As we continue our trip around the league, part two of this massive undertaking leads us to the Atlantic Division.
Upon further reflection, I may have come down a little hard on the Southeast division. The Atlantic was arguably worse last year as the Knicks disgraced their city and history with a 23-59 season - good enough to earn them the title of worst team in the conference.
This year’s Atlantic division doesn’t seem to have an NBA-title contender, but improvement for some of it’s teams looms on the horizon.
NEW JERSEY NETS (2005-2006 record: 49-33. Lost in Round 2 to Miami)
Predicted division finish: 1st
The Nets are a team that must be hard to follow.
There’s plenty of good happening with this franchise. Jason Kidd, Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson are one of the best threesomes in the league. They had a stellar draft by flat out stealing Marcus Williams.
Yet, coming into the season, New Jersey’s ceiling seems to be to win the Atlantic.
There are too many holes up front. Nenad Krstic can hit a 12-foot jumper, but when they need a post game he’s no where to be found. They brought in Mikki Moore via trade to help out Jason Collins, which means that they are horrible up front.
The problem with New Jersey is they’re not as good as every other elite team in the East. They won’t beat Miami, Chicago, or Cleveland in a playoff series, so if you’re a fan of this team, I guess you can feel good about another Atlantic title.
That much seems like a lock, but with Vince Carter becoming a free agent after the season and Jason Kidd’s knee getting worse by the year, the championship window has closed for the time being.
NEW YORK KNICKS (2005-2006 record: 29-53. Missed playoffs)
Predicted division finish: 2nd
I know what you’re thinking as you read this, and no, I haven’t lost my mind.
At least I don’t think I have.
Hear me out.
The Knicks humiliated themselves last year. The whole city of New York was disgraced. The players quit on Larry Brown. Larry Brown quit on the players. Bloggers mocked Isiah Thomas incessantly. Frankly, they had good reason since Isiah assembled this disaster and decided that a backcourt of Stephon Marbury and Steve Francis was a good idea.
I know there are major problems with the franchise, and I’m not for one second arguing that point.
However, this is a make or break time for everyone involved. Zeke moving to the bench is a constant reminder of last year’s failure. This collection of $100 million talent has to have some heart left somewhere, right? If so, then there’s no way they’re letting Isiah Thomas go down in flames. It just won’t happen.
With Marbury, Francis, Eddy Curry, Channing Frye, Jalen Rose, David Lee, Jared Jeffries, Jamal Crawford, Nate Robinson and Renaldo Balkman, there’s too much talent for them to be this bad, right? (If you think I'm serious about Balkman, please stop reading this site)
I don’t know if they’ll make the playoffs, but they’ll restore some respect to a once proud franchise.
If they don’t, then it’s going to be fantastically awful. I don’t think it’s possible for this season to be more fun either way in New York. I mean, Isiah gets to shut up his critics or he’s gone once and for all.
That, my friends, is an intriguing season.
BOSTON CELTICS (2005-2006 record: 33-49. Missed playoffs)
Predicted division finish: 3rd
Danny Ainge is going about his job as GM in a unique way.
While his counterpart in Chicago, John Paxson, keeps trying to find players who are winners from established college programs, Ainge is going the opposite route. He wants high schoolers and he wants a lot of them.
Kendrick Perkins. Al Jefferson. Gerald Green.
His latest addition is Sebastian Telfair, who Boston acquired in a trade with Portland.
So what does it all mean? Well, it means the Celtics are two years away from being anything.
Paul Pierce averaged nearly 27 points per game last year, but he has no veteran help. Wally Szczerbiak is too injury-prone to be the second option, and everyone else is too young to be counted on night in and night out.
There’s good potential here and seemingly a lot of athleticism, but I’d be more excited about the Celtics if Ainge had pulled off the rumored Allen Iverson trade this summer. Pierce and AI could have been a lethal combo, and I think Ainge could have done it without sacrificing all of his youngsters.
Instead, Pierce is left to shoulder the load with a lot of question marks surrounding him. If Delonte West, Tony Allen, Jefferson, Telfair and Perkins make huge strides this season, Boston has an outside shot at making the playoffs, but I think it’s more realistic to focus on next year.
At least they have cheerleaders now!
PHILADELPHIA 76ers (2005-2006 record: 38-44. Missed playoffs)
Predicted division finish: 4th
Do the Sixers either make or miss the playoffs by one or two games every year?
