How do you judge performance Vs expectations?

#1
I would like to know how fellow fans base their judgment of team performance. This thought arose because many have brought up how many games we/Vegas expected the Kings to win this season - and against that metric (sub 30wins) the team has outperformed by far. However, it is also evident that expectations have increased by the disappointment many of us have in post-AS record.

Do your expectations shift? Should they? My personal view is that while you can't be changing it on a daily basis, it is perfectly reasonable to have expectations shift upwards based on play. So having seen the Kings play in the first 30 games, it was reasonable to form a new expectation of making the playoffs. I do acknowledge that this doesn't work the other way - if we assembled a Durant LeBron team and expected to win 70 games before the season started, and 30 games in were below .500 I don't think I would be happy moving my expectations downwards and judging the team on some other non-championship metric.
 
#2
It comes down to fullfilling potential for me.

We are well on our way but when tracked against the metric of season by season, wins and losses things become blurred.

Going into the season I was one of the few who aimed for and expected a challenge for the final two post season spots. We were where we should have been at all star break but things tapered off.

Development wise we are on track. Removing bags mins restriction and eventually starting him will further our growth as a young team but again once you add the fact that we lost more than we won this season you have to ask where it went wrong following the break. A young team who itself wanted the playoffs for themselves doesn't fall away like that, it's not the mentality or character you want. I hope we don't hear boos from the home fans for a long time to come.

Those pesky wins and losses that we are measured against got away from us and that is disappointing. The silver lining is that is not the only measure of progress.
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#4
Expectations should shift, especially with a young team on a growth curve. Mature teams are another cat entirely.

The Kings played above my expectations. At the beginning of the season, I expected 35 or more wins. I adjusted my expectation to 43 or 44 (can't remember which ) when I saw how well they were playing. The 2nd Bagley injury dashed all hope of that. I still think that without that injury the Kings would at least have been in the playoff race for much longer, would have accumulated more wins because of it, and would easily have gotten to the .500 mark.

I think it's reasonable to expect more wins next year, just because of the added maturity and improvement of Fox, Bagley, Giles and Buddy. I also expect that Vlade is going to add and subtract some pieces from this team to change it's personality somewhat and give it more defense. As Fox, Bagley and Giles all improve on the offensive end, it will afford more opportunity to bring in defensive complementary players to give this team the grit that it needs. The center position is key in my view. The talent and natural progression of Fox, Bagley, Giles, and Buddy in combination with more defensive grit will propel this team to the playoffs next year, imo. That's my expectation for next year.
 
#6
I think we need more consistency next season and some guys need to add strength.

Fox has been great this season, but he runs hot and cold. Also, there has been a lot of talk about refs not giving him foul calls. As warranted as this may or may not be, I'm hoping he can force the issue and learn how to draw contact more.

For Buddy, his consistency fell of a lot in the 2nd half. He doesn't need to be Steph Curry or Klay Thompson. He just needs to be a solid (preferably 2nd) option with consistency.

Bagley has exceeded my expectations, but again there is consistency issues. Not with his motor or rebounding, but with his scoring. He shoots a lower percentage than you'd like for a big. He's a rook, I'm sure he'll get better. As for his frame, he's paper thin. Really needs to add muscle, especially to improve his D.

Giles is an X-factor. I don't really know who he is yet. If he can stay healthy I'd like to see him carve out a definitive role. He needs to add strength.