Funny how they mention how everyone is improved and good and winning 35 to 41 games (plus).... then at the 1:09 mark they go on to say, not everyone can win these many games. Which is what I've been saying
Good point. We are definitely improved, and so are some other teams. People think it's going to be a direct reflection of the records, but not everyone can win more games. Either some teams are taking steps back, some are not as improved as they think, or both. I do think we'll have a better record, but it has to come at the expense of other teams. The preseason stuff makes it seem like everyone can somehow win more games lol.
The Rockets win total is hard to predict because a solid, fundamentally strong, defensive first team can rack up some wins when they otherwise shouldn't. But its impossible to tell how efficient they'll be offensively, and how good any of their young players might end up... do they take year [x] leaps?!?!? I personally don't think they really do. None of them have remotely stood out on the screen to date as either a high impact winning player that will gradually turn that into a high impact winning go-to high stats player... or a high stats player that will gradually turn that into a high impact on winning player. JG is super inefficient and bad at defense. Both should improve, but i see nothing to make me believe he'll be uber efficient or above average efficiencies or crazy good as a creator, and certainly not a high level defender. Bari HOPEFULLY becomes efficient offensively, but again he's limited there imo. He doesn't have that elite finishing at the rim ability, nor the high FT rate, one or both of which almost all super efficient offensive players have. Which means you are counting on him becoming a high 30s MINIMUM 3 point shooter, AND shooting those long contested middies at a strong rate. That's a big ask. NVM that he's been very bad defensively so far and continued to look so in the preseason, imo, with the likes of Zach Collins and Nikola Jovic punishing him in the post, and him continuing to get blown by on the exterior. Alpi id have said had the better chance, and indeed does look much better defensively, but ofc will always be limited there. But his offense this preseason is a big question mark, and regardless of what i feel, the organization at this point clearly thinks he's limited. Tari i love, but he's not going to break out or anything this year. Though I'd love to see him at his peak for a couple years as a Shawn Marion-esque offensive player with all-nba level defense, which is a REALLY great player... but that's years away. Amen i hold hope for, but ulimately he will really need to learn to shoot and he's a rookie. Cam i hold hope for, just needs to learn how to see the floor better and not be such a black hole when he has the ball. Amen and Cam obviously are rookies. Relative to this season, again, we may get improvements and that strong, fundamentally sound defense, and win 30 games, or 40 games, or 45 games... who knows. Relative to long-term... MEH
One thing I always try to remember is what Giannis, Curry, Beal, Booker, etc looked like in their first couple of seasons. There are guys like KD and Bron who just look like they're years ahead of where they should be, but a lot of the really amazing players in the league needed some time to develop physically and then have the right pieces put around them before they could thrive. I honestly can't believe Jalen in particular could produce anything with the **** show we had going on the last two years. I mostly agree with your sentiment that we need to see something from these kids soon, but with Jalen, I feel like I've seen so many flashes of what could be, I have a lot of hope for him. Yes, he's not consistent, but I don't see how he could have been with the circumstances and being a skinny kid. This year is going to really recalibrate his brain in the way he processes NBA basketball. I feel like it'll be similar for Sengun on the defensive end. For the year 1 and year 2 guys, I definitely am willing to give them a little longer before I make any judgments.
