Uncle Si":3q3yc8i5 said:
Cousins is a premier player when healthy, yes. That was my point. The warriors had planned on 6 healthy players by playoffs and maybe had contingency for one big absence.
3 was a lot and I don't think you can harp on GS for not preparing for that.
Kawhi is exceptional no doubt. All things considered, he is the first player you start a team with.
I'm only saying it's hard to rail on GS for not planning for all of the things that finally befell their team.
That's fair. I just struggle with the idea that the Warriors thought Cousins would be anywhere close to what he was after that injury because pretty much every player whose suffered an Achilles injury has fallen off a cliff. For all we know, this is more or less who Cousins is now.
I agree with you. I'm not trying to rail on GSW, I'm obviously critical of the moves they made / didn't make, but ultimately you are right; if they had Durant and Klay healthy this would have been a different series. My issue is that people (not you or anyone here) seem to be completely undervaluing what the Raptors did. We don't know that a healthy Warriors would beat a healthy Raptors, so it irks me to read about how they'd have won if it wasn't for injuries. Especially considering the Warriors dynasty has benefited from injuries as much as any team in history. We don't hold that against them, so we shouldn't hold this against the Raptors.
the best team
