From the moment Doncic proved that "the NBA is better than European basketball", the Lone Rangers have decided to have a bright future, and this summer they completed an early contract extension with Doncic, extending this bright future for many years. The Lone Ranger shows us a very intuitive fact of how the T0 level development offensive core will take a team. In the 19-20 season, the Lone Ranger was the first in the history of offensive efficiency, which was the position of second-year Doncic, surrounded by Porzingis, who had not yet completely escaped the troubles of injury, surrounded by the best team of shooters and deputy attackers, behind the veteran Carlisle and the determined Cuban.
Starting from the series a year ago, when the Lone Ranger regrettably lost, the future you can envision can no longer be described as "bright". A few months ago, the Lone Ranger vs. Clippers' report card improved its score again. If every historic superstar will have a "Piston" or "Celtic" on his path, then the Clippers can also leave a wonderful chapter as a signpost on Doncic's road to domination.
Unfortunately, before the Clippers could receive a title of sufficient weight, Carlisle had already bid farewell to Dallas. Doncic's path to dominance with the Lone Ranger is not smooth. If we simply and rudely summarize the reasons why the Lone Ranger failed to achieve a breakthrough in the 20-21 season, we can try to push Porzingis - whether it is that series or the regular season, Boshin is a problem:
In 7 playoff games, Bo Shen scored 14 points on his back 17 times, unable to punish the Clippers for a small change of defense, as a second-in-command round share of 15.7%, the low play is comparable to a single-function 3D shooter;
In the regular season, Porzingis's defense collapsed, losing the gains from the improved scoring efficiency. We can admire the wave god before the big injury has mobility that does not match the height, can guard the basket without being bulky, and is very modern. We can say in the 19-20 season that Bo Shen as a big center can not do everything, there are thin weaknesses, good luck to protect the basket is still a strong point. But by the 20-21 season, we didn't know what to say about Boshin's defense.
Objectively speaking, Bo Shen is only one of the many problems of the Lone Ranger, and if the Lone Ranger can do other things better, they will also have a higher fault tolerance rate on the "Wave God Uncertainty". But we took him out and talked about it alone, and it is true that his lack of strength is the core contradiction of the Lone Ranger:
Bo Shen is still the Lone Ranger's highest paid player, taking 31.6 million, 33.8 million and 36 million in three years from now, the Lone Ranger gave up 2 first-round picks when he got him, and he is also the only player in the Lone Ranger's current lineup that has the potential to play 25% + high round share.
From salary to the cost of the Lone Ranger to the team positioning, Bo Shen is undoubtedly the second boss of the team, and one of the characteristics of today's league is that several T0 star stars are not perfect, but as long as the team is built around them, they can achieve or show the ability to compete for the championship, and when we discuss the team around them, the problem often comes out first in the second boss - think, which two bosses are not scolded?
The Blazers have CJ; Simmons need not talk about it; the Bucks' victory does not affect Middleton's mysterious; Gobert is the second boss of the regular season playoffs, and the playoffs are really not powerful; George reversed word of mouth this year, and half of the credit is also due to the promotion of the big boss.
As if under a spell, the second boss became a role that no one could hold.
Of course, the situation of each team and each star is different, some people are trapped by injuries, some people are subject to authority, and they can't play 100% at a high level. But more often than not, this is the case - unless it is a giant team, the second boss is a natural premium role, because the giant level of stars is always limited, if you do not want to form a single-core team, you can only get a "good and not good enough" star, they are often not worthy of the 30 million level of the big contract, but you do not give nature someone to give.
As a result, the second boss can only premium, and the result of the premium is naturally scolded.
Bo Shen is one of those premium-squirted second-in-command families, and may be the most problematic among them, in addition to lack of ability, he also has serious attendance problems, which in turn reduces some of the cost performance. If it were not for Hardaway Jr.'s unexpected surrender of a high level, then the Lone Ranger's original gamble on Bo Shen's deal would probably have become a stinky move for them to bury doncic's rookie dividend.
In fact, Bo Shen's poor performance, the impact on the Lone Ranger is not limited to the field, salary and draft picks, the key is that it makes the timeline they chose to build the team seem too hasty. Pulling back the clock back to 2019, when the Lone Rangers realized that Doncic was definitely a ruthless man, they had two team-building strategies to choose from:
The first is to build a conservative team and continue to accumulate talent;
The second is to pursue stars and seize the contract dividends of Doncic.
The Lone Ranger chose the second kind, from the expectations at the time, but also the Bo Shen as another giant of the team, then the requirements for the supporting role team of the dual-core team can be appropriately relaxed, because the two stars can basically solve the core problem of offensive development, and the Lone Ranger's dual core is one inside and one outside, only need to fill the two with 3D sappers and shooters, a good lineup framework can be set up - don't forget, before Doncic arrives, the Lone Ranger's lineup base is OK.
Bo Shen failed to meet expectations, so that their original choice seemed to be a little too big. In this year's playoffs, Doncic clearly showed that the first half was unstoppable, the second half was not strong, his 39.1% round share, 49.3% assist rate are the highest in the playoff league, with 40.1 minutes of playing time, this overdraft use is undoubtedly unable to ensure continued navigation. But the Lone Rangers have no way, except for Doncic, they do not have the means to stably chisel the Clippers' defense line, Little Hardaway's hammer deal is purely face-to-face, Bronson's low-end bureau can be a trumpet Doncic, and the high-end game cannot continue to break the defense.
