This team is mediocre right not. That is undeniable.
I do disagree that there is no chance they can't be better than mediocre by the end of the year though. I think there is still room for growth on the current roster.
But, even if there isn't, at the moment, I prefer mediocre over terrible. I am not ready for them to bottom out yet. I think they have done a good job with what they have had to work with.
But there are very clear reasons for the team's current mediocre play. It's not some abstract condition that we simply have to live with. It's the result of decisions that were somewhat misguided, but correctable if acknowledged.
If you look at the players that Danny added to this roster or moved into more important roles, they are downgrades defensively (either as an individual or team defender or both).
last year we had:
Dooling
Bradley
Quisey
Pavlovic
Pietrus
Stiemsma
Hollins
this year (thus far) we have:
Terry
Barbosa
Lee
Green
Sully
Wilcox
These are downgrades defensively. The perimeter players have been either overmatched speed or size-wise, and the low post guys have definitely been overmatched size-wise.
This can be addressed, however, and my feeling is that Danny will move to do so because the problem is so glaring. We need more physically capable defensive players. I wish Danny had picked up Pietrus because I think the addition of him and Bradley would have solidified the perimeter defense and would have freed up Green to be moved for a center (like Gortat or Varejao) but I'm still feeling that Danny will make moves to make the Cs as dangerous as they were last year.