We didn't beat them we blew them out while sitting our best players in 4th quarter. We probably would have beaten them even if Fox and AD had played. We were dogshit last season and still beat Lakers when they had AD and Lebron what makes ppl think that we can't now while we are better and they are worse? Also ppl are forgetting that our second unit was missing Tari and Amen. Lakers' 2nd unit looks horrific Amen and Tari would've run through them if they had played. I don't like this overly cautious, too good to be true, there is sth i can't put my finger on mindset. This is a playin team there is no point in trying to lower the expectations. They pass the eye test quite easily. Everybody plays defense, even Tate shoots better, we share the ball etc. there are too many positive things that don't don't make our run fluke. What do we do rn that we can't do tomorrow?
I don't know much about him but ppl think highly of our shooting coach. Apparently he is one of the best in the league. If he can turn Tate into a reliable shooter i don't think our percentage will drop significantly.
While that 32% 3FG% against might have led the league last season, I believe it's entirely possible that they continue to rank highly in that statistic. They close out on damn near every shot and pester teams into taking bad shots, I can't recall a team that plays with more effort defensively ..... The percentage may increase some, but I expect that they are top ~5-7 by seasons end. For reference, New Orleans led the league last year at 33.9. Minnesota is currently #1 at 31.3 followed by New Orleans at 31.6, Toronto 32.5, Denver 32.6 & Houston rounding out the top 5 at 32.7. I do completely expect them to come back to earth in terms of offensive 3 point percentage. I think you left out the biggest one - Actually wanting to and trying to win games. Last season (and the two prior) they had no desire to win games, they were more concerned with collecting ping pong balls. Now it has taken all of the above to effect the change but the desire to change had to be number one, otherwise nothing changes.
I had predicted 37 wins this year and a shot at the play-in, but that was predicated by the insanely difficult schedule to begin the year. I was thinking we probably only get about 5 wins out of the first 25. Now I think we probably go about 10-15. It is still pretty brutal, although catching Memphis without JA lessens the load quite a bit. I now think we are real play-off competitors and will win 40+.