Why is the playoffs the stage for superstars?
Because of the intensity of the playoffs defense, the usually good development of offensive players, to this occasion may not be able to play out - the Clippers do not have Lovell to let you find - look at the Jazz who play the Clippers the same as the Lone Ranger, usually without Mitchell can also rely on their advantage of multiple attackers, east a hammer West a hammer to cut the points, but in the face of high-intensity change of defense, they can only count on the power of the king of the rice ball.
In the playoffs, there are always 1 or 2 rounds, and you have to look at the ruthless people who have contracts of more than 30 million. After Doncic, this task naturally falls on Boshin, he can't do it, then you can't criticize other people.
Playoffs high-end innings, develop offensive eat talent. Talent can only be acquired by cultivating high-potential rookies or by pursuing superstars from the market. The Lone Rangers did not have enough primitive accumulation, they were originally based on the dual core to open the formation route, as long as one core did not work, naturally it was lame walking.
Of course, back in the lone ranger's situation, it's hard not to press the boost button. They find it difficult to lose when they are in a mess, and they have to rely on poor acting skills to give points in the last moments of the game. The team bench is very thick, and the veterans and teams have tapped the potential from various sources to obtain immediate combat power, making them the most competitive resource in the league from the 6th or 7th person of the team. Coupled with Carlisle's coaching and mature Doncic, this team wants to leapfrog forward and can tell a certain truth.
Not to mention the two kings, you have two 2 with 34567 sets of straights, you are also confident - the hand is smooth, only need one chance to take off.
But what about 2+10+34567?
These 10 you can't go out, 34567 can't speak, rely on a 2 dozen world - say that Xiao Wang can also - wherever awkward.
This is the current situation of the Lone Ranger, they have superstars at the top, and there is a set of Shunzi hand cards in the middle and low levels, but there is no single card with a large enough face value in between, and Bo Shen has not been able to play the double king even double 2 effect with Doncic, so that the Lone Ranger feels that the time saved has become damage.
We took out the rest of the Lone Rangers and saw that this was basically the case:
Little Hardaway. The lone ranger signed a 4-year, 75 million contract with him, and it was a diminishing contract, and according to the market price, the lone ranger did not sign expensive. But if your team's second-highest-paid player struggles to be the main attacker in the playoffs, and the third-highest-paid player is not in this way, then other surprises are needed to make up for this regret;
Powell. He gradually recovered in the second half of last season, and his comprehensive strength in the Lone Ranger's inner line was second only to Bo Shen, with an end and a decent defense, but it could neither replace Bo Shen's guard position, nor could it contribute space to maintain the Lone Ranger's 5-out characteristics. He takes 11 million or not cheap. As a potential trading chip, it is possible to level;
Reggie Bullock. The quality shooter, who shot 41% of the three-point shooting rate last season, may be better than Hardaway Jr. as a first-line defender, but his round share is only 14%, there is no ability to develop, the playoffs are visible to the naked eye can not punish Trae Young, and he takes 9.5 million a year is the lone ranger's fifth highest salary - playoffs Boshin, Hardaway Jr., Powell, Bullock, are typical functional players, they are don'tcic, the lone ranger takes the most money.
Further back, Kléber, Cauley Stein, and Ma Young, respectively, provide space, highly maneuverable block defense and nuclear bomb finish, which are three very good functional interior lines. Finney Smith is the 3D striker and Sterling Brown is the 3D winger, and Bronson and Burke's main offensive performance is not necessarily reliable defensively high-end, and the latter will still be a problem in the next few days.
The Lone Ranger's supporting cast is expected to be more balanced offensively and defensively than in the past, but the essence has not changed. Looking back at the fewer rebounds they had before their rise and now they have fewer fast-attacking stat sheets, you can see the huge difference between this team and those talented overflowing teams (and also the influence of coaching style). A few young people in their hands, the lottery Nilikina has not, Josh Green, Terry Jr., Moses Brown all look like they have a chance to grow into good puzzle players, but it is unrealistic to develop to the core, and it is still difficult to break through the lone ranger's situation of "group straights can be, and the single card is not big enough".
With Doncic's superb skills and rapid maturity, coupled with a very distinctive mid-to-low pick rotation, the Lone Ranger came to the mid-season class of the playoffs, and played suspense with the championship-winning favorite Clippers for two consecutive seasons, which was very remarkable.
But if you look at them as a team that aims to compete for the championship, you can say that their team building is missing a key step, that is, to form a strong core team, compared to the first star's 19-year Raptors and 21-year Bucks (one king + 10JQKA), they are inferior to the strength of the core rotation. It can also be said that they completely failed in the introduction of second stars, compared to the 20-year Lakers of the Two Kings, their other core is difficult to say.
No matter where this last breath is, the reality falls on Bo Shen - no matter which path is chosen in the end, either by Bo Shen's explosion or by trading the results he obtains.
Like many teams in this league, the key person in charge of their destiny is actually the second boss they scold every day.