It seems that way to me.
I have good news for Sixers fans: that torture won’t be there this year.
On paper, this team is the same team it is every year. Allen Iverson will do everything possible to help them win. He’ll try to get Chris Webber and Andre Iguodala involved in the offense, but they’ll be inconsistent in the role. Kyle Korver will shoot some 3s. Samuel Dalembert will block some shots and remind everyone that Billy King probably overpaid to keep him.
Honestly, the only difference in 2006-07 from those of the past is that other Eastern Conference teams are better than them now. I think Orlando and New York should finish with better records, so that means no postseason again in Philly.
Frankly, I’m of the opinion that Iverson should have been moved and still should be moved. This team is going nowhere but down, so you might as well get something for him while you can.
TORONTO RAPTORS (2005-2006 record: 27-55. Missed playoffs)
Predicted division finish: Last
If this summer taught me anything, it’s that the rest of the world is getting very, very good at playing the game of basketball.
This could be good news for the Toronto Raptors.
New GM Bryan Colangelo used the first pick in the 2006 Draft to select Andrea Bargnani from Italy. Then, he brought in Jose Calderon and Jorge Garbajosa from Spain and gave Anthony Parker another shot at NBA stardom after years playing for Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv. As if that wasn’t enough Euro flavor, Colangelo also made a trade for Rasho Nesterovic.
I would be completely lying to you if I told you I had seen Bargnani, Calderon, Garbajosa or Parker play. However, I know that Spain won the World Championships, so half of that group must be decent.
Colangelo’s other huge move of the summer was trading Charlie Villenueva to Milwaukee for point guard T.J. Ford. It’s clear from these moves that the Raptors want to get up and down the floor, and they’ll probably be exciting to watch.
All that matters is whether Chris Bosh likes this movement. He seems to be fine with it, so that’s a positive for the Raptors. It’s hard to predict whether they’ll be better than the Sixers or the Celtics when I haven’t seen half the roster play, so that’s why I have them last, but frankly, I could see them being better than one of those teams.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Friday, September 15, 2006
NBA Preview: Southeast Divison
To kick off the big NBA season preview, I feel I should provide some warnings to you the readers.
I am horrible at predictions. Awful. I’m the guy who said there was no way Miami would win the title, even though I knew full well that Dwayne Wade was a series-changing caliber superstar who could get every call known to man.
I’m the guy who truly believed that Team USA would win the gold. Whoops.
I’m also the same man who laughed and laughed at the thought of a Lakers team led by Shaq, Kobe, Malone, and Payton losing to the no-superstar Pistons in 2004. Clearly, I’m still not over that one.
So, that brings us to today and the start of an eight-part NBA preview. You’ll get my predictions on all six divisions, and then we’ll break down the playoffs for each conference.
You’ve been warned.
I would not run out to Vegas and put money on anything written here. However, I’m hopeful this is the year that I’m right about something since multiple people (thanks to all 8 of you) are reading this.
And really, what better place to start than arguably the NBA’s worst division and certainly the easiest to predict: The Southeast division.
MIAMI HEAT (2005-2006 record: 52-30. Won NBA Championship)
Predicted division finish: 1st
The defending NBA Champions bring back essentially the same team from 2005-2006. The anchors remain Dwayne Wade and Shaquille O’Neal. The “role players” remain Antoine Walker, Alonzo Mourning, James Posey, Jason Williams, Udonis Haslem and Gary Payton.
Much to my surprise, this actually worked last year. I’m still not sure how.
If you watched the Heat at all during the regular season, they were the biggest Jekyll and Hyde team in the league. On certain nights, it looked as though they could beat anyone. Then the following game, they’d be blown out at home by the Warriors. Do you realize the defending NBA champs finished one game over .500 on the road?
I guess the obvious answer to how it worked is that Dwayne Wade became the game’s best player and one heck of a playoff closer. For three straight years now, he’s been the top postseason superstar, yet no one wants to acknowledge this has been going on that long. He carried a Miami team that arguably had no business being in the playoffs to the second round in 2003-2004. If he’s healthy for Games 6 and 7 of the 04-05 Conference Finals, I’m convinced the Heat would have beaten the Pistons and Stan Van Gundy might still have a job. And then last year, well, if you don’t know then stop coming to this web site.
