Well, here we are: post your predictions, your gameplans, what you expect, and let's get some immediate reaction after the games have been completed, too!
Both Lebron and AD plan on playing in the Olympics this year. In the past, we've seen younger players have their next season pretty dramatically affected due to fatigue. How about the guy with more miles than anyone in the history of the league? How about the guy with a history of injury even though he's been in one of the healthiest stretches of his career?
Lebron played a LOT of games this year, and AD played more than any other superstar. When adding to this the intense load of an Olympic Games, can we really expect them to be ready to play more than 50% of the season next year? If they play more, will they be healthy? When they do play, will they have enough in the tank to sustain through a playoff run if they were to get there?
I get wanting to represent your country, but to me, this...
We've watched this team waltz through the regular season playing nearly .500 ball until the All Star break, and then finally picking up the pace.
We haven't developed our young players
We have inconsistent lineups
We lack cohesiveness
In the playoffs, good defensive teams can take away your first, 2nd, and 3rd options, and you have to go deep into your bag. You practice that bag in the regular season.
We have no bag to dip into and no one on one specialists who can go get us buckets consistently.
I know as fans we can choose to look on the bright side and believe it's possible to pull off the amazing, and the results last year played into that, but the reality is miracles of that size just don't happen.
Let's look at history and a simple stat that gauges consistent effort across the regular season, the +/- or average margin of victory. (Since 2008)
Statistically, the champions come from the top 6 seeds, but really higher than that unless they have an all time great at the peak...
