Yet if they could get 1/3 defensive rebounds and/or the refs don't screw them on the Kirilinko throwing the ball out of bounds play, they probably go to the second round as well. Howard or Head shoot their career average and we win. Boozer shoots his career average and we win. we came close to beating a very good team when most of the team played like crap throughout the series. Adding a player with the MLE, getting a good draft, and making a trade could solve a lot of our issues, as well as seeing how Novak and V-SPAN develop in the off season.
Rafer isn't great, but I doubt that many fans were praising Kenny Smith as the PG that was going to bring us a championship either. That issue was solved with the drafting of Sam Cassel to give major back up minutes right away. We need to find a way to draft an Acie Law or the 6'5 Javaris Crittenton from Georgia Tech (who is projected to be available 2-3 picks above the rockets pick in most mock drafts). Then we just need a younger juwaun howard type, or believe it or not, a Kelvin Kato type. It's unrealistic to think we are going to get much better than that at the 4 spot given our salary constraints without losing a Battier, McGrady or Yao (and there by just creating a weakness at a position that was a strength). Our bench is pretty horrible though right now considering we were the first team in NBA history to have only 4 players score in a play off game. Compare our bench to Utah's and pretty much every bench player they have would be competing for starters minutes here.
Except those things did happen. If we draft Sam Cassel 2 next year and sign a FA who can become another integral part of the rotation, even if they're more Chucky Hayes than Clyde Drexler, obviously the team will improve. I just wouldn't count on that happening at our drafting spot, or V-Span developing into that player, etc. Nor would I say this team is really close. At least before our first championship we had made it to the 2nd round already. And our star player had already been deep in the playoffs more than once.
