This Team is VERY Close

The talent is there for this team to be a top 4 seed for years, but we still have a couple things to clean-up before we consistently compete with teams like the Lakers and Rockets.

First, and this hopefully comes with experience, is the dumb turnovers. We threw the ball in the stands and directly to an opposing player too many times to count last night. The biggest reason it seems is we love to jump and pass, and nothing good happens when you do that. If we cut that out and shave 3-4 turnovers off per game, that will go a long way.

Secondly, and most importantly, Alvin Gentry will hold this team back from achieving success. His coaching skills are deficient for an NBA coach, and he has had long enough to show that he isn't the guy. We had stretches where we go 4 or 5 possessions of no basket and take some bad shots, and he doesn't call a timeout, leading to a big hole we have to climb out of. His rotations are absolutely terrible. Jah playing at all is criminal, but the fact that Favors, who was having a terrible game was getting more action than Melli is insane.

Thirdly, and finally, we get very lazy on defense sometimes. They had some possession where the Lakers were getting to the rim like no one was on the court. We struggle with bigger teams, like the Nuggets and Lakers, getting offensive boards, and we will have to figure that out. Offensive boards plus high turnovers give the opponent a lot of extra possessions putting too much pressure on making sure we score on the offensive end.

Games like last night are frustrating because it shows how close we are to being very good, but for a few minor improvements.