How embarrassing.

even if it is front court length, let’s consider it (defensively), from last year to this year:

Kevin Love = Kevin Love
Darko > Hollins (sizewise and defensively)
Pek > or = Big Al (bigger size, looks like a better defender)
Beasley > Stewie or Jawai (gives up a lot of size, but just a better ball player in general)

I guess I just don’t see how it’s possible that we’re smaller than we were last year, as Darko and Pek together are larger than Hollins and Al, the two guys whose minutes they’ll be taking (for the most part). In terms of defensive ability, Darko and Pek again are the clear superior combo when compared to Big Al and Hollins, right? Am I taking crazy pills here?

I guess when I personally look at our bigs I see a massive defensive upgrade, both in individual talent (a more modest upgrade here, no Dwight Howard types were added) but most especially in how these guys can all compliment each other (their group defense will be better than the sum of their individual talents). The thing about Big Al and Hollins wasn’t that they were such size/physical liabilities on the defensive end, but it was (to me) the combination of average at best size with an apparent inability to play defense in a manner that augmented the defensive play of others. Instead it was like watching a bunch of individual guys trying to do their little bit while standing around watching other guys fail. That was the revelation of Darko, to me – here’s what it looks like to have a guy who can play individually but also move around to help out other guys in very subtle ways. You can play offense effectively on an island, but no team is successful defensively if everyone’s on an island.

Hartman and Friends thinks we will be lucky to win nine games. I guess if you look at just this years roster alone it’s not all that impressive. However if you compare it to last years team that won 15 games it looks a lot better. I would be surprised if all that improvement doesn’t net us at least five more wins.