I hate to cashing in on the train when so many else are doing it, but considering basketball is undoubtably the best sport of all, there simply had to be a power rankings for it too. This is ranking them before the season starts.
Spoiler: show
1. Boston Celtics - The champs get the courtesy spot at the top. They should be a little less hungry this year and Ray Allen will probably decline, but the improvement of Rondo and the possible breakouts of Tony Allen or Leon Powe could make up for it. As long as their defense and team play stays as strong as it was last year, they should be near the top again.
2. New Orleans Hornets - It was tough deciding between them on the two teams below for this spot, as if all things go right for them, they will be better, but the Hornets are more of a sure bet. The lineup is similar to last year, the biggest difference being that they dropped the kind of chucking me-first guy who don't want on a contender (Pargo) for the ultimate role playing glue one you do want (Posey). Going 7-0 in the preseason is always a good sign too. On the negative sign though, their bench outside of Posey a bit weak. Mike James sucks.
3. LA Lakers - The fact that a team with as many question marks as this can still rank so high, shows the potential of this team. How will Bynum play after his surgery? Will there be room for him and Gasol to both excel? Where does Odom fit, playing him as a starter is a problem because neither him, Gasol, or Bynum has shooting range, so does he come off the bench? On a broader note, how is the team's chemistry this year? Will we see the Kobe loves everyone fest of the second half of the regular season last year, or will the poisonous looks of the finals continue? Bynum's reputation is not the best either, and Odom is naturally a wussie. Finally, does Phil Jackson even give a crap anymore or is he just there because of the nice pay and becuase he's banging the boss's daughter? Should be an interesting year.
4. Houston Rockets - Like LA, if all goes well, they're on the shortlist of teams to win it all. Houston already had the 2nd best defense in the league last year, adding Ron Artest just makes it ridiculous... and we all know what wins championships. But then again, he's Ron Artest... the guy so mentally unstable he single handidly killed a franchise and basketball loving city. As well, the chances of TMac and Yao staying healthy the whole year is about as high as Eddy Curry turning down a hamburger. They just have to hope they're both available for the playoffs.
5. Utah Jazz - They didn't change their team much from last year, but they didn’t really need to. Deron Williams is still one of the league’s very best, and with Boozer and Okur as primary weapons and Sloan’s system, their offense should be near tops in the league. Watch out for the improvement of Brewer and Price, who along with Korver and Millsap give them a great supporting cast. And who knows when someone might find Kirilenko from his hiding place in the bushes. It’s noteable that last year they started out shifty, then from the Korver trade on played as well as anyone. If they keep that pace this year, 60 wins will be easily attainable, especially considering you can lock up between 36 and 38 of them just from their home games... play a couple games over .500 on the road and they could win the conference. I’m less confident in their playoff potential. Boozer and Okur just aren’t good enough defensively, and the former’s disappearance in the playoffs last year doesn’t give me confidence in him. Offensive supremacy is ultimately nice,
but it rarely wins it all.
6. San Antonio Spurs – What can you possibly fill a paragraph with when predicting the Spurs? They’re getting older, but as long as Duncan and Pop are there, they should be there. Still though, Ginobli’s injury will hurt, not because of their first half record (they usually coast anyways), but because they won’t have an opportunity to coast this time, they won’t have the fresh legs they usually do in the playoffs. On that note too, they could definitely use a player like Detroit’s Stuckey to spruce up their team. On one last note, Ginobli’s injury is noteable in the sense that the Spurs last year might’ve been better than they looked, the main reason they lost was because they couldn’t keep up offensively, would that have different with Manu there? Could they have beaten LA and Boston? Wouldn’t they be #1 in that case? In any case, they’re still here.
7. Detroit Pistons – Hard to rank because this list is a mix of regular season and postseason rankings. If we’re talking regular season, they’re top 5. If we’re talking postseason, they’re out of the top 10. No reason not to predict 55 wins and an ECF loss once again, this team doesn’t have the urgency or fire to win it all. Their best chance might be if they move Billups while his value is still high, and give the reins to Stuckey, who I love.
8. Cleveland Lebrons – Well they made the finals two years ago and came within a definitive Paul Pierce performance of knocking off Boston last year, with a team that was mostly Lebron and a bunch of guys who play defence and rebound. This year they have Lebron, Mo Williams, and a bunch of guys who play defence and rebound. With Williams taking some scoring pressure off him, it’s conceivable Bron makes the jump to peak Jordan numbers and gets close to 35ppg. They also have Wally’s 12 mil expiring contract that they can trade for another big player at the deadline... I don’t think anyone as good as Gasol will be open, but who knows. With that being said, I still don’t think this team’s biggest weakness has been solved: Mike Brown. He’s just not good. The Cavs play some of the ugliest basketball that has ever been seen, it can only go so far. Jordan didn’t win anything until he found the right coach in Jackson, and I don’t think Lebron will either. They remain dangerous in the playoffs to anyone though.
