Who showed up?

Thanks for this edition of the fiver, Jamie. I missed out on your last one, but glad you posted this one. I agree with your overall assessment of the team, the season and the grade level you dole out. I know some might give a worse grade, but I won’t blame them. Even though you stated that you wouldn’t characterize this season as a lost one I probably would look at it as a lost one mainly due to the injury bug that hit our players and derail our season.

Yes, players will finally get the much needed time to rest before next next season, but I am still not able to get over how our season ended. Just not yet. The injury bug has caused a ton of lineup changes which in turn caused chemistry issues which also caused high turnover rates for the team. Trust me, my fear of the injury bug is developing into a phobia. If the solution is to go buy a pickaxe from the local hardware store and destroy this bug completely, I will go at it alone. That’s how mad I am right now. I am hoping that we don’t have to deal with this next season.

I did not see any mention of Kyle Kuzma. I know you said you are not going to grade them individually, but I would add that the problem I see with Kuzma is that he is too unselfish to a fault which is why he’s inconsistent. He needs to learn how to be selfish sometimes by asserting himself offensively. There are times when I wish he should realize that his offensive output is needed even when LeBron and AD are in the game at the same time carrying the load. That will definitely elevate his status instead of just disappearing from game to game by focusing too much on little things he does. He should look to score more while still doing those little things. A Pippen-like caliber will certainly be welcomed.

The main thing we need next season is good 3 point shooting. I am not happy with how bad we were with our outside shooting. The reason why the Atlanta Hawks are good this season is because they have plenty of shooters who are not afraid to shoot. And that applies to many of the teams currently in the playoffs.

I am looking forward to more of your fivers next season. Thanks for all the hard work.