Here's the Step Back....

[Diesel]

Seriously... when I step back and consider where the ownership wanted us to be in this year... they have to be pleased as punch.   They talked about just making the playoffs. 

We are in the ECF and 3 games away from our Franchise's first Finals Birth.

In our path is:

Negotiations with J Collins.  He may demand max and I don't know if they will consider our position or consider his abilities with this team. 

Point is...  if we were 100% healthy, the argument can be made that we would be going to the finals now.   It's hard to not want to see that get a chance. 

So this short offseason will be interesting. 

 

[RedDawg#8]

Most definitely.

We are on schedule in some ways, way ahead in others, and slightly behind schedule in some ways as a team.

For instance:

The way they chose to sign free agents last offseason for us to take a leap, the way those contracts are structured at specific position groups. We are very much on time and on schedule the way Schlenk has us built financially.

Our performance overall has turned in to way ahead of schedule. The long term goal was to be a contender, but doing so in year 3 is a major surprise. Same thing happened with Trae last year. They had no idea he would be so good and starting in an All Star game as a Sophomore. They had to speed up the rebuild midway through the season by nabbing Clint and then start adding vets before we had a chance to let the 2019 class develop in to their roles. Trae's superstardom has the whole process way ahead of schedule.

As far as being behind schedule; due to team success as well as the injury bug, this season has turned in to a lost one for many guys from 2019. Bruno's development has been frozen. Cam essentially lost a season. Dre as well even though his strides were obvious before and after injury. There has to be an asterisk next to the 2019 class as they missed all or most of SL as rookies, they lost a lot of time due to the pandemic, and injuries kept them on the sidelines during some pivotal team growth under Nate. They are probably a full seasons worth behind schedule overall now. And actually I just looked it up and that's factually true. Dre has only played in 86 career games, Cam has only played in 84 games, and Bruno 89. These are players about to be in year 3 with only 1 seasons worth of games under their belt.

As far as how this affects the offseason.

I don't see major signings being made due to how we structured our cap after last offseason. You have JC to lock up and Trae to offer. After that, any additions or major roster moves will have to be made via Trade. Unless we lose JC, Dunn opts out and we renounce every expiring contract, we wont be major players in free agency.

Internally, we have an opportunity for this group to get healthy and gain more development together after what was an abbreviated offseason that featured a ton of new pieces. Roles are a lot more defined than they were coming in to the season. And now we know what it takes to perform in the playoffs.

Cam is finally going to SL to get some development. Hopefully OO will too.  Dre just needs to get healthy and try to pick up where he left off. 

The future is bright. The fact that JC and Kev have showcased that they can help us win big, and the fact that we may have 1 or 2 potential star players in waiting when it comes to Dre and Cam to ADD to this team. 

I couldn't be more excited for this team.

[JeffS17]

1 hour ago, RedDawg#8 said:

Most definitely.

We are on schedule in some ways, way ahead in others, and slightly behind schedule in some ways as a team.

For instance:

The way they chose to sign free agents last offseason for us to take a leap, the way those contracts are structured at specific position groups. We are very much on time and on schedule the way Schlenk has us built financially.

Our performance overall has turned in to way ahead of schedule. The long term goal was to be a contender, but doing so in year 3 is a major surprise. Same thing happened with Trae last year. They had no idea he would be so good and starting in an All Star game as a Sophomore. They had to speed up the rebuild midway through the season by nabbing Clint and then start adding vets before we had a chance to let the 2019 class develop in to their roles. Trae's superstardom has the whole process way ahead of schedule.

As far as being behind schedule; due to team success as well as the injury bug, this season has turned in to a lost one for many guys from 2019. Bruno's development has been frozen. Cam essentially lost a season. Dre as well even though his strides were obvious before and after injury. There has to be an asterisk next to the 2019 class as they missed all or most of SL as rookies, they lost a lot of time due to the pandemic, and injuries kept them on the sidelines during some pivotal team growth under Nate. They are probably a full seasons worth behind schedule overall now. And actually I just looked it up and that's factually true. Dre has only played in 86 career games, Cam has only played in 84 games, and Bruno 89. These are players about to be in year 3 with only 1 seasons worth of games under their belt.

As far as how this affects the offseason.

I don't see major signings being made due to how we structured our cap after last offseason. You have JC to lock up and Trae to offer. After that, any additions or major roster moves will have to be made via Trade. Unless we lose JC, Dunn opts out and we renounce every expiring contract, we wont be major players in free agency.

Internally, we have an opportunity for this group to get healthy and gain more development together after what was an abbreviated offseason that featured a ton of new pieces. Roles are a lot more defined than they were coming in to the season. And now we know what it takes to perform in the playoffs.

Cam is finally going to SL to get some development. Hopefully OO will too.  Dre just needs to get healthy and try to pick up where he left off. 

The future is bright. The fact that JC and Kev have showcased that they can help us win big, and the fact that we may have 1 or 2 potential star players in waiting when it comes to Dre and Cam to ADD to this team. 

I couldn't be more excited for this team.

Great overview, the only thing I'd add is we could potentially come to an agreement with Kev this offseason on an extension.  His price is going to continue to go up the way he's been playing this post season.  He's a legit defender and another ball handler and shooter on offense.  His value is higher in the playoffs than regular season because he doesn't have much of a game in the paint, but you need guys who can create midrange shots in the playoffs and he's been reliable.  

I don't think we'll go this route but I wouldn't be shocked if we put together a package including Cam, picks, and either Bogi/JC for an all-star level player before the trade deadline next year.  Otherwise, I think we're missing great opportunities to get Cam some meaningful post season minutes over guys like Solo (and to some extent, Bogi) who likely do not have a long term place on this team

[Alex]

If everyone was 100% healthy there isn’t a discussion now.  Brooklyn would have rolled Milwaukee and they would have done the same to whoever they saw in ECF.  
You are right that this will be an interesting off season.  Collins is going to be tough to figure out.