I don’t know that I’ve ever been optimistic (or pessimistic). There are certain things that should be appropriately inventoried, and during Donovan’s rookie year it was clear that we weren’t a lottery team and that we would make the playoffs despite being out of the picture, so I pushed that. Everyone was talking about tanking for Doncic and I was trying to get us to cash in on that stupid draft pick, stating that our window had just opened and it’s time to accelerate.I miss optimistic infection
Right now we’re close, which is what makes it so frustrating that we have just a couple major flaws we won’t acknowledge: mental toughness / effort / focus, perimeter defensive issues, and then Quin’s inflexibility, which exacerbates the aforementioned.
There are a lot of good things. But again, what we can take from tonight is that a win is a win and a loss is a loss. It’s unclear how far we can go by trying to outshoot our problems (to borrow a phrase someone used last night referencing something Dowsett apparently said). I acknowledge that we could get lucky and it could happen. I acknowledge that luck could have also propelled us past LAC (and definitely not outside the realm of possibility). Tonight can give us a small indication of possibility. Both for the good (if we hit shots and stay on top) and for bad. Ultimately, this is our strategy and it is what it is. We’re the equivalent of walking into a gun fight with a BB gun and the friend with you is saying not to worry because he’s the quickest draw and even with the BB gun all he needs to do is outdraw everyone. Right now we have no alternative to accompanying that friend, and I sure as **** hope his quick draw gets us through a wild situation. We very well could be celebrating on the other side of that situation with an unbelievable story to tell. But on the flip side it’s quite realistic that we end up dead. Walking into that with a BB gun wouldn’t have been my idea. I would have at least picked up a couple of baseball bats that are no longer at my disposal. But here we are. I hope his quick draw can save us.
