True. Haters abound. I agree with London's Burning's assessment save that I'd supplant Utah with either Memphis or Phoenix.
Ceddy, First off, welcome to the board, even though I'm a little late..... Don’t let those haters scare you off, especially the one's who point out you haven’t posted in 10 months. Big freakin deal. Obviously, some here have yet to realize there is actually a world to live outside of this BBS Forum . Thus they spend their days, hours, minutes posting there life away and ridiculing others for not doing so. If you cant post for another 10 months cause you have a life to live, that's understandable. It's called "lurking" and like MasterCard, its accepted everywhere…… . As for your breakdown of the conference, I say you might have a couple of things wrong here. Just my opinion but, for one, the Rockets WILL NOT be the biggest surprise cause everyone will have high expectations for this team, which they will meet and exceed, in my opinion. A surprise team is a team that does something totally unexpected. So with that in mind, my surprise teams for the upcoming season are........THE LAKERS and the Mavs. Even though I hate them just as much as Karl Malone, I think this team will do alot better then most people think. Let's face it, a core of Kobe, Butler, and Odom will be fun to watch. Its basicly what you saw in Miami, just swap Wade for Bryant, who is all around, a much better player. Brian Grant is a huge upgrade at PF over any of the PF's LA has had in the past few years. And even though no one can ever fill Shaq's shoes, a tandem of Vlade and Mihm should do the job just fine without this position becoming a huge problem. Most have these Shaq-less Lakers foddering out at 7 or below in there predicted rankings. I say most of those rankings are based purely on how this team has fared without Shaq in the past. That's a big mistake because on those occasions, Kobe's “supporting cast” wasn’t nearly as good as what he will have this upcoming season. And with the problems brewing in Sacto with Peja's demands and CWebb's knees, I definitely see a "Royal Flush" collapse on the horizon for this King team, thus opening the door for the Lakers, the second best team in that newly reformed Pacific division. And that's all this team needs to surprise everyone, an opening. As for the Mavs, I say they are a surprise, but for a different reason. They won’t be a surprise in the win column, rather the loss column. The loss of Nash and his new replacement will be the entire cause for this unexpected downfall. In Nash, this team had the “pass-first” point guard this team needed to distribute the ball and establish a flow in the offense, which was Dallas' strong suit. This was what made the Mavs so good and tough to beat. This was what made them fun to watch. They were the NBA's version St Louis Rams "Greatest Show on Turf." In literal terms, they had a real "run and shoot" offense. But with the subtraction of Nash and the addition of Terry to run the show, an end to those prolific offensive showings seems inevitable. In Jason Terry, you get a “score-first” point guard who won’t do any of those things Nash did nearly as good. And while Dampier will provide and improvement down low, this team will miss the spark of Najara off the bench. While Antoine Walker might be gone, don’t be surprised if Jerry Stackhouse ends up filling Walker's shoes and becomes this years whipping boy with his antics. Couple these facts with all the new players Dallas will have to try and mesh together and it becomes quite apparent that chemistry will once again be a big problem for this team, even bigger then last year. This will ultimately bring about there unfortunate surprising downfall, as well as the downfall for one Don Nelson. 1-Minn 2-Lakers 3-Denver 4-Rockets 5-Spurs 6-Kings 7-Grizz 8-Mavs
The kidnappers will regret for touching a single hair on her head. I mean, the haters will regret for whining a single word on this thread.
1-Spurs - with new addition they should be even better. 2-Kings - Chemistry problem with Peja demanding a trade and Vlade's gone, but they will still be as good. 3-Wolves - with Sprewell and Sam aging, they might drop. 4-Rockets - A combination of Nene/Camby/Kmart will slow down Yao, but who's the answer for TMAC? 5-Nuggets 6-Lakers - With the legal trouble almost gone, Kobe will be back with fire. 7-Suns - They have a glut of wing players and Nash 8-Mavs - They will still score a lot of points with Dirk/Stack/Finley but Nash is gone.
This is the problem in the West. I think only Minny and San Antonio are LOCKS for the playoffs. I think everyone else better come out the gate fighting for their lives. It is the race to 47 wins IMO. 1st and 8th place probably won't be seperated by more the 5-7 games in March. Rockets could finish anywhere from 1st to 10th and that probably goes for any team. Seeing that 10th place will probably have about 40 wins, one bad month and teams in the West are done. Teams like Houston, Denver, and Utah might be hurt out the gate trying to bring their new rosters together. The key is to punish the East and stay healthy.
1. SAS - best chem. most talent. 2. MIN - could be #1 again, but trade rumors could rock the boat. 3. SAC - not that they deserve to be this high, but the will win thier division. 4. HOU - should be on the spurs tail all season. 5. LAL - they will surprise as many ppl as we will. on paper, they have a very nice roster. 6. DEN - kmart helps, but lets be real about how much better they are. 7. DAL - like the lakers, they still have enough talent to get them here. 8. MEM, UTA, PHO, POR
No, with this team you're looking at 6th at worst, barring some major unforseen injury to Yao or Tracy. Teams like Denver, Memphis, Utah, Portland, Dallas and Phoenix will be battling for the 6th through 10 spots.
I think teams 1-12 can make the playoffs, locks for a few, really good chance for a few, and not that good of a chance for a few, but all them still have a chance at making the playoffs. Top three are the Southwest, Northwest, and Pacific division winners. 1. Spurs 2. Wolves 3. Suns 4. Nuggets 5. Rockets 6. Kings 7. Mavs 8. Jazz 9. Grizzlies 10. Lakers 11. Hornets 12. Clippers 13. Sonics 14. Blazers 15. Warriors
For those of you that are putting Spurs and Wolves at 1 &2 have to remember that the Pacific division winner will get in as a second seed regardless of their record
We got 3 Western Divisions now. The Southwest (with the Spurs and Rox), the Northwest (with Minny), and the Pacific (with Sacto and Lakers)
