They gave themselves a chance to win at the end against the best team in the conference. Isn't that professional? They played Boston even until a crazy hot streak initiated by Tatum and 4 of their bench players broke the game open. Even while losing this looks like a playoff team. The defense needs work obviously, but nobody goes from 4th pick in the draft to best team in the NBA in a few months.
It's easy to forget, but we're 19 games into year 1 under Mike Brown with an entirely new rotation from the beginning of last season. I know fans don't want patience, but... I think there has to be a realistic expectation for a team with history as bad as ours and learning how to be a successful winning franchise long-term.