There are a few things here:
First, I think most people projected us winning high 40s in games. Where would we have guessed that had we known the following players would miss as many games as they did:
Hayward -- 9 games.
Hill -- 33 games.
Favors -- 32 games.
Hood -- 23 games.
No way we predict 51 games knowing our starters would combine for 98 missed games (counting Gobert). We'd project maybe a 42 win season.
2015-2016 was also unfortunate because Gobert and Favors combined for 41 games missed and we thought this year we'd be healthy and we were much deeper. It's certainly possible next year could be another anomaly injury year.
If we were able to retain our core (not necessarily saying we would or should) and our core players missed maybe 20 games instead of 100 then we have an entirely different picture. If Hill plays in 75 games, that's huge. If Favors plays at least 70 and regains even a fraction of his partial self and plays the 4, then that's huge. If Hood plays in games and is anything that we've seen from him before and doesn't repeat this playoff garbage, that's huge. All of these are huge question marks, but it's really hard to think we strike out on all three and that things could possibly be any worse and unfortunate than they were this season.
Gobert and Hayward to huge leaps forward this year. Especially after the playoffs, Hayward has arrived and that will translate huge into next season's performance. Gobert too. He'll have to step up as our enforcer. We win 60 games next year, we go further in the playoffs.
Now, obviously the question is how we compete with GSW. I don't know that I realistically see us landing another star in a trade or free agency. Unfortunately, we'll have to rely on the uncertainties above in addition to hoping Exum can come up big. I think Bolomboy and Exum being able to step up and be solid rotation players becomes an X factor for being able to run with these teams. If we had old Favors at the four then we're an entirely different team.
I want Favors resting this off-season and healing up. Ride a bike and swim to stay in shape. I'd like to see him shooting 1,000 threes per day over the summer as there's no sense in him burning down his body on the court doing other things.
First, I think most people projected us winning high 40s in games. Where would we have guessed that had we known the following players would miss as many games as they did:
Hayward -- 9 games.
Hill -- 33 games.
Favors -- 32 games.
Hood -- 23 games.
No way we predict 51 games knowing our starters would combine for 98 missed games (counting Gobert). We'd project maybe a 42 win season.
2015-2016 was also unfortunate because Gobert and Favors combined for 41 games missed and we thought this year we'd be healthy and we were much deeper. It's certainly possible next year could be another anomaly injury year.
If we were able to retain our core (not necessarily saying we would or should) and our core players missed maybe 20 games instead of 100 then we have an entirely different picture. If Hill plays in 75 games, that's huge. If Favors plays at least 70 and regains even a fraction of his partial self and plays the 4, then that's huge. If Hood plays in games and is anything that we've seen from him before and doesn't repeat this playoff garbage, that's huge. All of these are huge question marks, but it's really hard to think we strike out on all three and that things could possibly be any worse and unfortunate than they were this season.
Gobert and Hayward to huge leaps forward this year. Especially after the playoffs, Hayward has arrived and that will translate huge into next season's performance. Gobert too. He'll have to step up as our enforcer. We win 60 games next year, we go further in the playoffs.
Now, obviously the question is how we compete with GSW. I don't know that I realistically see us landing another star in a trade or free agency. Unfortunately, we'll have to rely on the uncertainties above in addition to hoping Exum can come up big. I think Bolomboy and Exum being able to step up and be solid rotation players becomes an X factor for being able to run with these teams. If we had old Favors at the four then we're an entirely different team.
I want Favors resting this off-season and healing up. Ride a bike and swim to stay in shape. I'd like to see him shooting 1,000 threes per day over the summer as there's no sense in him burning down his body on the court doing other things.
