younggunsmn wrote:IMHO any of those 7 teams have a legitimate shot to come out of the west if things fall right for them.
It all depends on who is healthiest/playing together the best in May and June.
You can play the "one injury away" game with every team.
Wolves exceeding expectations will hinge on 2 things:
1. Ant taking a leap, becoming the alpha on offense, and making this his team
2. Finch checking egos and giving playing time and touches solely on who is most conducive to winning.
Maybe that means Russell takes a big leap and becomes a functional defensive player.
But it could also mean Beverly/Bolmaro/Okogie on the floor late in the game protecting leads.
While it is true that you can play the one injury away game with every team, it is important to acknowledge who is already injured. Without Leonard the Clippers will not be a top tier team. They have too many role players and not enough stars. Kenard would need an all star season for them to have any chance at title I don’t see it happening. The Nuggets without Murray and having lost Gary Harris are going to struggle. As for the Suns, time will tell, but I think if you look at CP3 in the seasons before last you will see that last year was big for him. If he cannot repeat it can you honestly say they are top of the west?
As for Ant making this team his, it isn’t likely to happen. Ant has flaws which limit him. For example his 3 point shooting doesn’t seem that improved yet, and would need to make a major leap to get him the spacing he needs to make defenders respect his game to the level they respect other top wings or even KAT. Also, KAT is going to have a monster year with a healthy Dlo to run 2 man game with him. We have more defensive talent this year than last and this will allow us to keep the leads that KAT builds. Don’t get me wrong, Ant can have a very good year, but this is still KAT’s team.
As for Finch, we agree accountability is key. I do however think it is more about Finch finding the right uses for guys like JO, Vando, Beverly, and Prince that will make us succeed. Finch is a master of increasing offensive efficiency, and these guys are all high potential players when put in the proper position to succeed. For Vando and JO that means cutting at the right moments, playing at the elbow, and getting out ahead in transition (also turning defense into offense, though that sometimes counts as getting out in transition.) For Beverly and Prince it is all about catch and shoot 3s and running the right ball screen actions (sometimes on ball, sometimes off, sometimes pick and roll sometimes pick and pop.) Finch needs to feed the hot hand and he will win games.
