We’re not even a quarter of the way into the season and we’ve already had 7 or 8 memorable games.
They beat the T’Wolves who are at the top of Western Conference
Had a wild game in Chicago that should’ve been a win if not for poor officiating
Stole a game from the Bucks in what was their most methodical game of the season
Mounted epic comebacks against the Spurs and Wizards
Went toe-to-toe with Luka and Kyrie and bad officiating and came out on top
Kept up with a stacked Celtics team in a close loss
Just beat a high-octane Pacers offence in an amazing back and forth match
I don’t know if they’re going to be play-off or play-in bound but a lot of these tight back and forth games are really good practice for the post-season and Scottie’s + younger players’ development
For a team that’s heading into a retool or rebuild, they’ve shown a lot of heart and the on court product is so far better than the hopeless ‘snatching defeat from the jaws of victory’ team we had last year that couldn’t come back after falling behind by 5 let alone 15 or 20.
Plus the breath of fresh vibes from Darko and his support of the players has been great to see as well.
Overall it’s been a pretty memorable season so far with Scottie on the cusp of breaking out and taking over games on a consistent basis.
I’m looking at this as Year One. Forget how we got here and look forward. To me, this team is much closer to being great than it is to being bad. But there is no doubt some changes are needed. We desperately need an elite knockdown shooter. And we likely need to trade Siakam for assets. With the big leap Scottie has taken, the only thing that should matter is setting it up so he has a solid group around him during his prime years. A bit of patience is going to be required to get there, but we still have a few years to pull it all together.