I'm not all that impressed by the "finishing touches". I'm not seeing quite the same things you are.
I'm definitely happy with the core, though, and Hauser looks like he could step into the Gallinari role. Kabengele looks like a great energy guy on a 2-way. Once Timelord comes back, the team should definitely be better than last year, which is impressive.
You aren't impressed by Brogdon addition? To me that was huge. After settling in, he looked awesome. Maturity, intelligence and skill. That trade alone gives Brad an off season A IMO.
Read my other posts in the thread. I didn't see Brogdon as a "finishing touch". To me, core pieces of the roster aren't finishing touches.
I know with injuries, we won't have all of these, but we are really solid through 12 now (listed below ordered by salary). Hauser is 12 which isn't bad the way he has looked, but he still has to prove it. I think Kornet is just keeping a seat warm. So we have to fill in slots 13, 14, and 15. Seems like the "finishing touches" are still TBD. There will be buyouts (Favors?), roster adjusting late trades, things like that. Even worst case, if 13, 14, 15 end up being Vonleh, Thomas, Samanic or something like that, is that so bad? And we still have Davison and Kabengele as 2-ways that may actually be useful along the way (not usually the case for 2-ways). I am not sure if any team has better 2-ways than us.
1. Jayson Tatum
2. Jaylen Brown
3. Al Horford
4. Malcolm Brogdon
5. Marcus Smart
6. Derrick White
7. Robert Williams
8. Danilo Gallinari
9. Grant Williams
10. Payton Pritchard
11. Blake Griffin
12. Sam Hauser
(Luke Kornet)
Why should we expect better than last year?
1. Jayson Tatum = Tatum
2. Jaylen Brown = Brown
3. Al Horford = Horford (we hope)
4. Malcolm Brogdon > Schoder
5. Marcus Smart = Smart
6. Derrick White =? Richardson
7. Robert Williams = RWIII (except he's hurt)
8. Danilo Gallinari > Parker (except he's hurt)
9. Grant Williams = G.Will
10. Payton Pritchard = Pritchard
11. Sam Hauser =? Langford
12. Blake Griffin =? Freedom
13.Luke Kornet =? Hermangomez
14. Noah Vonleh =? Fernandez
15. Brodric Thomas =? Neismith
Kabengele =? Hauser
Davison > Thomas
Not really sure how you could watch the first preseason games and not think, based on what we’ve seen, that the team hasn’t been upgraded. Jaylen and Jason both look like more mature players, Brogden isn’t just better than Schroeder - he’s better than anyone other than JB or JT from last year. DW, Grant, Sam, and PP all look improved from their 2022-22 selves. I think Brogdon changes the dynamics of the rotation substantially- there is always a better 5 out there than last year - outside of the starting 5.
