Why don't people think we'll be better?

[Al91]

We lost a lot of games last year simply by not having Rondo the full year and not having someone to actually score in crunch time (a la Pierce). So yeah, I guess I should expect us to win more games next year...it's all I can expect with a "better" roster and a full year of Rondo. We'll see.

[manl_lui]

We lost a lot of games last year simply by not having Rondo the full year and not having someone to actually score in crunch time (a la Pierce). So yeah, I guess I should expect us to win more games next year...it's all I can expect with a "better" roster and a full year of Rondo. We'll see.

I think statistics shows that despite Rondo coming back, we weren't really winning as much as people thought we would. That and he didn't play back to backs. I still believe that last year he wasn't in Rondo form yet (yes I may be making excuses for Rondo), so I am excited to see Rondo next season.

However, I do not think Rondo is a go-to-scorer in crunch time. We still need that player. Green can score, but he seems to have an on-off switch. I want someone who WANTS the ball in his hands and not afraid to fail. As I said in numerous threads, I have Smart will be that guy eventually.

[Evantime34]

People don't think we will be better because people believe what they see. We were bad, last year and didn't add any big talent so they don't see how we will be better.

Personally, I think Rondo having anything near the career year I expect him to wins us more games. I think the improvements of Olynyk and Sullinger will win us more games. I think Smart and Young replacing Babb and Johnson will win us more games.

It is safe to see what this team did last year and assume they will do the same. I'm willing to go out on a limb and assume improvement which is why I don't think there is any way they won't be better.

[GreenWarrior]

this team has to be better. I think Rondo will be better, I don't care if people hate him, love him or whatever, he wasn't healthy last yr., he wasn't playing a normal schedule of games, he'll be better and we'll be better.

and I have to assume sully and olynyk will be better....if sully hasn't eaten his way outta the league between now and the start of the season.

but all of this doesn't really matter. last season we still had a legitimate shot at the playoffs I think with like 3 weeks to go in the season. and that's why i'm puzzled as to why we're loading this team with guys that will get us to the 8th seed?

in the east we could have 28 - 30 wins and make the playoffs. it's a bad time to be mediocre.

also every yr. there's always 1 or 2 teams that don't live up to the hype esp. in the east. again we could find ourselves in or close to the playoffs without even trying.

The bar for getting into the East last year, when the power was more concentrated, was 38 wins. I don't see where 30 wins gets us a spot this year.

I agree that we will be better than last year, but I don't think we're in danger of making the playoffs (which is an awful phrase to type).

in reality 30 wins shouldn't get us in the playoffs and it probably won't. the eastern teams 'should' be better, but then again there were teams last yr. that 'should've been better' in the east and they weren't.

but still, if 38 was the bar and we were 30 and still had a shot until like 3 - 4 weeks to go in the season. it's too close. we were a lottery team that could've made the playoffs. if we earned a playoff spot - then great. but making the playoffs because we're the better of the bad teams isn't the same as earning it.

so, I don't see why we would even want to take a chance at putting ourselves in that position again. and that's what we're doing.

[Donoghus]

This team is a mis-mash of parts right now and a lot of it is only of the average talent variety.  My expectations aren't particularly high.  I do expect an incremental improvement from last year but I don't see anything drastic. 

The incremental improvement idea is mostly chalked up to feeling that Rondo will be much closer to the Rondo we've seen in the past as well as continued improvement from K.O. & Sully and a deep bench than last year.   I don't think it'll be enough for the playoffs, though.

[kozlodoev]

In case you wondered, there have only been 5 or 6 cases in the history of the NBA when teams with 35 or less wins have made the playoffs in a 82-game season.

[LooseCannon]

making the playoffs could be the worst thing for this team.

Making the playoffs is probably the best thing for this team if it wants to sign an impact free agent next summer. 

[Donoghus]

In case you wondered, there have only been 5 or 6 cases in the history of the NBA when teams with 35 or less wins have made the playoffs in a 82-game season.

I think even 35 wins for this team in '14-15 is a stretch as currently constituted.

[Endless Paradise]

In case you wondered, there have only been 5 or 6 cases in the history of the NBA when teams with 35 or less wins have made the playoffs in a 82-game season.

And adjusting for the 1999 lockout season (when only 50 games were played, so ~21 wins was the equivalent of 35 in a regular-length season), that hasn't happened since 1988.

[Chris22]

We should be better because we have better players, and last year we were trying to lose.

[kozlodoev]

In case you wondered, there have only been 5 or 6 cases in the history of the NBA when teams with 35 or less wins have made the playoffs in a 82-game season.

I think even 35 wins for this team in '14-15 is a stretch as currently constituted.

A team that's planning to give major minutes to 3 guards that make less than .300 of their threes will not go far unless someone plays out of their mind.

[Evantime34]

In case you wondered, there have only been 5 or 6 cases in the history of the NBA when teams with 35 or less wins have made the playoffs in a 82-game season.

I think even 35 wins for this team in '14-15 is a stretch as currently constituted.

A team that's planning to give major minutes to 3 guards that make less than .300 of their threes will not go far unless someone plays out of their mind.

Maybe I'm being daft but who is the third guard that makes less than 30%?

[kozlodoev]

In case you wondered, there have only been 5 or 6 cases in the history of the NBA when teams with 35 or less wins have made the playoffs in a 82-game season.

I think even 35 wins for this team in '14-15 is a stretch as currently constituted.

A team that's planning to give major minutes to 3 guards that make less than .300 of their threes will not go far unless someone plays out of their mind.

Maybe I'm being daft but who is the third guard that makes less than 30%?

Rondo, Smart, Turner. Although Turner is probably better than the .288 he shot with the 76ers last season.

[GreenWarrior]

making the playoffs could be the worst thing for this team.

Making the playoffs is probably the best thing for this team if it wants to sign an impact free agent next summer.

because that's worked in the past.

[nickagneta]

1. Adding rookies doesn't tend to make you better right away when you are a bad team. So I don't care if Smart and Young were added to the team that doiesn't make this team better next year because of them, it makes the team next year worse and the future better.

2. This team, if injuries occur, and they will, is not deep in talent and will suffer greatly when injuries to players happen.

3. I lot of the idea of us getting better is that the young players will get better and add more to the team. Many times, that doesn't happen. For all we know the best years of Sully and KO may have already happened. Probably not but it happens sometimes that young players don't progress a bunch every single year.  We might get stagnation

4. The team is still horribly unbalanced with no real starting center, three PFs that will vie to be the starter, and a raft of guards. The team has no center, no star, no go to scorer, it lacks great outside shooting and rebounding and its defense at the end of last year look atrocious after looking so good to start the year.


I see maybe a mild uptick in wins, 3-5, as a possibility but they could easily be worse as well. We will see.