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Message: [QUOTE="jdubs30, post: 2211199, member: 1620"] This year has a lottery pick in Battle, that's something we didn't have last year. You could make the argument that TT could be a 1st rounder after next year depending how he plays. Last year's team MAY get 1 st rounder if Lydon goes. The length and depth of our forwards will make our zone more effective and our players more rested. No more 40 minutes of AW3 on defense. Having the ability to have Marek, MM, OB, TT and even Battle play the wings will be a big advantage. We won't be able to replace the shooting of AW3 though. Having 3 guys who can play the 5 will also help. I think Sidbie might be super underrated. The zone overall should be better no matter what - at worst, Howard is an upgrade defensively to Gillon. I think our forwards all have the athletic ability and build to be successful in the zone. The question simply will be how fast will they pick it up? Battle IMO will join Triche and MCW as the best top of the zone defenders of the last decade for us. Gillon just wasn't good most of the time up there, and while AW3 finally picked it up later in the year, he's not the type of body JB prefers down there. JB wants the long athletes with the crazy wingspan - which is what MD, OB and MM bring. 2 obvious advantages from last year: 1. Our 3pt shooting. We all know what AW3 did from deep, we had Gillon, Lydon and Battle. No matter what happens this year we won't be that good from 3 again. Battle will be our best, the addition of Thorpe will be massive and hopefully Howard improves from 3. However I don't see much 3pt offense comi,ng from our forwards. TT might be able to step out, but nothing close to Lydon 2. Lydon at the 5. For as much as he had quiet games offensively, Lydon at the 5 was really, really good. He was very good on the glass, blocking shots, and rotations. The difference of him and TT last year was monumental. I don't expect PC, TT or Sidbie to be as good as Lydon was defensively at the 5, but if those guys can be just average and not hurt us and block shots, I think it will be passable. I think this year will be more fun to watch, because I think we have the foundation of a young core that we can build on for the next 4 years - it felt like a while since we had that. I also think that Battle might be our best player since Waiters/MCW. The kid is gonna be a blast to watch this year. [/QUOTE]

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