Monday, October 25, 2004

CNNSI Rankings: Eastern Surprises - Inflated Rankings

Sports Illustrated ranked NBA teams so let's take a look.
  1. Detroit ! yes
  2. Indiana ! yes
  3. Miami ! yes
  4. Philadelphia (huh?)
  5. Cleveland (huh? huh?)
  6. Knicks (haaa... no way)
  7. Orlando (Okay - Looks like Grant Hill returns)
  8. Nets (huh? without Martin and Kidd injured and unhappy)
  9. Celtics (Way too low)
  10. Wizards (Ahead of the Bucks? Please they have 3 former Golden State "Franchise" players - None of whom ever defend worth a damn. )
  11. Bucks (unfair - no-name players on a small market team get disrespected)
  12. Raptors (okay)
  13. Bulls (Joe Sez no lower than #10)
  14. Hawks (okay)
  15. Bobcats (yes)
Surprise #1
Cleveland ranked 5 !
They are betting on Drew Gooden replacing and improving on C Boozer. No way Jose. Gooden has failed to produce in the past four years. Remember that Mr. Logo, J.West, traded him away so what does that say about his potential. Furthermore, LeBron is a 2nd year teenager who has a lot of growing up to do. This ranking is all about selling Jersey's and Hyping LeBron.

Surprise #2
76er's ranked #4.
76er's new Coach, Jim O'Brien, Boston's successful x-coach, is supposed to take last years injury-riddled team to the playoffs. They were injury riddled because they were old. Now with A.Iverson at PG, Glenn Robinson at SG this team will shoot a low field percentage. My opinion of G.Robinson's character is low, while Iverson is too stubborn, and these 76er's are too old to place #4. This is a ranking based on the past performance, and not even last years' past but the past two-three years ago.

Surprise #3
Knicks ranked #6.
Their poor showing in the last few preseason games shows why I think NY will could miss the playoffs. "Junior" Crawford is picking up where he left Chicago, shooting poorly and shooting often. Houston still has to show he can play on healthy knees. Now there are some questions about the play of both NY Centers. It might get ugly in NY.

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