Still not a contender, but closest since '97 - 1 ingredient left

While I think Gay turned out to be a significantly better player than Battier (not that Battier is a bad player), I don't see the pass as being too important for Rudy.

 

as of now, even mcgrady is not really a triple threat where he should be, based on his recent plays.

 

that assessment is dubious to me. definitely debatable.

 

I will say the "significantly" is debatable. Battier is a much better defender, but not where he was 2 years ago. Gay is an efficient volume scorer. Very few players can score nearly 20 pts while maintaining 50% 2 pt FG % and 39% 3 pt FG%.

 

IF T-Mac stays healthy (BIG IF), I don't think we need another triple thread guy. You only need one triple thread guy with a bunch of shot makers. Unlike in the past, we now have a bunch of shot makers and a coach who knows how to use them in offense.

T-Mac is not 100%. The 3 rookies are still improving. I have faith, man. Comes playoffs time, we are gonna make some noise.

During the bad stretch earlier when everybody was panicking, I predicted that we would win at least 50 games. It looks like that we can win around 55 games. The big thing is, we play good defense. Not as great as under JVG, but still pretty good. Our offense will be better and better.

 

The 18:1 4th quarter run by Kings indicates that we need much more than 1 player.

priority 1: hearts and guts.

priority 2: true superstars who step up their game in crunch time, not other way around.

priority 3: a PG at NBA starting level.

 

if tmac can play at 75% of his 04/05 level, basically a Manu levlel, within the system, we can go all the way.