Well...props to Roy for bringing up what needed to in order to clear some air around here.
The main lessons I take from the season (and postseason thus far) are these:
1) the team didn't play to its potential (even discounting for injury) for a significant portion of the season, including the last weeks of the season, making it impossible to get a clear read on their prospects in the postseason.
2) we're still not an athletic team, but haven't (and won't) see an athletic opponent this postseason, so we got lucky there. The current playoff success doesn't erase this problem, but thankfully allows it to wait until the summer to address it.
2a) playoff series' are still about matchups, and we match up well with the teams we've played against, and also against LA...so we have a pretty good shot. Without knowing the matchups, and as important as it is, it really is impossible to predict playoff outcomes. Thank goodness we didn't have to play a series against the Hawks. Or Wizards, for that matter.
And a couple other observations:
There was very little evidence on the court after Christmas that this team was a contender, and plenty that they weren't, though the roster looked strong and matchups were favorable against "top" teams(as mentioned). Opinions both ways were well justified.
If this season is evidence for the "switch" theory, I stand by the idea that any team/player that tries it is playing with fire.