Wade’s continued emergence as THE guy in the league means that Shaquille O’Neal’s not so subtle fall to better than average big man is not so important. This is D-Wade’s team. Everyone knows it. Shaq will give what he has left, but the Heat can only repeat if Wade is healthy.
The supporting cast is old. Shaq, Zo, Payton, maybe Williams have all seen their prime come and go. The question for this franchise now is whether they can squeeze one more title out before they need to rebuild.
To me, the answer to that question doesn’t even rely on those players.
Udonis Haslem, James Posey and Antoine Walker need quality seasons for a repeat to take place. Their consistency is key for a team that finally defined everyone’s role in the playoffs. If Haslem can continue to get better at rebounding and finishing and Posey can be the team’s lockdown defender and three-point weapon, and if Antoine Walker plays within himself and remembers to drive to the basket instead of taking horrid 3s, then this could work again.
One more thing to watch for is the development of Dorrell Wright and Wayne Simien. Both should get more minutes this season, and both players are important to building something around Dwayne Wade in the future. Wright got rave reviews in Summer League play, and the word is that he’ll be worked into a deep guard rotation.
Here’s a prediction you can take to the bank. The Heat will win at least 50 games and will win this Southeast Division handily. What they do after that is what everyone is waiting to see.
WASHINGTON WIZARDS (2005-2006 record: 42-40. Lost in first round to Cavs)
Predicted division finish: 2nd
The Washington Wizards are one of those teams that seem to be treading water in the NBA. They’ve finished in the middle of the Eastern Conference playoff pack in each of the last two seasons. They’ve got some serious talent on their roster. However, they seem to have gone as far as they can go when you match them up with the rest of the Eastern Conference.
Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler make up a pretty darn good three-headed scoring monster. Arenas is always out to prove someone wrong, and I’m sure he’s fired up after being cut from the US World Championship roster. The issue for the Wizards is that while Arenas, Jamison and Butler can put points on the board, they struggle in other aspects of the game.
Who will run the show on this team? Who will grab the key rebounds? Who will make the big defensive stop?
I don’t know. They lost their best defender when Jared Jeffries bolted to New York. They replaced him with DeShawn Stevenson. That’s a downgrade.
Sometimes stats jump out at you. Here’s one that would scare me a lot if I were a Wizards fan. When the opposition scored 100 points or more last year, the Wizards were 11-30. When the Wizards scored 100 points or more they were 28-16. They’re not winning the shootouts.
They still are a complete mess in the frontcourt. Brendan Haywood is tall, so he’s got that going for him. He averages just fewer than 6 rebounds a game. That is not so good. Etan Thomas has shown flashes of being a stud, but he hasn’t put it together for prolonged stretches. They added Darius Songaila thru free agency. Songaila is solid, but his weaknesses fit with everyone else’s weaknesses so I can’t see how he makes them better.
Jamison and Butler can’t be the teams rebound leaders if this is going to work. Someone else is going to have to become of factor night in and night out, and I can’t find a player on this roster that jumps out to fill this role.
For the Wizards to succeed and return to the playoffs as a 4 or 5 seed, they’ll need to make a big commitment to defense. They can score with the best of them, but with Cleveland, Chicago, Miami, Detroit and New Jersey all likely to finish ahead of them in the Eastern Conference, a first round exit looms as a successful season for Washington.
ORLANDO MAGIC (2005-2006 record: 36-46. Missed playoffs)
Predicted division finish: 3rd
Now here’s a team that excites me.
If there’s one NBA franchise poised to break out in 2006-2007, it is the Orlando Magic.
Now that I’ve gotten the hyperbole out of my system, here is my reasoning.
Dwight Howard is about to do become one of the top big men in the league. It’s amazing to think that there was actually debate over whether Howard or Emeka Okefor should be the top pick in the 2005 draft.
If you watched Howard play at the end of last season or in Japan at the World Championships, you saw a guy with serious potential to average 20 points and 15 rebounds per game (I want to write 20/20 but that’s ridiculous, right?). He’s a defensive powerhouse with tremendous shot blocking ability. The scary part of all of this is he’s only going to get better. He’s 20. This will be his 3rd NBA season. I am predicting a big time breakout season from Howard, and Orlando should be excited about it.
