nate33 wrote:hands11 wrote:4-9 and eye balling a 4-10 finish.
Not bad tanking for a team that was playing over .500 ball
Tank early.
Get your grove going mid season. Beat the playoff teams. Lose to the lottery teams.
Then tank down the stretch.
Perfect.
Wall breaks out
Beal breaks out
You found Webster
Trevor A and Okafor both produced
Culture change
Defense
Objectively, I think you would have to call that a successful season for this stage of the rebuild.
The two most important questions mostly got answered and that was Wall and Beal
I gotta agree. If we're going to tank, this tanking plan beats most. The main problem is that at the end of it all, Okafor and Nene are still on the wrong side of 30. If Nene gets healthy and can have three strong years at least as good as he played last season, then it'll work out, but I consider that unlikely.
Unlikely ? We will see. I feel pretty confident he will come back a lot more healthy then he was this year. The fact that he didn't get the rest he needed over last summer never gave him any chance of being healthy this season. And he paid the price in pain and production.
Now I think he will be focused on getting his body right. Nene made an emotion decision to play in the Olympics and I think it was the wrong one. But he is no dummy. I fully expect him to do the right things this off season. So come next year, we should have a much better idea of what he will have moving forward.
If I were to make a guess as to what I think he will look like to start next year, I would guess he is going to look energetic, focused and determined. I also expect to see an effective mid range shot. He has a lot of work to put in but I think he will get there.
But even injured, I think Nene added the vet stability to the front court and the team that was needed. Along with Okafor, Trevor A and Webster.
But like I said, I big part of what got accomplished this year was Wall and Beal maturing. They are the ones that need to acquire that vet leadership knowledge so the team can move forward and not be rudderless without players like Nene and Okafor on it.
There are a lot of level to climb from being a blown up rock bottom franchise. They made progress this year. Stuff that will stick like Beal understanding how to play in the NBA and having a wet stoke from 3. Also, the team now has a defensive focus.
Wall and Beal both probably need another year under their belts before they are really at that level that they can start to take the training wheels off of them. Once that happens, the team will have a lot more flexibility to add and move parts because it will have two solid starters to build off of.
Wall needs to keep working on his J and add 3 range.
Beal needs to get healthy and add better handles.
