Do you think we can enter the 2nd round with the current roster?

Until this team proves they can be consistent at anything, it is impossible to predict. They looked really good against the Nets, but they have rarely if ever this season put several good games together. And, as others have pointed out, it depends who they play.

 

certainly we have enough talents to pass the second round, specially given that pretty much all Western top 8 teams beside Spurs and Lakers are slipping slope.

NO - they just traded away chandler and i am not sure how they think theycan fare well again center heavy team like us, spurs (semi), or Lakers.

Jazz - unless they can put Boozer's contract issue aside, I don't think their current chemtry is going to help them.

Portland - is the dark horse this time around. we will see how they fare against the powerhouse in the west after all-star. Roy is just too clutch...

 

I'd just like (and so would Adelman) a consistent roster rotation for a long stretch of games to gauge where we are at.

Everybody except TMac is back fairly healthy and I think we can make major damage with this team without TMac.

Our weaknesses are still the same without Tmac: a streaky Rafer, Battier being one dimensional on offense, Scola and Landry getting burned on switches when helping out defending out on the top of the key, lack of tall big to help Yao defend the paint, Yao not taking game over when he goes against clearly inferior opponents (ok that's more of a frustration then a weakness).

 

i think we can for sure..no drama...team is playing more relaxed and with more confidence...

 

That is up to the refs.

 

Unless we get a 100% healthy TMac playing at his best level, I don't think this team can beat the Lakers, even though the Lakers don't have Bynum.

Ironically, it seems the West is weaker this year. I think with this roster, we have a chance to beat all the other teams, except the Lakers.

Unfortunately, in the unlikely scenario that we reach the finals, that won't help much anyways. The top teams in the east are still way better than us.

 

I believe so
Let the damn trade going to hell~~~

 

I believe strongly as I did before the season started that this team can endure one major injury and still win.

So yes, I still expect success from this team. This team meaning no trades unless you are talking role players, but I like ours.

 

The key is not Tmac, it is not Artest.....it is YAO....that is our biggest mismatch night in and night out...everything feeds off him.

As long as we have Yao we have a chance.

DD

 

of course,we can. except LA

 

i honestly think they will, and very much hope so.


i want this to happen more than ever now, to show T-mac we did it without him

 

I honestly believe we can go all the way with the current roster.

 

i think so.. everything hinges on defense and i think they will get the chemistry right (on both offense and defense) now that tmac is out.. but yao can't do it by himself... everyone needs to step up, especially battier and the bench from now on

 

It depends on Yao. If he can bring it then we should be fine as long as guys can hit open shots and defend. One of the benefits of having a center.

I think we can win round 1 but can't see us beating LA or SA.

 

I will come back to this topic after thursday.

 

All the way with this team, no way ? Let's analyse our possible opponents and why I believe we can / cannot take them in a 7 game series:

1. Lakers: No because Odom, Bynum and Odom are too big for Scola and Landry, Hayes is too much of a liability and RA probably will not play Mutombo more than 5 mins in the rest of the regular season so I don't expect him to be effective if he plays at all. Scola and Landry are not the best defenders and the height and athletic disadvantage will kill us in this series.

2. Spurs: No Bonner will kill us with 3pt shooting, we're again too small at PF to keep Duncan in check, Ginobli will kill us with his flopping and our PGs cannot guard Parker. I just hope if we play them, Artest will throw some elbows like he did in 2006, then at least one player will go out like a man.

3. Nuggets: No Again size will kill us with that tattood Andersen ahole vs. our PFs and Nene abusing Yao (it will an ugly block party). Billups is also too good four our PGs to handle, even though AB has done a good job in the past, and the last are two players who have so far not been kept in check: JR Smith and Kenyon. Wafer did not do a well job of guarding JR and Kenyon always has good games because he gets wide open dunks.

4. Blazers: Yes Roy may have his games but Artest & Battier are too good to let him go off. They are young and Yao will kill Oden so we can definetly take them

5. Hornets: Yes Paul will also have his games but Chandler is gone, their starting lineup is not that good and their bench is not deep. West will be a killer but that's okay, we have the deeper bench, we have Yao who cannot be stopped and Rafer usually plays good against Paul.

6. Mavs Yes Nowitzki will go off on us and Kidd may have his games here and there but Terry is out (Rockets killer) and we have Artest to take care of Josh Howard. Hayes will have his minutes so I'm not too worried about Nowitzki killing us. Yao can take Diop, Dampier and Hollins all together and we have to seek revenge for the 2005 playoffs.

7. Suns: No Especially now that they're going to run and gun again. Amare and Shaq will kill Yao and Scola.

8. Jazz: Yes Boozer can have his way with our PFs and Yao will have his trouble but we're out for revenge, Landry has improved, we have Yao again and we have the ultimate Jazz killer in RON ARTEST. If we trade him, there is no chance we can win because he's the only one who's ready to fight and play a little dirty. The rest of our team is too 'soft' without Ron; Artest's aggresiveness will rub off on the rest.

We will probably have the 5th seed again so we have a good chance of getting past the first round since our opponent will likely be the Blazers / Hornets. If we're between 6th and 8th there's no chance we get past the 1st round because it's almost given we will face Nuggets / Lakers / Spurs.
If we somehow manage to be the 2nd, 3rd or 4th I can see us reaching the WCF at best.

 

Its all up to Yao Ming, I have said it before and I will say it here....

If Yao asserts himself on the court there is no team that can stop him. He is to big and he can overpower any defender, sans Shaq, but he can just shoot over him.

 

yes they have. Oden will be in foul trouble easily.

 

Of course we can with the right matchup. We could've made it to the 2nd round last year without Yao had Rafer and Battier been healthier.