we went 4-1. 4-1, 3-2 then chris paul got injured (and even then it needed a special dose of scott foster in game 7)
I think all that really matters is if this team can be better than last year's team in the Playoffs. I think the answer is yes because of the lack of Ryan Anderson and Luc in last year's playoffs. Assuming health and a little bit more time to gel, I feel like this team is both deeper and slightly better on offense than last year's playoff team with a defense that should be close to a push with last year.
Talent wise, with the addition of Rivers and Faried, is pretty much the same as last year. However, this year team is smarter. A whole lot smarter...
Overall we are deeper than last years team for the playoffs if healthy, however, defensively we are weaker since we never found our lengthy Ariza replacement and our outside shooting can be even worse than last years if Rivers, Shumpert, Clark, Faried, and House can’t hit shots. If Tucker has to carry majority of the defensive load in the playoffs with heavy minutes, he won’t be shooting well either. Rivers provides a much improved defense than last year’s team against smaller players but won’t affect taller elite players. If Shumpert and Rivers can hit outside shots, then we’ll definitely be better defensively than last year’s team on smaller players. We are definitely deeper for the playoffs if everyone is healthy since we didn’t have Luc or Anderson last year. Outside shooting is about the same or weaker and defensively against taller players we are weaker. It just depends on the matchups. We have Rivers as serviceable CP3 insurance which is a plus.
Last year's team was better because it had the cohesion and defensive backbone to hang with any team in the league and against different types of lineups. This year's team has gotten better but doesn't have the benefit of the cohesion. And doesn't have the defensive backbone. It has the "potential" to be better than last year's team if the role players/bench mesh with the team over the last 15 games and into the playoffs.