I agree 100% with the thought that AD and Brendan will make good coaches. I kinda think AD is an assistant coach right now. I actually think his presence will help Juan and Dee.

As for Juan, I see where Tom is coming from and partially agree with him. The addition of Juan will not necessarily win us any more games. We will have to see how it all shakes out in camp, but EG and EJ are hoping that Juan or Dee will be able to take some pressure off of AD until Gil returns. I think the fact that Juan knows the offense matters a tremendous amount. I have not seen enough from Dee to say whether or not he will provide us anything. At the very least, in Juan and Dee you have two defensive minded guards who can help down the stretch.

The difference makers this year are going to be Blatche, Dom, NY and Pesh. Blatche MUST carry over the summer league domination and be a constant in the rotation. We need someone to take the pressure off of Caron and give him a blow. We need him playing 30-35 mpgs so he can be fresher come playoff time. My money is on Dom to take that spot. I actually think it will be a combination of Dom and Andray, but I agree that the Johnson boys are meerly space fillers in camp who will hopefully push Dom a bit.

I want to believe that summer league was a aboration for NY. He will get more minutes this year, especially while Gil is on the shelf. That is when NY really needs to bring it.

As for Pesh, can he please just stay healthy? We have heard how he likes banging down low, but given his frame I do not see it. To be fair he needs to be healthy to actually get a chance.

Etan will be the first center off the bench, and that is going to be huge. I foresee him bringing that physical presence we have been lacking down low.

Bottom line…I cannot wait until October 7th! Let the (pre)season begin.

Agree also that Dee’s roster spot is not at risk w/ the signing of Juan. And, no, I don’t like unloading on Juan; I’m just not over-valueing him. From the response on the blog, we can see that he’ll help keep people excited while the biggest fan draw (Gil) is out. That’s a good thing; he just won’t make us a better *basketball* team.

Ernie expects us to be “a very, very competitive team” this year — that means more wins than last year. That means looking for home court advantage in the playoffs.

Go AD!

From those Ernie and Eddie quotes it seems like Dee is part of the plan. I don’t think he’ll have to compete much for his roster spot. He’s been with the team since summer league as well so he’s probably getting comfortable with our guys. I like what’s being said about him.

Also I didn’t know Haywood was one of the most intelligent players in the league. I love him at center. I had no idea how much Eddie relied on him. It’s also a good sign there is a clear distinction now between Brendan and Etan. It should really help the team.