Clearly we have to look at the last preseason to compare results. Last preseason they were 2-4 with a -6.7 point differential, this season they are 1-3 so far with a -7.5 point differential. Seasons before that, 1-5 with -16.3, and 0-6 with -15.

There is a definite trend here, the worse they do in the preseason the better the team does during regular season. By that metric JJ is an improvement over Ham.

I think a lot of his issues come from switching from mainly playing 3 to mainly playing 4. So he has to work harder on both ends of the floor because he is matched up against bigger, stronger players and it’s taking its toll. His 3-pt shooting percentage last year steadily declined from 39% in Q1 to only 29% in Q4.

It really looks like his shooting is affected by fatigue. Not sure what Boston can do to alleviate this, they are pretty much locked into a smallish White/Holiday/Brown/Tatum/Porzingis for the foreseeable future.

Let the game naturally evolve rather than capriciously changing the rules. Soccer has gotten where it is because the game evolved to protect the players from unnecessary fouls by penalizing those with yellow/red cards, allowing play to flow.

NBA is moving in the same direction with flagrant and open court fouls. You are going to have more transition and more driving to the basket because those will be higher value plays compared to 3-pointers.

I would have Germany in there instead of Australia and up at #4 ahead of France. Gold medal at last year’s Worlds, an excellent team with pretty much the same roster as last year, so they’ll have the benefit of continuity.

Main problem I see is bench defense. Championship year they rolled with Brown, Braun and Green off the bench, all defensively solid. This year it will be Westbrook, Watson/Strawther and Saric, so 2 of the 3 will be subpar defenders.