Why the team will be significantly improved?

1) length & wingspan [because some of you want to hear that item first]
2) defensive mentality [effort]
3) intensity, quickness & length at the top of the No Middle. Huge hole since Mitchell left. Without regard to where they play on O, expect Nunn & Grimes to be the Head of the Snake on D. Having two intense, quick, long defenders will make a big difference.
4) more offense at the 5 [more options = better]
5) fewer turnovers at the 5
6) practice intensity improved
7) fewer personal agendas needing massaging
8) toughness increase

Areas of concern:

a) a knee & related lateral quickness
b) a cornea
c) cohesiveness & learning schemes and teammates
d) rebounding
e) rotational happiness
f) floor spacing
g) injury bug
h) unknown reality at the 4

Retain Bridges and this team by the end of the season will be better than last years team at the end of the season. I feel like Walter will be better than George both ways as a player. George was incredible at time offensively, but his D was frustrating and I think a big reason he was sitting late in games down the stretch. Flagler is the big loss because he could be so damn clutch. I am hoping that this team is more balanced 1-5, which on paper looks to be the case. I am excited to watch the news guys gel and make their own way. It would be pretty sweet to have all the news guys for two years.

We will be light years better defensively, starting with the backcourt. Collectively Dennis / Grimes / Walter / Nunn is a monster upgrade defensively over Flagler / Key / Cryer / Love*. That cannot be emphasized enough. Flo was bad last year, but he looked even worse than he actually was because our guards and their matador defense allowed penetration almost at will and Flo was playing on his heels all year.

The improved team defense will lead to better offense too, e.g. transition buckets instead of taking the ball out of the opponents' net and allowing the opposing defense to get set. Forcing the opponent to shoot contested shots to beat the shot clock leading to long rebounds and transition opportunities. While our new backcourt is less gifted offensively than last year's trio, better defense leading to transition opportunities will mitigate the loss of some of that scoring punch.

* (I am including Love here because he was awful defensively probably due to recovery from ACL surgery....I still hold out hope he can recover lateral quickness and be better in that area).

Agree with you 100 and you didn't even list George from the guard list, and I personally think he was the worst defender of the group. This team might not have a superstar, but we should theoretically improve on the penetrate and kick out game. I am excited to see some more balance and not rely on Flagler or George get the ball with 5-6 seconds on the clock and be forced to take a bad shot.

It's amazing how good offense flows from good defense, and vice-versa. Bad defense not only allows the other team to score, but gives the other team time to set up their half court defense. Resulting in our offense constantly having to execute against half court defenses leading to difficult, contested shots versus easy points scored in transition.