Team Review

[sillent]

We are beating the teams we are suppose to beat like the Pacers/Kings(home and away). We are defining our place in the league staying a step above teams like Washington/Portland(home and away). Besides the mental lapse that allowed the game against the Lakers to get blown out of the water we were very competitive.

The good thing about this news so far is we are still very far away from reaching our full potential as a team. Everyone of our players have had their ups and downs and lapse either offensively/defensively or both. We are not playing Hawks defense("Woody Defense") this year except in spurts and we are still winning. Our offense has been great at times but not firing on all cylinders as of yet.

The good thing I see about this is we've learned how to win. When the time is needed to step up on D or make a big play we are doing just that. This shows signs of and up and coming Elite team. They have all the fire power to blow you out the water but even when they are not clicking on all cylinders they find a way to win. They can beat you by 30 or 1 but when you play these teams you know it is a slim chance of you coming out with a victory.

If we continue this trend of beating the teams we are suppose to beat and raising bars set for us against teams that people think may be better. We may see something pretty special come post season and could be seeing the beginning of a dynasty. All the Upper Echelon Teams besides last years Final contenders have key pieces that are old and on the decline.

Lakers may have a 2 year window as far as Kobe/Lamar/Artest/Gasol are concerned so they should be on the decline.

Celtics(just like 2 years ago), time is now or never with their currently constructed squad.

Spurs are still pretty old and grabbed more old peices.

Cavaliers may be the Cavs of old (Before Lebron) if things do not work out this season for them.

As long as Magic have Dwight they have a good system for constructing players around him so it's hard to count them out for a couple of years.

Portland(maybe future Bulls/OKC) looks like the only teams built to rival us in the next decade currently.

[aznsensation]

Pretty impressive to see the team turn it up a notch during crunch time. Yup...so far so good.

[KDT88]

Everything is cool right now. I think we will again be a 4th seed but this time with 50+ wins. The thing I'm interested in is whats going to happen with Joe, and if he leaves, who do we get to replace him.

[sillent]

The way our team is composed (young athletic) I would add Rudy Gay. He is close to being a star if not already but he doesn't take away from our current core. Josh and Jamal will be closer to taking this team over by next year so Rudy can just compliment what we already have.

Since Horford and Smith (athletic but small) are our starting center and power forwards. Marvin and Gay would help bolster that fact and Crawford will also make us more athletic and lengthy.

He would fit right into Woody's switch defense without losing a step(once he learns the system).

He can shoot/score and also is a pretty good defender because of his length, size and athleticism.

He does not have to come in being the star and can kind of just fill his way out and if we ISO anybody it will be Jamal who is a pretty good decision maker.

[Atlantaholic]

We need to improve our defense. But other than that I am pretty happy.

[sillent]

We need to improve our defense. But other than that I am pretty happy.

Yep!! It's not improving our defense that will make us lose against teams like the Bobcats(Another Wake up call game). We won't be as good as we can be until we learn to bring intensity every game against every team on offense and definitely defense.