In addition to Dwight Howard, the rest of the roster features young talent that seemed to prosper under Brian Hill’s tutelage late last season. Darko Milicic has no pressure on him. If he becomes anything close to what he was projected to be then Orlando is in great shape for years. If he isn’t, they gave up Kelvin Cato. Darko is in the perfect situation. He’s playing along side one of the game’s brightest future stars and no one’s set up for a positive season more than the #2 pick in the 2003 draft.
They have good depth at point guard with Jameer Nelson and Carlos Arroyo manning the position. Nelson is a tad undersized for the NBA, but he’s a warrior. Arroyo made the U.S. look horrible in international play, and if he can look half as good in the NBA, the Magic should be in fine shape. They also brought Keyon Dooling back in free agency, so there’s good depth in the backcourt.
J.J. Redick comes to Orlando with tons of baggage. He’s got a bad back, he’s got a DUI conviction and he’s got a ton of knocks on his game. But much like Darko, Redick finds himself in a nice situation. Dwight Howard is going to have to be doubled constantly, so the odds of Redick finding himself wide open are pretty good. The Magic isn’t in denial here. They brought Redick in because he can shoot the basketball and if he knocks down his open looks, he can be a dangerous asset.
The problems are obvious. They’re young. They probably won’t defend very well. Grant Hill will get hurt and they’ll rely on Hedo Turkoglu and Trevor Ariza to play lots of minutes. With all of that said, I still like them a lot. I might be a year early here, but this team feels like a 7 or 8 seed to me.
CHARLOTTE BOBCATS (2005-06 record: 26-56. Missed playoffs)
Predicted division finish: 4th
If the Charlotte Bobcats were a college basketball team, Dick Vitale would be screaming at you about how sensational they will be this season. Sadly for everyone, no one can hear Dicky V in Charlotte.
There is some talent here.
Emeka Okefor will one day be an above average player if he can stay healthy. He only played in 26 games a year ago, but he averaged a double-double. With work and health, he could be an Elton Brand like player in a few years.
Gerald Wallace has emerged into a pretty reliable scorer since coming to Charlotte in the expansion draft. He’s also a defensive threat after leading the league in steals per game a year ago. At 24, he’s still improving in all aspects of his game.
Sean May is another big man who suffered from injury problems. His hard work and rebounding will be a nice addition if he can bounce back healthy.
Raymond Felton had a very nice rookie season, averaging 12 points and 6 assists. If he has some healthy big men to feed, he could enjoy an excellent sophomore campaign.
Then there’s rookie Adam Morrison. He has horrendous facial hair. I mean it’s so bad EA Sports made it a marketing campaign for NBA Live 07. While I feel Morrison should shave, his offensive skills are in no way in need of a makeover. He’s fearless with the rock in his hands, and that’s what the Bobcats have been missing. Like Okefor and Felton, he’s also a fierce competitor who should help spark a turnaround over time. I’m sure Michael Jordan’s new role with the franchise will also help the team’s competitive drive, especially since there’s no way he’ll come out of retirement again. Right? Please make sure of this!
The good news is that they’re getting better. With healthy seasons from key players, it’s not unrealistic to think the Bobcats might finish ahead of the Hawks in this division.
ATLANTA HAWKS (2005-2006 record: 26-56. Missed playoffs)
Predicted division finish: Last
The Hawks are a mess.
They made a huge mistake last year by passing on Chris Paul in the draft. The whole Joe Johnson for Boris Diaw thing sort of opened some people’s eyes.
But this is a new year! They’ve solved the point guard problem by bringing in Speedy Claxton. Can you hear the buzz?
They passed up Randy Foye and Brandon Roy (remember, they don’t need guard help) to draft Shelden Williams from Duke. Why add sizzle when you can add boring and adequate?
Look, I don’t mean to kill Claxton and Williams. They’re fine additions. They just don’t excite me.
Al Harrington is gone in exchange for a future 1st-round pick. I like the idea of moving Harrington, since it opens the door for Marvin Williams to get lots of minutes. However, to not get anyone who can step in and play immediately seems odd for a team with this many holes.
Unless Joe Johnson REALLY lives up to his contract or all the youth makes giant leaps overnight, this is going to be another long season in the ATL. Good thing no one there remembers the Hawks are still around.
I am horrible at predictions. Awful. I’m the guy who said there was no way Miami would win the title, even though I knew full well that Dwayne Wade was a series-changing caliber superstar who could get every call known to man.
