Durant-28, Steph-29, Klay-27, Draymond-27 - - - - - let's call it quits

[BIG BEN'S FRO]

Health isn't promised to them. Any of them go down and they're beatable by other elite teams.

This is definitely true. If something happens to Durant, Curry, Thompson, and Draymond we are right there with them.

[ChipButty]

I personally don't think we're too far away from legitimately contending for HCA in the East.

I totally agree with this. Sure it was a disappointing season, but this is actually a better team than went to the playoffs in 2016, and reasonable expectations from that were to get home court advantage. It will be an interesting offseason and I'm pretty sure we'll make a trade, but regardless, I think HCA is a realistic best case scenario.

I don't think it's likely. The 2016 team had a healthy Jackson and Drummond playing for a contract. Also, I think some of the small moves (picking up Leuer while letting Tolliver go) did not help. Tolliver is one of the best players in the league at taking charges and shot 39% from 3 last year.

Our effective FG% essentially stayed the same (49.1% to 49.2%) but we went from 9th worst in the league to 4th worst in the league. The rest of the league got better. Our TS% was worst in the league. Bullock had the highest 3P% this year (38.4%) and he may not even be back. We have 3 guys that shot better than 35% from 3. Cleveland has 13!

I don't see an easy path to the playoffs. Jackson needs to be 100%, Dre needs to play better, KCP and Morris need to shoot better, Bullock and Baynes need to be retained (or replaced with players just as effective) and either SJ or Ellenson need to take a big step forward. That's too much hope for me. I think we need to start making moves.

[Manocad]

Health isn't promised to them. Any of them go down and they're beatable by other elite teams.

This is definitely true. If something happens to Durant, Curry, Thompson, and Draymond we are right there with them.

I'm assuming you mean all four of them at the same time?

[Billl]

Unless the GS owner just doesn't care about money, I don't see how they keep 4 max players on a roster. They have 2 years before he has to decide, but it's still an obvious window. The pistons aren't winning a championship in the next 2 years anyway. GS might still be a top team after that, but I don't think they are going to sustain the level they are currently at.

In the east, lebron is 32. He's obviously still dominant now, but father time is undefeated. After that? The celtics are still on an upswing, but the rest of the conference is pretty mediocre.

[theBigLip]

I personally don't think we're too far away from legitimately contending for HCA in the East.

I totally agree with this. Sure it was a disappointing season, but this is actually a better team than went to the playoffs in 2016, and reasonable expectations from that were to get home court advantage. It will be an interesting offseason and I'm pretty sure we'll make a trade, but regardless, I think HCA is a realistic best case scenario.

I don't think it's likely. The 2016 team had a healthy Jackson and Drummond playing for a contract. Also, I think some of the small moves (picking up Leuer while letting Tolliver go) did not help. Tolliver is one of the best players in the league at taking charges and shot 39% from 3 last year.

Our effective FG% essentially stayed the same (49.1% to 49.2%) but we went from 9th worst in the league to 4th worst in the league. The rest of the league got better. Our TS% was worst in the league. Bullock had the highest 3P% this year (38.4%) and he may not even be back. We have 3 guys that shot better than 35% from 3. Cleveland has 13!

I don't see an easy path to the playoffs. Jackson needs to be 100%, Dre needs to play better, KCP and Morris need to shoot better, Bullock and Baynes need to be retained (or replaced with players just as effective) and either SJ or Ellenson need to take a big step forward. That's too much hope for me. I think we need to start making moves.

Nice details supporting a very good argument. That being said, if we have a healthy RJ, do some of these numbers go up since the defenses would have to focus more on RJ than the shooters? I don't know for sure, but it is certainly a possibility.

[Uncle Mxy]

You fight until you win or you die. You only tank when you know it's over, and you only know it's over when you've played the games and seen the standings, and even then you play the snot out of your potential future players to see what the heck you have. "Tank from the get-go" is not a philosophy I want to embrace, not what I want MY teams to embrace. Screw that noise!