Paulo Alves

You know, there's not a lot to be said because he's been substantially worse than the player we all thought he was going to be.

But if he goes into the playoffs, enhancing the playoff series...

Which he can have, especially if you draw the Lakers.

They have LeBron and Luke.

You're going to put a man on one of them, and he's likely the second-best guy to put on the next one.

Maybe Josh Okogie, but he seems to have fallen out of favor as well.

So, yes, there's still a lot that can be saved from this season.

Yes, it starts with Changeling because he's the biggest needle mover, I guess, as far as when he plays poorly versus when he plays well.

But, especially from a how-we're-going-to-stop-next-season standpoint, Chengun playing well makes you feel that much better about the future of the franchise because Chengun, for a lot of his faults, is the one guy where they severely overperformed his draft slot, right?

They whiffed on Jalen Green, I think that's really fair to say.

Jabari Smith Jr.

was from not a great draft, but for the number three overall pick to get someone who's probably going to be an elite role player that's good but not great, not necessarily getting that much star power.

And until Omen Thompson, even though his impact is great, until he ascends into a shot-creating star, you know, he's a really good player and he's good value, but he's not necessarily, you know...

the number one guys and that's what a lot of people would create a lot of anxiety with fans it's okay after all of this

Do we have someone who we can call our Kate Cunningham or Anthony Edwards or Shea Gilligan's Alexander?

That's the biggest issue.

And then Chengun being who we thought Chengun could be coming out of last season is, as I said, the biggest swing you could possibly have to close out the season.

So yes, it does completely change the outlook of next season.

If Shingun is able to do that, and I'm rooting, as I think we all are, for him to do that, because that would save us a lot of trouble and a lot of tough decisions going into the offseason.

Because you can reasonably say, chalk up last season to the style of play, and chalk up the part of this season when he wasn't great, which was an extended period of time to injury, because the timeline does line up.