I’m the guy who truly believed that Team USA would win the gold. Whoops.
I’m also the same man who laughed and laughed at the thought of a Lakers team led by Shaq, Kobe, Malone, and Payton losing to the no-superstar Pistons in 2004. Clearly, I’m still not over that one.
So, that brings us to today and the start of an eight-part NBA preview. You’ll get my predictions on all six divisions, and then we’ll break down the playoffs for each conference.
You’ve been warned.
I would not run out to Vegas and put money on anything written here. However, I’m hopeful this is the year that I’m right about something since multiple people (thanks to all 8 of you) are reading this.
And really, what better place to start than arguably the NBA’s worst division and certainly the easiest to predict: The Southeast division.
MIAMI HEAT (2005-2006 record: 52-30. Won NBA Championship)
Predicted division finish: 1st
The defending NBA Champions bring back essentially the same team from 2005-2006. The anchors remain Dwayne Wade and Shaquille O’Neal. The “role players” remain Antoine Walker, Alonzo Mourning, James Posey, Jason Williams, Udonis Haslem and Gary Payton.
Much to my surprise, this actually worked last year. I’m still not sure how.
If you watched the Heat at all during the regular season, they were the biggest Jekyll and Hyde team in the league. On certain nights, it looked as though they could beat anyone. Then the following game, they’d be blown out at home by the Warriors. Do you realize the defending NBA champs finished one game over .500 on the road?
I guess the obvious answer to how it worked is that Dwayne Wade became the game’s best player and one heck of a playoff closer. For three straight years now, he’s been the top postseason superstar, yet no one wants to acknowledge this has been going on that long. He carried a Miami team that arguably had no business being in the playoffs to the second round in 2003-2004. If he’s healthy for Games 6 and 7 of the 04-05 Conference Finals, I’m convinced the Heat would have beaten the Pistons and Stan Van Gundy might still have a job. And then last year, well, if you don’t know then stop coming to this web site.
Wade’s continued emergence as THE guy in the league means that Shaquille O’Neal’s not so subtle fall to better than average big man is not so important. This is D-Wade’s team. Everyone knows it. Shaq will give what he has left, but the Heat can only repeat if Wade is healthy.
The supporting cast is old. Shaq, Zo, Payton, maybe Williams have all seen their prime come and go. The question for this franchise now is whether they can squeeze one more title out before they need to rebuild.
To me, the answer to that question doesn’t even rely on those players.
Udonis Haslem, James Posey and Antoine Walker need quality seasons for a repeat to take place. Their consistency is key for a team that finally defined everyone’s role in the playoffs. If Haslem can continue to get better at rebounding and finishing and Posey can be the team’s lockdown defender and three-point weapon, and if Antoine Walker plays within himself and remembers to drive to the basket instead of taking horrid 3s, then this could work again.
One more thing to watch for is the development of Dorrell Wright and Wayne Simien. Both should get more minutes this season, and both players are important to building something around Dwayne Wade in the future. Wright got rave reviews in Summer League play, and the word is that he’ll be worked into a deep guard rotation.
Here’s a prediction you can take to the bank. The Heat will win at least 50 games and will win this Southeast Division handily. What they do after that is what everyone is waiting to see.
WASHINGTON WIZARDS (2005-2006 record: 42-40. Lost in first round to Cavs)
Predicted division finish: 2nd
The Washington Wizards are one of those teams that seem to be treading water in the NBA. They’ve finished in the middle of the Eastern Conference playoff pack in each of the last two seasons. They’ve got some serious talent on their roster. However, they seem to have gone as far as they can go when you match them up with the rest of the Eastern Conference.
Gilbert Arenas, Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler make up a pretty darn good three-headed scoring monster. Arenas is always out to prove someone wrong, and I’m sure he’s fired up after being cut from the US World Championship roster. The issue for the Wizards is that while Arenas, Jamison and Butler can put points on the board, they struggle in other aspects of the game.
Who will run the show on this team? Who will grab the key rebounds? Who will make the big defensive stop?
I don’t know. They lost their best defender when Jared Jeffries bolted to New York. They replaced him with DeShawn Stevenson. That’s a downgrade.
Sometimes stats jump out at you. Here’s one that would scare me a lot if I were a Wizards fan. When the opposition scored 100 points or more last year, the Wizards were 11-30. When the Wizards scored 100 points or more they were 28-16. They’re not winning the shootouts.