9. Dallas Mavericks – The Kidd trade might be one of the most damaging of all time. The biggest damage was not that they made an exchange where the player they gave up will be better than what they got by this year, or that Kidd had no place in the slow Dallas system at all, but rather that they wasted their only tradeable asset at all to fill a position they didn’t need (Terry was suitable PG as it was). Imagine if they had a little patience and accepted this wasn’t their year... after all, Dirk is still like 29, this isn’t a situation like the Suns where they had to win NOW. If they waited till the summer and watched Artest keep his contract, they could’ve easily moved Harris for him... he would’ve solved their needs in terms of giving them an edge (the Mavs are pussys), adding one of the best defensive presence in the league, and giving them a player who can relieve Dirk’s scoring pressure. From there they could’ve either played Howard off the bench or moved him for a more suitable scoring guard, considering his off court issues. With a lineup of Terry, Artest, Dirk, either Howard or whatever they got for him, they would’ve been an absolute favourite instead of a playoff team at best. Ah, the virtue of patience.
10. Orlando Magic – Pretty similar team to last year, with the core pieces being Howard, Lewis, Shard, and Stan Van Gundy’s coaching. As long as you have Dwight Howard on your team, you won’t have a problem being a top 4 seed in your conference. What’s scary is that he could potentially get better this year... his offensive game is very raw and basic and liable to improvement. Hedo is also in a contract year. On the negative side though, their bench stinks. But regardless, expect another good if not great year from the Magic.
11. Philadelphia 76ers – I’m more confident in them in the regular season than I am in the playoffs. They should excel at defence and with the strength of Miller, Young, Iguodala, Brand, and Dalembert, they should be strong all around. However there’s simply no one on that team who can shoot AT ALL, so in the playoffs it should be easier to isolate their weakness by playing zone, for that reason I can’t see them making it past the second round.
12. Phoenix Suns – Amare should be a beast, but after that, I dunno. Nash’s strengths were exemplified by D’Antoni’s system, before he entered that he was a very good point guard but far from MVP quality. If you add that to his age, I think he’ll have a big drop this year. Shaq is done. They should still make the playoffs, but I think their championship window is closed.
13. Toronto Raptors – Adding Jermaine O’Neal is nice, but like Cleveland , the biggest fault in the team remains with the coach. Sam Mitchell is nice as a rebuilding coach, but when it comes to actually competing, he doesn’t cut it. Without plays or a system, and with continuingly shady defensive philosophies, it’s second round at best for us this year. Bargnani looks good in preseason though.
14. LA Clippers – Their starting lineup of Davis, Gordon, Thornton, Kaman, Camby is good, but their problem lies in their bench, chemistry, and health. The mix of the most cursed sports franchise in history and having Ricky Davis on your team is not a good omen.
15. Golden State Warriors – They had about as bad as an offseason as possible. Davis left, Ellis crashed his moped, and they signed Corey Maggette to a retarded “resigning to mediocrity†contract for the next 5 years. This team has no direction at all. The fans should cherish their upset two years ago, because they’re not making any more noise anytime soon.
16. Portland Trail Blazers – I’m not completely buying into the Blazers hype this year. Oden is still a rookie, and away from their 13 game winning streak last year, they were we a pretty shite team. This team is stacked with young talent but has a lot of questions to answer... to be a championship team you really only need 3 big stars, and the Blazers have about 7, of which they can’t afford to pay all at once when the rookie contracts run out, so if they’re smart they’ll look to move some of that young talent like Bayless, Webster, and Outlaw for more veteran strongholds, and build around the Oden, Roy, Alderidge, and Fernandez.
17. Memphis Grizzlies – Maybe the year’s most underrated team, I think their young talent is comparable to Portland’s. They should make a big step forward this year at the PG and C positions with the improvement of Conley, Jr. and the addition of Marc Gasol, and then adding that to Gay’s solidified place and the budding star of Mayo, they should be really solid. This team’s goal next year should be to use their 20 mil+ of capspace to SIGN ANDREW BYNUM. If they do that, they become the next Spurs aka the small market team that wins 4 + championships while Stern hangs himself. The Gasol trade might end up being a stroke of genius in that sense, as it led to getting Mayo and having all this space.
18. Atlanta Hawks – Their starting lineup is the same as last year and should be quite solid, only with Horford presumably improving to the status of top flight center. They have one of the league’s worst benches though, and Mike Woodson is still terrible. Expect 7th or 8th seed at best in the East.
