Close to .500 probably doesn't get you into the play in for the west. You need to be well above .500 and you still might not make it. I get it, we were mid for like half a season two times in a row. But just look at the teams that are actually in that race for the play in, I don't think we're a Cam Johnson and Tyus Jones away.
To your point, replacing Key with Tyus would be a superstar like impact on paper. So yeah, if we gave up on the majority of our young guys, gave up on development, and got some actual real players we could sniff the play in.