
