anyone else excited about this upcoming season now?

[_tijo_]

These are the things I'm excited for:

1. Seeing the chemistry with the team without Dwight. Two years ago when Lin was here, the chemistry of the squad was at an all time high. Playoffs, shoulda beated the Heat, thanks purpleshirtguy. Then Lin left, we got Roy, and then this year Dwight. I think everyone will be a little happier this year, and hopefully that translates on the court.

2. Seeing Kemba in a contract year. I think he's going to earn that max deal, whether it be from us or someone else.

3. I'm actually excited to see Batum this year. Everyone is bagging on him and his deal, saying it's the worst thing ever. First of all, Tyrus Thomas was the worst thing ever. Second of all, I want to see him have an injury-free year without having to adjust to Dwight and just play under JB. I think Batum's games is so Spursian, that he will be a very nice fit with how JB wants to play.

4. I'm excited for our rooks, and I might be more excited about Graham than Miles. And I think Miles might start by January. But it's been a minute since we had a actual PG who can shoot in the backup role.

5. Lastly, I'm excited we have a GM that knows the ins and outs of being a GM. I actually think Cho did a fine job taking us from the 7 win Bobcat years to the playoffs, but you always got the sense he was figuring out how to be a GM as he went along. And because of that, he couldn't tell Michael's fam and cronies to get out of the draft room. I actually hope he gets another shot somewhere.

[Soul Rebel]

I def am and it aligns quite a bit with Ichiro.

We removed a clogging presence in our starting lineup with Dwight as well as appeasing our #1 player, Kemba. A commitment to keeping him vs. moving him out and completely rebuilding (excellent choice) is the direction it seems that the FO is going in. A new coach with a more modern approach than Cliff should, if nothing else, give us lineups that don't make me cringe (see Batum to the 3). We have a GM that values a back-up PG for the first time in a looooong time and believe that we will finally get one that won't create a huge dropoff when Kemba is out of the lineup. We also drafted a PG (that we kept for once) that should be ideally ready to take over the second unit in 2019.

Kemba - FA PG - Graham
Lamb - Monk
Batum - Bridges - Bacon
Marv - Kaminsky
Zeller - WHG - Mozgov

I do think there is some minor tinkering left to be done - (trade MKG, Marv or Frank & sign a FA backup PG) but not a lot can be done with the situation that Mitch inherited.

I do think we have to figure out the Lamb situation moving forward. Can he and Kemba be signed together next summer, and still have flexibility for the future years. I do want him here, but with Monk a potential replacement, would it make more sense to gain assets by trading Lamb and have more cap space available to spend elsewhere in the big picture. Not an easy call and not one I would want to make.

So far, I'm pleased with his decision making and think we will at least be competitive for the playoffs. I know we want to be in the top-3, but that isn't happening with BOS, PHI and TOR up there. Next year's draft class is not supposed to be as loaded as this one, so even if we tanked more and ended up in the top-10 of the lottery, I doubt we draft someone better than the Bridges/SGA/Porter/Smith's that were available this year.

I just want to see a more cohesive, exciting, athletic and well-coached team. We will fight for a 6-8 seed, but as long as we stay healthy, I think this team is more enticing on paper right now than the previous couple of years.

[LofJ]

I'm excited about the summer league, but I won't get excited about next season until we know for sure what's going to happen with Kemba. I'll still be excited to watch the team play faster, more modern basketball; but if Kemba is traded my excitement will definitely be muted somewhat. But there's nothing like irrational hope to keep you going, young guys in particular that don't have much NBA experience but still play hard and show flashes of potential are easy to root for.