besides the Bobcats there is a lot of parity in the league after the top 5 teams. i think they could finish in a pretty wide range. lin screwed up the knick pick last season. lowry probably would like to do the same for this season.
Dwill for the most part checked out last year, defensively. And Wallace is visibly declining. I'd expect DWill to be good this year though, and Wallace will still be above average. Joe Johnson is possibly the best defender on that roster, btw, and he's been good for a long time. No idea why he's 'thumbs down'. Their big men and their bench are subpar, defensively. But Avery Johnson has always been defensive minded, I'd expect him to keep them decent on that end. but all that said, the whole radical notion of 'defense wins games' is a nonstarter. talent, health, chemistry matter much more. and depth, since we are talking about the regular season.
Both Gerald Wallace and Joe Johnson are elite defenders when they are focused, Brook Lopez is an okay shot blocker, and D-Will has never been a net negative on defense. Interesting eye-ball test you got there.
A couple of other teams off the top of my head that are significantly better are the Bucks and the Pistons. Greg Monroe is already one of the top centers in the league and Andre Drumand looks like he can make an impact on defense. I think Washington will be better with Nene and Okafor in the post and Bradley Beal with John Wall out on the floor. I thinK Charlotte is clearly the worst team with Toronto, Cleavland and Orlando battling for the next worst spot.
We only need the nets to be better than the Raptors and they look to 15 plus games better if not 20 games better to me.
This thread is still important. This pick could end up being the most valuable asset we gave up in the trade, and could potentially make our trade look really bad. At least we could cheer for Lowry now.
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Yep, I definitely have. I was feeling a little guilty -for not being able to wish calamity upon them.
Should we root for Toronto so that the price for Harden would be low? Or should we root against Toronto so that the return for Lowry would be high? :grin:
Exactly how I feel. he was my favorite Rocket, and I was sad to hope for him to fail. I hope he shines, and brings Toronto to a playoff birth.
