Frichuela wrote:ESPN just predicted that our 2020-21 season will be 36-46, 11th seed...missing the playin tournament.
I am certainly a homer, and probably I'm drinking too much kool aid
, but I would think IF Dinwiddie comes back close to his form in the 2019-20 season, we should hit 41 wins at the minimum. We have so much more depth than last year...and Scotty is gone!!!
It's all on Coach Wes really. I could see it going either way. Chemistry-wise, I wish we had a stone cold winner on the court who could keep the team focused. The sort of player who does not get distracted. Brad has been known to pout on court, showing poor body language or fussing to the refs instead of sprinting back on defense. Spencer is vocal, but may have to grow into a leadership role and making the right read; a player shooting 30% from 3 has no business hoisting 6 of them per game. Trez is passionate but that can be distracting if not destructive if it is not focussed against the opponents. There may be a reason why he has skipped teams in a few short years, could be his locker room act grows tiresome. I can see us leading the league in bitching at the refs unless Wes' calm and serious mindset is heeded by all. Westbrook was a force here in that way, firing up a guy like Rui, highly competitive high effort. Who is the alpha wolf on this team? Interestingly Beal is the vet who has been in the league the longest. Maybe he takes that leadership role seriously. This is finally truly his team.
If all the chemistry works though, we have some interestingly complementary pieces. We have defense at key positions, shooting from any spot on the floor and any position on the roster, interior scoring, ball-handling attack to rack fouls. If our team play exceeds our raw talent then the high 40's in wins is not inconceivable. The East is stronger, yes, deeper too, few teams rely on a single star to carry them and we may be one with Beal taking shots at a high volume. But if Beal works on his own leadership game, making the pass, acting as decoy, etc, we have enough floor balance to be tough to guard. We are shallow in ball-handling and assist duties, so playmaking may have to come from schemes and teamwork at times.
It may take a while for chemistry to click and Wes to ID what works well. Line-ups, sets, plays, in bounds, end game--what works? Nobody has yet seen these guys together. They have to grow together. But we have smart experienced young veterans. In Beal, KCP and SD26 we have 9, 8, 7 years in the league, all 28 years old, our most experienced players will have the ball the most. Bertans and Neto have 5 and 6 years but overseas experience. Shoot, Deni won't be 21 til January but has been a pro since he was 16.
On average a player's prime years are 26-30. In Harrell, Kuzma, Holiday we are 27, 26, 25 years old. Players with talent and upside still untapped. Players who breakout tend to experience a bump in their 3rd year when the game starts to slow for them and they develop consistency in the abilities they've shown flashes of. Gafford and Hachimura are in this category with 2 years under their belts, but you could expect Bryant, Kuzma, and Holiday (4 years, 4 years, 3 years) each have had their growth stunted by injury / team circumstances / changing roles. Bryant was showing his breakout potential already when he went down. Kuzma has a dozen double doubles a year, a bakers dozen 30 pt games in his career, at least one 40-piece. Holiday is acknowledged as one of the better young defenders in the league, on and off the ball, has a handful of 20+ pt games or double doubles on good efficiency, posts high +/- numbers.
Growth is the key. But it takes time. If we click early, if Wes is a magician, for sure we could play better than .500 ball. For now though I think we are in discovery mode, learning who plays well with each other. What plays work. Our early games may look like a scrimmage as players are figuring each other out and trying to impress each other and the coaching staff. A bit wild, not crisp. Still these are overall smart players who seem to love the game with only a couple raw talents still figuring it out. There's a solid chance they find their rhythm and fairly swiftly the pack figures out how to hunt together, alpha wolf or no.