I can see that side of the discussion, but why then are the worst losses of the season often used by some to show that the team isn’t a contender? Isn’t the truth something of an average?
Back and fully healthy to me means having worked through the initial doubts of "back on the court" injury recovery. Are we a contender when fully healthy? Yes. With Hood, next season. Without some major aligning of superstars and the other teams remain about the same. Chemistry and comfortably is huge. It takes time. Will the players give it time and come back? We shall see. But this... Dame/Simons CJ/Trent JR Ariza/Hood/Hoard Collins/Melo/Little Nurk/Whiteside/Skal ...is a contender.
teams are never as bad as their worst game or as good as their best games. Neither should be used as a gauge. And most teams go thru bad stretches and good stretches. Those probably aren't good gauges either in 2017, Portland closed the season on a 17-6 run, beating a lot of good teams. They then got swept in the playoffs losing the games by an average of 18 points. The 17-6 stretch didn't mean they were a good team the following season, over a 7 week stretch from mid Feb thru April 1, the Blazers had a 13 game win streak, and went 19-4. They then went 1-4 to close the season and got swept by the Pelicans. Looks like the 1-4 was more predictive than the 2 month hot streak Blazers have won 4 in a row and 7 of the last 10. But before that they were 16-24. Might not be wise to just ignore 40 games and focus on 10
It's all about being healthy and playing well at the right time. Matchups also play a part. All of those factors were working against them in 2018. There's reason for optimism that those factors could be trending in the right direction come April/May this year--potentially even more than last year.
Are we a contender? Doubt it, but what we have seen the past few games is pretty impressive you have to admit. 2 weeks running and Dame is averaging 11 assists a game that means that whoever Dame is passing too is actually making the shot. This is something we did not see with last years team not with any real consistency. Last years team who would actually leave Harkless, Aminu and the great Evan Turner open to double team Dame.....Everyone. As a coach would you leave Melo open to double team Dame? Maybe he is old and his shot is not what it used to be until he starts burning you. Would you leave Ariza open to double team Dame? Yes until he starts to burn you because he can actually put the ball on the floor and make basketball moves like dribble which both Harkless and Aminu could not do with any consistency. Turner could but he could not put the ball in the hoop so no real threat there. Coaches once they find a weakness to your greatest threat will exploit that year after year. Hack a Shaq comes to mind if he could actually make charity shots do you think they would have continued that? Our weakness is not as great as it was last year I think our Shaq has learned how to make foul shots.
Collins with the shoulder and Nurk mending a serious compound ankle fracture. If any of you had serious injuries, you'll know recovery is not instant success. Since these are pro athletes, the team rehab is better than what we would go through but expectations are usually calculated and tagged with caution due to re occurrence of the same or similar injuries that could happen. The one player that had an encyclopedia of bad luck was Allen Iverson.
