Originally Posted by
Pelicanidae
I think we can't really say right now.
Think about it like this: how do we define plans, and eras? If this was 2011, what would you Golden State's ''plan'' was, other than ''try and draft good players and hopefully maybe not suck''? Would you have said that their plan was to develop a sharpshooting backcourt that they could pair with versatile passing big men in order to completely change the NBA? Maybe, but probably now.
We define eras and plans in retrospect. We look back, and see how Golden State turned out, and we say they had a good plan, when in reality they got lucky in some ways and made some smart moves and it was both in conjunction that defined their growth.
It's clear what some of the historical Pels plans were: when AD was drafted, it's clear that the plan was to pair him with a proven all-star guard in Jrue Holiday, and to trade away our draft capital in order to secure players with a history of successful play and build a ''young vets'' kind of team around AD. Through a combination of bad choices and injuries, that failed.
Then it's clear that with the Cousins trade, the plan was to exploit the small-ball direction of the league to build a team which had some shooting, sure, but which would have a clear matchup advantage on the inside against every other team. Then, of course, Cousins got injured. So we tried again this year, building on that general idea but focusing more on pace pace pace, with which Payton and Randle came into view. That has, due to injuries aagain failed.
So now we stand on the edge of a huge decision. What's the plan? Unless you're in the front office, it's pretty much impossible to know, and until it's happened, it will be impossible to say what happens. We can't even really speculate until the trade happens and that gives us clues. We may be directionless, or we may have laser focus built off the back of past mistakes. Only time will tell. Enjoy the ride.