RealGM

looks like an identity has formed starting january 11:



for context, 28 games is 42% of the season.

my assessment:

after that awful start which included being decimated by injuries and playing a ton of rookies and undrafted players along with a tough schedule...something clicked near mid january. we got healthy, bruce + kelly came back, davion was starting and our defense stabilized. the good news is that even after davion + bruce + kelly were traded away, our defense has held up quite well.

there's a part of me that thinks if everyone was healthy from day 1 and everything clicked, we could've been around .500 heading into march and then gone on a run with this super weak schedule to finish somewhere around 45-48 wins. alas, luck plays a big part in things and we just didn't have it.

i think it shows that darko's coaching has formed an identity with the roster.

There is nothing about this season that will give us any indication as to what next season will look like with Ingram playing in zero games and a rotation player yet to be drafted plus possible offseason moves. We have absolutely no idea what this team will perform like next season, best to just accept that and not look at tiny sample sizes to be an indication of anything, certainly not sample sizes that feature players that could very well not be on the team next season (Boucher for example).

ciueli wrote:There is nothing about this season that will give us any indication as to what next season will look like with Ingram playing in zero games and a rotation player yet to be drafted plus possible offseason moves. We have absolutely no idea what this team will perform like next season, best to just accept that and not look at tiny sample sizes to be an indication of anything, certainly not sample sizes that feature players that could very well not be on the team next season (Boucher for example).

Especially because we are playing against bad teams that are trying to lose.

Yallbecrazy wrote:

ciueli wrote:There is nothing about this season that will give us any indication as to what next season will look like with Ingram playing in zero games and a rotation player yet to be drafted plus possible offseason moves. We have absolutely no idea what this team will perform like next season, best to just accept that and not look at tiny sample sizes to be an indication of anything, certainly not sample sizes that feature players that could very well not be on the team next season (Boucher for example).

Especially because we are playing against bad teams that are trying to lose.

Except that isn't true.

20 of those games were against teams in the playin and above.

Thanks for the stats.

This is why I have started to warm up to Darko. He has proven that he can instill a defensive identity. I was off the Darko train until.the January. Actually, ever since he was hired, I wasn't going to support him as the long term coach until he proved that he could get this team.to play top 10 in defense.

We have a ways to go, but 2025 has looked promising.

ciueli wrote:There is nothing about this season that will give us any indication as to what next season will look like with Ingram playing in zero games and a rotation player yet to be drafted plus possible offseason moves. We have absolutely no idea what this team will perform like next season, best to just accept that and not look at tiny sample sizes to be an indication of anything, certainly not sample sizes that feature players that could very well not be on the team next season (Boucher for example).

no guarantees for anything. just an observation on how things are developing this season.

ciueli wrote:There is nothing about this season that will give us any indication as to what next season will look like with Ingram playing in zero games and a rotation player yet to be drafted plus possible offseason moves. We have absolutely no idea what this team will perform like next season, best to just accept that and not look at tiny sample sizes to be an indication of anything, certainly not sample sizes that feature players that could very well not be on the team next season (Boucher for example).

Replacing Gradey with Ingram is going to make that defense worse, I disagree with you that nothing from this season will or should carry over. The vibes, the defensive mentality should all carry over to next year. Which is why mgmt wanted to get these guys some run together, to build a foundation. Foundation was set this year