I would argue it's a bit worse than last season. Last season, the defense was generally soft and got handled by athletic teams. Very bad overall. However, the offense had a magic aura about it where there were guys that could get hot from 3 and go stretches just never missing (Jax, Brea). When those guys got hot, the whole team would feed off that energy and you'd see guys like Almonor that were otherwise useless go crazy from 3. The offense would be unstoppable, and in a 4 minute run, would essentially win the game.
This year, the expectation was for the defense to be significantly better against athleticism, and it doesn't look like that will be the case. That's the major disappointment from the G-Town exhibition -- if it's more of the same on defense this year, it won't be a good year. Offense I expect to be severely downgraded -- I don't see a Brea type, and there's definitely nobody on Jax level. No real catalyst to whip up the team in a frenzy. I saw another post where bro said Oweh fed off Jax, and I agree 100%. Oweh trying to be the creator is a disaster waiting to happen.
So if defense hasn't improved by a lot, I don't see this as a better team.
Last point -- Amari caught a lot of flak last year, but he was the #1 transfer center, 5 star transfer, etc, etc. Not a coincidence he is hanging around the NBA. Brea is fringe NBA, and has an elite skill. Jax was a good talent, derailed by injuries. This year, there is nothing elite that I see on offense. I think there was more talent last year than we thought, and I think this year the talent is being overrated, probably a combo of blue tinted goggles and self-consolation from missing out on the elite talents (transfers like Dent and YL and obviously freshmen like AJD / DP).