I think the Charles Barley-esque "fluke" argument is bullshit.
Each season is its own animal. This season imo is not an Animal the team was prepared for.
we lack the permeter shooting we had, rebounding somehow got worse, and the competition is much better.
That said, I think a lot of the stats show ATL isn't that bad, just terribly unlucky:
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Most open 3s
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Most losses on a game winning possession
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Top in many defensive stats
Is the team championship caliber? Nope.
Is it far off? not really imo. either you see Horford as the future PF, an awkward C, a trade chip, or a guy we shouldn't pay to keep, Millsap has been a great anchor, THJ, Baze, and Dennis are all young team controlled guys with lots of upside.
I think FA moreso than the draft defines this team, so i'm not shocked that following last year's horrible cap situation we regressed. The fun part? This year we have money, if we can sell ATL well enough, who knows?
The team is less than a KD away imo. If ATL keeps the pattern of developing fringe guys, this cpuld be a very very good team for a very long time.
thoughts?
Submitted February 26, 2016 at 08:54AM by mehjbmeh