Remember the "Core 4?" Hinrich, Deng, Gordon, Nocioni? A team build around these 4 guys would be good enough to win the NBA Championship? Well, we have a better team than that now I'd way without Rose. Hinrich and Deng are on the roster. I'd take Hamilton and Boozer over Gordon and Nocioni for this season. And we have stronger centers in Noah and Nazr then we had back then. And Gibson as well. A better head coach too! Is this team, sans Rose, better than the "Core 4" centric team?
I'd say so. But what does that mean? There is a WAAAAY better team, if not more than one, than anything around in the time of the core 4 (Detroit and Cleveland with a young LeBron, right?) But yes, I'm on record as predicting a 50 win season, assuming Derrick back in late Feb, early March. Don't laugh.
I don't know about that. The Heat are good, but so were the Big 3 Celtics teams, the Shaq/Wade Heat team and the Duncan/Parker/Manu Spurs team. I don't think the current Heat would roll over those guys.
That core 4 wasn't a serious contender for making it to the 2nd round, was it? And 30 win teams made the playoffs in the east.
Yes, it's a core 4 type team. A "core 5", actually. We're probably a bit better than those old teams, but maybe not by much. I'm actually going to enjoy watching this team play without Derrick, because I think they have what it takes to execute and string together wins in his absence.
