On March 23, we told you the Chaos were going to be in rough shape this summer due to the tremendous amount of players participating in the NLL.
Seventeen members of the roster will not be as fresh as they were last June and all of them will be a year older. That's how time works.
A week later, the NLL announced a seven week playoff schedule:
The best-of-three NLL Finals will take place June 2-6, June 9-13 and June 16-20 (if necessary). Exact dates and the TSN and ESPN broadcast schedules for all rounds will be announced once the teams have clinched playoff home games in each series.
The Buffalo Bandits (13-2) are the league favorites. Their roster is loaded with Chaos stars.
A three game NLL championship series involving the Bandits would result in the bulk of the Chaos roster being unavailable for the following games:
June 4 - Whipsnakes
June 10 - Archers
June 18 - Redwoods
Assuming the Bandits are involved, is a Chaos roster consisting of dudes from the player pool winning any of those games? Who even shows up to training camp for the Chaos?
Then of course, those athletes would be ending one season and stepping right into another season.
What does being tired look like?
Consider Kyrie Irving's body of work over the last 20 games.
Keep in mind, Irving has missed a chunk of this regular season. He's not trying to play a full season of NBA hoops days after completing a full season of NBA hoops.
That 38 is impressive, but he didn't play in the four games prior.
Kyrie dropping 43 is awesome, but it comes on the heels of taking three games off.
The next two games, he only scored 27 total.
Perhaps recently he has found his footing, but that initial stretch of 16 games is indicative of what the Chaos coaching staff can expect this summer.
Let's not forget, the medical attention Kyrie is getting on a daily basis is not what PLL athletes experience on top of the fact that basketball is Kyrie's full time job. Some of the Chaos athletes work a normal job during the week.
Still, the Nets are only 5-5 over their last ten.
What do 15+ Kyries playing for Chaos do to their record?
Dan Coates – Rochester Knighthawks
Mark Glicini – San Diego Seals
Ian MacKay – Buffalo Bandits
Kyle Jackson – Halifax Thunderbirds
Tanner Cook – Calgary Roughnecks
Dhane Smith – Buffalo Bandits
Challen Rogers – Toronto Rock
Wes Berg – San Diego Seals
Chris Cloutier – Buffalo Bandits
Curtis Dickson – Calgary Roughnecks
Chase Fraser – Buffalo Bandits
Ryan Smith – Rochester Knighthawks
Andrew Kew – Albany Firewolves
Tehoka Nanticoke – Buffalo Bandits
Mac O’Keefe – San Diego Seals
Blaze Riorden – Philadelphia Wings
Josh Byrne – Buffalo Bandits
To jam in another basketball comparison, the league is too small for the Chaos to entirely flame out, due to injury or ineffective play, like the Los Angeles Lakers just did these past weeks. However, it will be nearly impossible for the Chaos to repeat.