re: 32-22, 10 games over .500, 5th in West

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The only real hope is Zion takes this asb seriously (frick) and works on conditioning and his handles and adds that 12 footer.

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This is wild.

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This is wild.

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Hes pretty close to putting it together. The dominant stretches are becoming longer. His takeover in the 4th q vs the Clippers. The Lakers game sans his defense.

When I said 30 games for Zion I clearly meant 50, and when I said 50 I really mean 65. Only 22 more games to go and he'll be back!

The wild part is the possibility that he spends the seven day break nailing down a jumper when every single non ASG participant goes on vacation.

I've almost given up hope on him developing any type of jumper. Not sure if they make him work on it in practice and he has some Ben Simmons type mentality towards it or what, but last night was a perfect example of a game where he could have dropped 30 just by changing his game up a little.

Two things were clear last night. 1. The Grizzlies were going to crash 2-3 guys on Zion every time he drove to the paint. 2. Zion was going to do nothing with his game except drive hard to the paint. I mean it happened over and over and over with the same results. The only reason his stat line looked halfway decent is because he got to the foul line, but it was an ugly night outside of getting to the stripe.

I just have a hard time wrapping my brain around being ok with being that one dimensional. Granted, that one dimension is elite, but there is so much opportunity for him to be better. Even if it's just A FEW FEET from the basket. They were giving him (as does everyone) the free throw line shot for free. Not sure why he can't develop that shot.

I’m rooting for JV but he will be our downfall in the playoffs. I hope that I’m wrong but its pretty apparent. If Jaren Jackson Jr can play him off the floor.. it was sad when Antonio Daniels said he can’t guard JJJ cause he’s used to guarding the Steven Adams of the world.. my brother.. those type of C’s hardly exist anymore and certainly not on contending teams

Zubac is maybe the only C JV is good against on western contending teams and Zubac is pretty trash so it’s not hard to figure out why

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I’m more about the eye test and we are closer to being a trash team than an elite team. Most teams are. I’m not just picking on the Pels.

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To me I would like them to play better in the regular season but its really about the playoffs. The west conf is deep and talented. The hope is they stay out of the play-in and get a favorable matchup. How they perform in the playoffs will determine a lot for this group. Just judging how they’ve performed so far I dont expect them to get out of first round. But I also didn’t expect the Heat to make the finals or the Lakers to make the west conf finals. Obviously different players/cultures on those teams but to me the playoffs will be the litmus test.