Concerns with this year's team

[Thespiralgoeson]

Probably doesn't deserve it's own thread but I wanted to dive right back into the thick of things after a lengthy absence from the boards. Now, the only full game I've had the chance to watch this season was Monday's game against the Rockets, I may be judging to quickly, but here's my two cents:

The team still looks about as good as it did last year, injuries aside. It looks like we've definitely got some much-needed front-court depth with Juwan and Bass (I thought we relied on George WAY too much last year) Either way, we shouldn't have to worry about Dirk's minutes being to high. Diop looks fantastic, and I'm really digging Jet's role as the sixth man.

However, and again keep in mind this is only based on one game, the problems that killed us against Golden State and Miami the year before, don't seem to have been fixed at all. Ball movement seems to have improved a bit, but the guards still have trouble getting into the lane. I suppose I can chuck some of that up to Devin being injured, but anyone who has any delusions about JJ being the answer to all of our backcourt problems is sadly mistaken.

Worse yet, it seems just as easy as it was last year for the opposing team to take Dirk out of the game. The guards don't seem to be able to get him the ball when he needs it to save their lives.

Basically I think the team has the same potentially fatal flaws it has had since Nash left; our guard-play is lacking something, and Dirk can still get taken out of the game rather easily. We're still in the championship picture, no doubt. I know we can beat a team like the Spurs again. However, when push comes to shove, when we go up against a team with lots of athletic scorers, I fear the results will still be the same; our guards will be made into total non-factors, and Dirk will be held to 20 points off of 30% shooting while the LeBrons, Wades, or god forbid the Baron Davis' and Steve Nash's of the league will eat us alive.