Biggest Reason for Optimism this Year

[pfister1]

In many years we come in with an established hierarchy of players. We know who the key players will be based on prior years. If they step it up and play as needed we'll do well if they don't we'll do well, but with a definite limitation on our prospects. Based on the way JB teams have worked in the past you'd say those players would be Scoop and KJo (maybe BT). However, this year I think the two most important players in the rotation really are Fab and Dion. So far, both are performing well enough to take us to a higher level than we would have expected if we had to rely solely on Scoop and KJo to be the "key" guys. The great thing about Fab and Dion picking it up like they have is that they are basically in the infancy of their development as players. I fully expect that the the Fab and Dion that we see at the end of the year may look head and shoulders above what we are seeing now as they continue to get playing time, experience and succeed at implementing the things they are being coached to do. We may also see this to a lesser degree in James.

The schedule sets up perfectly for us in this respect. Yes, we have what appears to be a gauntlet at the end of the season, but by that time this team will be ready to face that gauntlet and win those games. Had they been earlier we might have won them, but we also might have lost or JB might have gone more conservative with his rotation. By having our toughest Big East games at the end of the year it is really giving us a chance to build players' confidence and continue their upward development trajectory. I think this is of HUGE importance with Melo and James - not as much Dion who really has the tools, but just needed to buy into the system our coaches are playing - which he clearly has done.

My optimism about where this team is headed continues to grow each game.