Alright guys, time for some retrospective.
Right after "the trade", espn had projected us to collapse out of the playoffs and end somewhere are .500. Basically what the jazz are doing right now. After our 5-1 start post all star break, espn took a more cautious approach basically because they didn't know. "the nuggets have been impressive, but they may just be playing inspired because melo left." John Hollinger said "realistically this is still just a 46ish win team." Fast forward to today. Well Mr. Hollinger, we are siting right towards the top of your power rankings (http://espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/powerrankings) and we've hit you're 46 win mark with 7 more games to go. In my opinion, we sweep out 3 remaining home games, upset one of our 3 upcoming road games against the "west elite" and kick the already sliding Jazz in our regular season finale to end 51-31. What do you guys think?
But before you guys say anything, I have something else to say. As I was watching tonight's game against the kings, I noticed our next acquisition, Omri Casspi. Yes! I can't believe this guy only got 3 minutes. Since being a starter last year as a rookie, he's been sliding further and further down the king's bench behind that log jam they have at the 3 and 4. Omri started playing professional basketball in Israel at 17, and was an integral part of the Tel Aviv maccabi team which made it to the European finals. He is a long 6'9 forward that rebounds well, makes smart cuts, a bundle of energy, and has a high basketball IQ. Last year he made the rookie sophomore game and ended in top 10 for 3 point shooting %. The guy is just 22, runs the floor and with consistent minutes showed to knock down the 3, and he's unselfish which would fit perfect into our new team, and with a cheap contract that would allow us to easily ditch harrington, and bring casspi off the bench instead. With our developmental coaching staff we'd get him to bulk up and fix his strange low release(similar to lawson). After 2 years of struggle in detroit we were able to swipe afflalo from detroit for a second round pick, and he's flourished here. With 5 2nd round picks in the next 2 years, I think we can have Sacramento cough him up. Andrew if you're reading this, suggest it to Masai next time you see him. He listened to the Melo for Bynum idea.
