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Message: [QUOTE="Niastri, post: 4402689, member: 722"] Yup, you just spelled out the worst case scenarios that would make this a bad team. On the other hand, if half or more of those "what ifs" go our way, we could be a good teamOn the right side of the bubble. If they mostly come out positive, we could be really good. I think our defense will be improved by the replacement of low ceiling athletes with superior fast twitch athletes. The greater experience of Swider and Jimmy was irrelevant because they were in their first year in the zone. Replacing those guys with Williams, Brown, Taylor or Bunch along with Buddy for Mintz is going to be a huge defensive upgrade right away. And they will get better as they learn to be instinctive with the rotation requirements. Every team since JB went all in on the zone has shown significant improvement defensively as the season progressed. Unlike last year, this team will have the horses. On offense, things are murkier, but with the guys we have coming in, along with the likelihood of Williams improving, it seems likely we'll be able to find guys who can be good defensively and hit open shots. Edwards and Girard are proven commodities that will likely evolve slightly with another year of experience. They excelled at the pick and roll their last few games, and it could be dominant this season. Even our expected reliance on Mintz coming in and being good to great right away has Torrence and Copeland as backup contingencies if he doesn't work out as expected. Mintz looks like a guy who used basketball smarts and skill to excel in high school, not merely blowing away smaller, slower kids with his athleticism. I think he's going to exceed his ranking substantially and make this a very good team right from the start of the season. With the team only getting better as the year goes, I'm quite optimistic. I look forward to a season with single digit losses. 25-6 regular season. [/QUOTE]

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