Spurs - but not for long Mavs - Up and coming and going to be stronger Rockets - Not far behind In fact all three of them are within a thin red hair of each other. DaDakota
1) Spurs 2) Mavs 3) Rockets No matter how soft they are and how much heart they lack, the Spurs still have fourteen feet of Duncan and Robinson. Barring injury. they could throw Mitch Wiggins and Lew Lloyd in the back court and still could be considered a decent shot for the Finals. The Mavs didn't really lose anyone of importance. They resigned one of the most talented guys at his position in Finley. Howard gets to play with Dallas for a full season, Nowitski improves or at worst maintains his scoring and rebounding, Nash plays smart, and Bradley is well...Bradley. The Rockets lose Matt Bullard and hope to replace his scoring, rebounding, defense, passing, marketability, locker room presence, leadership, and goatee with Glen Rice. God help them. Oh and they also lost Hakeem and plan on playing Cato full time.
The Spurs are the best 3 point shooting team in the league, by far. If teams do as you say and collapse on Tim and David inside, it will lead to wide open threes, and I can guarantee you that that will significantly stretch the zone. It's so funny how you don't even claim to watch college basketball, yet you talk all the time about the effects the zone will have, and who it will benefit or cause problems for. The zone will not cause many differences at all, except for teams that cannot shoot at all. You put Jamal Crawford and Larry Hughes out there, and you might have some problems. But otherwise, you will be fine.
Funny how the team that lost to the "soft" team 1-4 in the playoffs gets so much wood in this thread. Anyways...being a fan of neither the Mavs nor the Rockets, I rank them as: Mavs Rockets ...but I feel that if Rice meshes in well and Griffin is as good as advertised, then the Rockets could very well end up ahead of their I-45 rival.
1. Spurs 2. Mavs 3. Rockets (Dammit...) Sorry Cat, but I've got to go against your track record with the Mavs. Just like a lot of folks last year didn't think they were even playoff material, I think a lot of people don't believe they are a legitimate West contender. They aren't the Lakers or Kings or I guess Spurs just yet, but they aren't going anywhere either. All of their pickups this offseason were positives and addressed some areas they needed...basically veterans. They weren't looking for anyone who will be a new major option, and they didn't get it. But they still helped themselves. Take Hardaway for example - he doesn't have much left, but he's just as likely to come in during a crucial game 7 and pop four threes on you. Still, though...as someone pointed out, if Rice does mesh well and Griffin hits ROY candidate status, the race in Texas could be closer than the presidential election.
I don't watch the NCAA, but I understand the zone much better now. Teams will be able to smother Duncan and his soft little buddy, and easily rotate to cover the three point shooters. They have good wide-open shooters, but none that rival players like Rice, Nowitski, Finley, Francis, or even Cuttino. The Spurs are done. I look for a season similar to the Knicks. They will play great D, but only manage 88 ppg.
yeah i'm sorry but i gotta admit that we're on the bottom of those two. i still hopin we make the play offs but it hinkt he mavs are still a better team. We need an inside presence better than mo tay to crawl up
Pretty funny, I guess that means the Comets would run the Bulls off the court then right? The Rockets did it to the Bulls, so I guess the Bulls have hit rockbottom! lol I rank the teams: Spurs Mavs Rockets And I think that they ALL will make the playoffs this season. Their win totals, I think the Mavs could win the division, but I think the Spurs will be a little more balanced next year so here are the win totals Spurs 58 wins Mavs 56 wins Rocks 50 wins
Let's see, Smith does not "rival" Rice? Daniels isn't a bad player himself either. Yet if they play great D, then they will be able to smother other teams, especially perimeter oriented teams, eh? Overall, the Spurs have added a lot of size to the team at all positions. Duncan does have a face up game, and most of the team has good range on their jumpers. This is a team built for the zone.
That zone works both ways. Daniels will be able to slash against it as well, and Bowens and Smith will get open shots all day. Bowens is a 30+ percent 3pt shooter, and we know about Steve Smith. I guess it's wishful thinking that the Spurs are dead, it would make the Rockets job easier I guess, but they may have been swept by the Lakers but 1.)They still got to the WCF and 2.)Every other team that played the Lakers in the playoffs were swept.
Gee, I was just going to respond to the simple question posed in this thread. And what do I run into? Putz, and Bulls...guess they fit together. Anyway, here's how I see it: 1. Spurs-despite loss of Anderson they have the inside game and play great team defense (very underrated) 2. Mavs- I think they'll be even stronger with a year of seasoning and the addition of Hardaway. The smartest team in the league. 3. Rox- we will be better than last year and, barring injuries, could pass either of the other two. Our ability to gain ground depends on commitment to improving our defensive game. And, I agree that all three teams will make the playoffs.
Cat, Wouldn't you say the Spurs are most different this year in their perimeter players? Anderson, Elliot, Ferry, and Daniels were their distance shooters. Now there is only Daniels, with solid shooting Smith added. I don't know if they should still be called the best, based on different players from last year. Wait untile the season gets going...then we will know if they are better, worse, or the same.
1. Spurs 2. Mavs / rockets Mavs and Rockets will win 54 games each. The zone will be the rocket's power Letting Francis, Mobley, and Moochie play the passing lanes will be ridiculous BOLD PREDICTION COMING: Rockets will be in the Top 5 in steals!! Rocket River
I don't care as long as The Rockets make it to the playoffs and win the series against dallas ( I have money on it .)
I find this really humorous, I completely disgree with Cat and Spur about how the Spurs now stack up against the elite Western teams but completely agree with Cat, Mr. Spur and JayZ on their "Texas rankings". You are not thinking strait putting the Mavs or Rockets ahead of the Spurs. The Spur's rolled the Mavs after losing their 3rd best player last year when all the Mavs mainstays were completely injury free. The Spurs are clearly the class of the midwest and the Texas teams. However I think we are far closer to the Mavs than they are to the Spurs--and we are a lot closer to the Mavs than people think. Being honest, I would be surprised to see either us or the Mavs win a playoff series next year. Playing the Jazz was the best possible draw they could have got (the Jazz have been the 1 real susceptible top Western seed in the 1st round over the last few years), and the Mavs still barely squeeked by. Neither us nor the Mavs team have quality interiors, especially compared with the elite Western teams. If you compare Francis (big edge), Mobley, Rice and Taylor (even) to Nash, Finley (very slight edge), Dirk (big edge) & Howard (which of the last two Mavs is really the "4" anyway? though maybe it really doesn't matter because neither can D up at all against the better 4s in the West)---sum it all up and I think you are not that far from a wash at the 1 to 4--especially if Griffin produces some this year. The main difference between the teams are the Mavs seem to have veteran depth (good in the short term but not long term) and a little bit better center and are a little bit farther along in working together (they have slightly older players who have worked with each other longer). This is enough to make the Mavs better than us, but not not by a lot. The last two years the Mavs have had 6 & 8 game better records than us. IMO we have made more substantial improvements than they have and am expecting us to be within 1/2 the number of games of last seasons #'s (i.e., around 4 games). Finally, I am not slamming the Mavs. There are only a handful of teams that are 1) just 1 notch below the elites right now (they are a "good team"; and 2) worthy of comparing their young nucleaus to ours (we were are pretty good team last team as well). All just my opinion of course.
