Friday, September 17, 2004

Eastern Conference Rankings and Snark

  1. DETROIT PISTONS: Best team last year now has Wallace for the full season.
  2. INDIANA PACERS:Good coach and good team but R.Miller is a year older and Ron Artest is nuts but what other team is better ? Detroit
  3. MIAMI HEAT: Best Center and player in the NBA is serious this season. D.Wade got better in the Olympics school of hard knocks. Can D. Wade play the supporting role Shaq wanted out of Kobe? Yes.
  4. BOSTON CELTICS: Center Mark Blount is good for the Eastern Conference and Raef Lafrentz is a good PF. SF Paul Pierce is a star who will help this team and the High School pick, Kid Al Jefferson may be a candidate for rookie of the year but D Ainge's management has been weird.
  5. MILWAUKEE BUCKS: Excellent coach and they played well as team last year: Returning PF Joe Smith, SF Keith Van Horn, SG Michael Redd, T.J. Ford and 6th man T. Kukoc. Seems like a good line-up if they once again they play well as a team.
  6. CHICAGO BULLS: Huh?! Assume Curry and Chandler are in shape and serious otherwise this ranking is rank. The Bulls are good and relatively deep at the 1, 2 and 3 positions and they have two talented rookies who will play significant minutes and have veteran backups. PG Hinrick and Williams are both tall, defensive PGs. SG Gordon/Piatowski and SF Nocioni/Deng are interesting rookie and veteran tandems for the 2 and 3 positions. Veteran E Robinson can play both SG and SF if he wants to participate - assume he does. The team will struggle on defense at times but if they play as a team, and Curry/Chander are ready, Da Bulls will make the playoffs at the 6 spot and play Miami - Curry vs Shaq. I expect a trade for another veteran PF/C.
  7. TORONTO RAPTORS: C Rafael Araujo was picked 8th but will be a rookie year bust - too stiff and slow for the NBA game. PF Chris Bosh will get better but SF Vince Carter is distracting and distracted while SG Jalen Rose shoots too often and poorly and he complains. There is a potential for bad chemistry on a talented team with capable Donyell Marshall playing reserve SF and PF.
  8. NEW YORK KNICKS Modest capability at Center and good at PF. SF T Thomas is a flake, A Houston will have knee problems and J Crawford will piss off everyone with is attitude and shooting. I.Thomas annoys me but the NY Knicks will get the last playoff spot and lose in the first round.
  9. CLEVELAND CAVALIERS: They have a workable Center but lost a great PF. SG LeBron James is a great rookie, not a great enough player to make the difference this year. PG Eric Snow helps.
  10. PHILADELPHIA 76ERS: No significant front court presence. Glenn Robinson is bad news, but SG Andre Iguodala is a promising young rookie. Allen Iverson will be the PG this move will not pan out.
  11. NEW JERSEY NETS No Martin and J Kidd is hurt and disgruntled. The new owner has decided to retool and so expect to see a trade of Kidd if he recovers and is healthy.
  12. WASHINGTON WIZARDS: A.Jamison does not defend and neither SG Hughes nor PG G.Arenas do either. They all like to shoot. Center K. Brown isn't going to be bad but he's not good enough to make the difference on this team. There are three former GS Warrior players - all were considered cornerstones of that franchise.
  13. ORLANDO MAGIC: New rookie high school PF who athletically impress us at times but isn't going to help the team go anywhere this year and they are weak at Center. Grant Hill will retire - Sorry.
  14. ATLANTA HAWKS Newly reformed team, no chemistry - too many smalls SG/SF.
  15. CHARLOTTE BOBCATS New team, no chemistry.
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1 comment:

Joe_Sez said...

Washington wizards have too many scorers and not enough defense. Jamison, Arenas and Hughes are all former GSW players who could/would not defend.

Orlando was a bad team last year and they drafted a high school PF who isn't going help them this year. I don't see how they got much better. T-Mac was unmotivated but the trade doesn't make this a better team. Grant Hill's return will make a hugh difference, I assumed he would not return.

Boston, I'm not sure but it's really the fact they have Pierce, a good Center and PF and their draft picks including rookie HS draft pick, a PF, all seem promising enough to contribute.

I'm down on the Knicks - they look like a team the old Golden State Warriors would field - a collection of parts but no chemistry. For example, J.Crawford is going to shot his way into the dog house.

I thought TJ Ford would be back for Milwaulkee - this pick at 5 may be tough.

Bulls are not depending on Curry and Chandler. They have a team of hard nose players and could be deep. They have palyers with better attidudes than other teams like Toronto's Rose and Carter.

3:51 PM

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