tidho wrote:johnnyballgame wrote:Wow. We're going to be awful this season. If only the entire team was two way studs.
Come down off the ledge. Every team has short comings. We're obviously good enough to win the East. The defense was pretty damn good last season and all the guys are back. The problem was offense and the additions address that. Its been a great off season. Be realistic. What were you expecting to happen? How many Olympians/all stars would be good enough?
Similarly, lets not get hyperbolic about what I'm saying. Yes the team (as we expect it to look) is good enough to at least get to the ECF. I'm talking about what can stop us from winning a championship.
There was a similar discussion last year during which I was critical of the post Love trade team because it lacked perimeter defense. Turns out the season revealed my concerns to be legitimate...but fortunately the Knicks bailed us out.
Going into this year I'm comfortable saying our teams downfall would not be having one less spot up shooter that can't defend. There are two potential week spots, front court depth (because Andy should not be counted on) which Kaun would fix, and athletic defense off the bench.
I haven't once said we must get more "two way studs" or "Olympians/all stars". We do need to ensure that if the roster gets a little thin again, and we need to get LeBron some rest with a ten point lead, that the team can hold if for five or six minutes rather than a minute and a half.
Fair enough, but your post is very critical of each signing we've made as if we've had the flexibility to do much else.
You've broke down players to reveal their faults when the truth is sometimes the sum of the parts equal more. JR Smith, Love and Kyrie were never known for individual defense but our defense as a team wasn't awful.
From what I watched last year, the additions we've made directly addressed the biggest flaws. The defense was good enough to win versus the leagues top offense. We struggled on the offensive side of the ball, mostly due to injury. But the starters are going to be healthy again, so all we can or needed to do was address the bench and prevent the same situation and we have.
Considering where we were at the end of the season I think we've done pretty well.
Sure any team can get better, but none has ever been perfect.
So I ask you this question again, because you know what you're talking about: Who do you think we could have or rather should have gotten?
