flow wrote:Mr Peanut wrote:We went 30-20 over our last 50 games off the season, which extrapolates to 49 wins over an 82 game season. And that was all without Ivey, and Ausar on a minutes restriction for most of it.
Off-season:
Ivey > Schroder
Robinson = Beasley (probably an edge to Beasley, but who knows if he would've been able to put in another >300 3PM season if he returned)
LeVert > THJ
Plus another season of internal development for the young guys. Presuming reasonable health I think 50 wins should be the minimum target.
Ivey was having a nice season and was definitely showing improvement. But the fact is, we finished as strong as we did because of Ivey's injury, not in spite of it. Without Ivey's injury, Ausar doesn't move into the starting lineup, which was huge. And without Ivey's injury, we don't pick up Schroder, who provided things to the team that Ivey was not (yet) capable of. We became a better team with the injury.
This is not to say that Ivey is a detriment to the team. Not at all. And his potential is great - here's hoping he really blossoms into an undisputed #2 this season while evolving his floor general capabilities, as well. Ivey is not as good a player as Schroder as of last season. But if he becomes as good or better this season, 50 could be possible.
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Fair comments. Although I suspect if Ivey wasn't injured then Ausar would have entered the starting lineup eventually in place of THJ.
My Ivey > Schroder point was more that I expect Ivey to be better this upcoming season than what Schroder was last season. In the 5 games leading up to being injured Ivey was averaging 19.2/4.2/3.0 on 60/62/75 splits and was really coming into his own. If he can shake off the injury rust early and continue his trajectory of development then we should expect big things.