They still are a complete mess in the frontcourt. Brendan Haywood is tall, so he’s got that going for him. He averages just fewer than 6 rebounds a game. That is not so good. Etan Thomas has shown flashes of being a stud, but he hasn’t put it together for prolonged stretches. They added Darius Songaila thru free agency. Songaila is solid, but his weaknesses fit with everyone else’s weaknesses so I can’t see how he makes them better.
Jamison and Butler can’t be the teams rebound leaders if this is going to work. Someone else is going to have to become of factor night in and night out, and I can’t find a player on this roster that jumps out to fill this role.
For the Wizards to succeed and return to the playoffs as a 4 or 5 seed, they’ll need to make a big commitment to defense. They can score with the best of them, but with Cleveland, Chicago, Miami, Detroit and New Jersey all likely to finish ahead of them in the Eastern Conference, a first round exit looms as a successful season for Washington.
ORLANDO MAGIC (2005-2006 record: 36-46. Missed playoffs)
Predicted division finish: 3rd
Now here’s a team that excites me.
If there’s one NBA franchise poised to break out in 2006-2007, it is the Orlando Magic.
Now that I’ve gotten the hyperbole out of my system, here is my reasoning.
Dwight Howard is about to do become one of the top big men in the league. It’s amazing to think that there was actually debate over whether Howard or Emeka Okefor should be the top pick in the 2005 draft.
If you watched Howard play at the end of last season or in Japan at the World Championships, you saw a guy with serious potential to average 20 points and 15 rebounds per game (I want to write 20/20 but that’s ridiculous, right?). He’s a defensive powerhouse with tremendous shot blocking ability. The scary part of all of this is he’s only going to get better. He’s 20. This will be his 3rd NBA season. I am predicting a big time breakout season from Howard, and Orlando should be excited about it.
In addition to Dwight Howard, the rest of the roster features young talent that seemed to prosper under Brian Hill’s tutelage late last season. Darko Milicic has no pressure on him. If he becomes anything close to what he was projected to be then Orlando is in great shape for years. If he isn’t, they gave up Kelvin Cato. Darko is in the perfect situation. He’s playing along side one of the game’s brightest future stars and no one’s set up for a positive season more than the #2 pick in the 2003 draft.
They have good depth at point guard with Jameer Nelson and Carlos Arroyo manning the position. Nelson is a tad undersized for the NBA, but he’s a warrior. Arroyo made the U.S. look horrible in international play, and if he can look half as good in the NBA, the Magic should be in fine shape. They also brought Keyon Dooling back in free agency, so there’s good depth in the backcourt.
J.J. Redick comes to Orlando with tons of baggage. He’s got a bad back, he’s got a DUI conviction and he’s got a ton of knocks on his game. But much like Darko, Redick finds himself in a nice situation. Dwight Howard is going to have to be doubled constantly, so the odds of Redick finding himself wide open are pretty good. The Magic isn’t in denial here. They brought Redick in because he can shoot the basketball and if he knocks down his open looks, he can be a dangerous asset.
The problems are obvious. They’re young. They probably won’t defend very well. Grant Hill will get hurt and they’ll rely on Hedo Turkoglu and Trevor Ariza to play lots of minutes. With all of that said, I still like them a lot. I might be a year early here, but this team feels like a 7 or 8 seed to me.
CHARLOTTE BOBCATS (2005-06 record: 26-56. Missed playoffs)
Predicted division finish: 4th
If the Charlotte Bobcats were a college basketball team, Dick Vitale would be screaming at you about how sensational they will be this season. Sadly for everyone, no one can hear Dicky V in Charlotte.
There is some talent here.
Emeka Okefor will one day be an above average player if he can stay healthy. He only played in 26 games a year ago, but he averaged a double-double. With work and health, he could be an Elton Brand like player in a few years.
Gerald Wallace has emerged into a pretty reliable scorer since coming to Charlotte in the expansion draft. He’s also a defensive threat after leading the league in steals per game a year ago. At 24, he’s still improving in all aspects of his game.
Sean May is another big man who suffered from injury problems. His hard work and rebounding will be a nice addition if he can bounce back healthy.
Raymond Felton had a very nice rookie season, averaging 12 points and 6 assists. If he has some healthy big men to feed, he could enjoy an excellent sophomore campaign.
