hands11 wrote:Never understood how you could predict them this early. We haven't even seen them in pre-season or know who will be healthy when the season starts.
WTH....Looking into my crystal ball... its getting clearer.... I see something....
82-0 AMAZING
Or I could do the safe middle of the road thing....41-41 or there abouts...
But it's anyone guess at this point. Anywhere from 30 to 46 wins. Need to see them in camp first and see who we have healthy to start the year.
Ted is building with the long term in mind so there is no help on the way. They are going to throw them out there and see if they have anything to keep. They mean loosing at the expense of evaluating and growing. EG starting cleaning out the roster on his own and now with Ted they are keeping it really flexible so they can add players later when needed.
With the CBA around the corner and so many young players at center, a lot has to go right. If not, we could easily be down around 30 wins. Hard to tell if our offense and offensive style will be enough to over come a weak center position if it ends up that way.
Having seen the summer league and preseason, an knowing we dumped Ammo, I'm getting a better feel for what might happen. Wall has a lot to do with it. He is true leader and he is setting the tone with Flip and Sam. Also, Howard seems a head of schedule which is great news. And McGee is showing flashes of maturing and getting it. I like that he is saying more of the right things. I heard him say we all have to sacrifice parts of our game to do what the team needs. I also like the added muscle.
Seems they still have some work to do with getting things worked out with what they want from Dray which is a little concerning but I think between Flip and Wall they will work it out. Wall will get him the ball in ways that he feels productive. This will lead to him getting with the program. This is why I have been wanting them to get a better PG than Gil for years. A Wall type PG is going to greatly accelerate the learning curve and development of other players, specially the bigs. And along with that, he is going to greatly help the coach get everyone on the same page. The ball will stick less this year. That is something Flip has wanted since he got here. We are also going to play better team D and have better role players.
We seem mostly healthy considering we had concerns about Howard, Gil and Dray coming into the season. Gil and Dray seem less of a concern so that is huge. We didn't even know for sure if Dray would be ready to start this season. He is a little out of shape, but he is ready to play. Still waiting to hear more about Gil though. A least it wasn't his knee but the hammy needs to get right if we want him to be back to scoring Gil.
My last concern is Nick. I think we can upgrade there by subtraction and in the process get a more reliable bench which will be important on the margin. And on the margin can count for 3-5 games. It would be a long shot to see them move him before the season starts, but I can still dream that they find a deal that works. Not sure holding him will raise his value or not.
I had us at anywhere from 30 to 46 wins earlier. Well 30 would be low.
What did we win last year ? 26 ?
Wall adds 10. And Gil and last seasons Dray at PF instead of AJ could add 5-10
No Haywood center takes away several games but if Dray, Yi, McGee and Armstrong with Seraphin (over time) could hold down the fort with McGee maybe surprising us with his development, hmmm
Also consider the FX of having Gil as a closer with ball in hand. We didn't really have that last year. Wall will also be a closer. He doesn't have Gils range but he can drive, dish and hit a mid range. Those two at the top of the key with the ball in eithers hand is going to be hard to guard which will spread the floor. Dray is another play how can develop a closing game plus McGee and alley op and Yi can hit from range. Plus with Howard or Kirk. With so many game coming down to the end, I like what we have to win those games.
It's easier to see 42-46 wins. I know 34-38 would be easier for some but this team has talent. If just a matter of how it all fits together and how quickly it happens. With Wall being such a quick study and how well he helps Flip and Sam communicate the plan, I'm leaning toward quickly.
Still a few more days to figure this out. I want to see the final roster and health report.
Magnumt