Then there’s rookie Adam Morrison. He has horrendous facial hair. I mean it’s so bad EA Sports made it a marketing campaign for NBA Live 07. While I feel Morrison should shave, his offensive skills are in no way in need of a makeover. He’s fearless with the rock in his hands, and that’s what the Bobcats have been missing. Like Okefor and Felton, he’s also a fierce competitor who should help spark a turnaround over time. I’m sure Michael Jordan’s new role with the franchise will also help the team’s competitive drive, especially since there’s no way he’ll come out of retirement again. Right? Please make sure of this!
The good news is that they’re getting better. With healthy seasons from key players, it’s not unrealistic to think the Bobcats might finish ahead of the Hawks in this division.
ATLANTA HAWKS (2005-2006 record: 26-56. Missed playoffs)
Predicted division finish: Last
The Hawks are a mess.
They made a huge mistake last year by passing on Chris Paul in the draft. The whole Joe Johnson for Boris Diaw thing sort of opened some people’s eyes.
But this is a new year! They’ve solved the point guard problem by bringing in Speedy Claxton. Can you hear the buzz?
They passed up Randy Foye and Brandon Roy (remember, they don’t need guard help) to draft Shelden Williams from Duke. Why add sizzle when you can add boring and adequate?
Look, I don’t mean to kill Claxton and Williams. They’re fine additions. They just don’t excite me.
Al Harrington is gone in exchange for a future 1st-round pick. I like the idea of moving Harrington, since it opens the door for Marvin Williams to get lots of minutes. However, to not get anyone who can step in and play immediately seems odd for a team with this many holes.
Unless Joe Johnson REALLY lives up to his contract or all the youth makes giant leaps overnight, this is going to be another long season in the ATL. Good thing no one there remembers the Hawks are still around.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Tell me he didn't say that
Kobe Bryant says chemistry is the issue for Team America:
"Years playing together will jell us as a unit, [but] if there is no chemistry, it's going to be tough to beat all those talented teams," he said.
Does he even realize how he comes across anymore?
Truehoop beat me to the punch with the comments about Kobe in Las Vegas with the U.S. team, and the site nailed it, so I urge you to check out what was written.
Chemistry was not the problem in Japan. Pick-and-roll defense was the problem in Japan. Also, the more I read and talk to people who have opinions on how the team can improve that problem, the solution seems to keep coming back to Lamar Odom.
Needless to say, I can't wait to see the Lakers' team chemistry and how they defend the pick-and-roll come November.
"Years playing together will jell us as a unit, [but] if there is no chemistry, it's going to be tough to beat all those talented teams," he said.
Does he even realize how he comes across anymore?
Truehoop beat me to the punch with the comments about Kobe in Las Vegas with the U.S. team, and the site nailed it, so I urge you to check out what was written.
Chemistry was not the problem in Japan. Pick-and-roll defense was the problem in Japan. Also, the more I read and talk to people who have opinions on how the team can improve that problem, the solution seems to keep coming back to Lamar Odom.
Needless to say, I can't wait to see the Lakers' team chemistry and how they defend the pick-and-roll come November.
Monday, September 04, 2006
Computer crashes and America tanks
Take that...uh...America.
USA!? USA!? USA!?
It's all anti-climactic now as sadly I owe Chris Sheridan an apology. He's smart and I'm not.
If you want to live in the best basketball country in the world then it's time to move to Spain.
Why is the pick and roll so hard to defend for Americans? Lazy defense? Bad coaching?
Congrats to Spain, props to Greece, and a hardy kudos to the United States for finishing third. Just wait until Kobe joins the fun.
We're back hopefully (I've switched to a Mac, so no more crashing allegedly) with a big season preview starting in October.
Tell your friends.
USA!? USA!? USA!?
It's all anti-climactic now as sadly I owe Chris Sheridan an apology. He's smart and I'm not.
If you want to live in the best basketball country in the world then it's time to move to Spain.
Why is the pick and roll so hard to defend for Americans? Lazy defense? Bad coaching?
Congrats to Spain, props to Greece, and a hardy kudos to the United States for finishing third. Just wait until Kobe joins the fun.
We're back hopefully (I've switched to a Mac, so no more crashing allegedly) with a big season preview starting in October.
Tell your friends.
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