19. Sacramento Kings – Their lineup is probably among the worst in the league, but I like Theus as a coach and I wouldn’t be surprised if Kevin Martin puts up 28+ ppg this year. Don’t be surprised if John Salmons puts up most improved player and puts up close to 20 a game either. In any case though, this team needs to be one of the bottom 3 in the league and get a stud in the lottery, I love Martin but he’s not multi-dimensional enough to build a team around. The more losses the better for the Kings this year.
20. Minnesota Timberwolves – Their season should be similar to the one the Grizzlies had last year, where with the big stats Gay, Gasol, Miller, Navarro were putting up, and the decent play of Conley/Lowry, you’d think they’d be good, but they were one of the league’s worst... because they couldn’t play d. I expect the same here. They should excel offensively with the stats of Miller, Jefferson, Love, McCants, Foye put up, but they just won’t be able to guard anything. Giving away Mayo for Love will haunt them for the next ten years. You just can't win with the defensive inabilities of a Jefferson and Love frontcourt. Mayo and Jefferson would've been fantastic.
21. New York Knicks – D’Antoni’s system seems to benefit Lee and Randolph quite well, I don’t think this team will be quite the embarrassment they were the last couple years. Still though, you can’t disregard their weakness defensively, and while Lee and Randolph may improve, the Knicks have a lot more problems than that aka Starbury, Curry, Nate Robinson, Q Rich, etc. They’re in a rebuilding state.
22. Chicago Bulls – Well it’s easy to forget they won 49 games two years ago, but if they can get their defensive and chemistry issues worked out, they should be respectable again. That may be easier said than done though, Deng and Gordon have pretty clearly solidified themselves as money first guys. I think this team would have a better chance just blowing everything up and hitting top 5 lottery picks the next couple years to build around Rose, as it stands I don’t know if this mediocore to decent Rose/Gordon/Deng combo will lead them anywhere substantial.
23. Denver Nuggets – They should score a lot of points with Melo, AI, Jr Smith, Kleiza, but considering they were one of the league’s most embarrassing defensive teams and traded away two of their strongest contributers in that area, they will be atrocious defensively... not to mention at extreme risk considering Nene and Kmart’s injury issues. If those players go down, which they almost surely will, god help the Nuggets.
I still think they should trade Melo. He’s just gonna bolt in a couple years anyways, plus he’s a cancer. If they were commited to created a winning team, they’d blow things up and go back to the draft. But of course, the Denver FO cares almost entirely about money.
24. Miami Heat – I love Wade, I question the team ethic of Marion and Beasley, and I question their holes at PG, C, and in their bench. Probably not a playoff team yet, despite the high possibility Wade wins a lot of games on his own just by being insanely clutch.
25. Washington Wizards – Would be a decent team if they weren’t injured all the damn time.. their medical staff is absolutely atrocious. Losing Brendan Haywood is probably more damaging than losing the overrated Arenas, because without Haywood there’s no-one who plays defence on that team whatsoever. Considering Jamison also won’t be there to start the season, they should be in trouble for a while. They deserve this fate for stupidly signing Arenas to that mega contract, clearly the owners signified they cared more about money than ever competing.
26. Indiana Pacers – Probably the league’s most irrelevant team this year. They should be respectable with Ford, Granger, Dunleavy, Rasho this year, but not good enough to make the playoffs... they should mostly just be ‘there’. Another team that would be better off losing a lot of games this year.
27. Milwaukee Bucks – Same Bucks. Talent is there, but so is the horrible chemistry, lack of defence, and constant chucking. If Skiles can get these guys to play together and play d, they’ll be a playoff team, but their awful performance in the preseason doesn’t give me too much confidence. The Jefferson trade made no sense in terms of their long term plan, it felt more like hearing “We’ll give you RJ for shitty Yi and Simmons’ ass contract! You have to take that rightâ€Â... and they did.
28. New Jersey Nets – As the primary focus of the offense again, Vince should have a big year assuming he doesn’t wussy out, but this team mostly sucks balls. Their gameplan is to clear as much space by 2010 so they can sign Lebron if they move to Brooklyn (it’s been in doubt lately), and to further entice him trade for as much young players, and suck enough to soak in the high lottery picks in the next two years. It’s a pretty brilliant strategy actually. Fuck you Rod Thorn.
29. Charlotte Bobcats – I know preseason is just preseason... but you still can’t ignore going 0-8. After all, look who went winless last year: the Heat. This is another team that has no direction at all... No franchise player, and guys like JRich and Gerald Wallace will only lead you to low lottery picks. MJ is a seriously retarded GM. Hiring Larry Brown made no sense at all because he'll just leave within a year or two anyways... this team seems content with an 8th seed at this point.
30. Oklahoma City Thunder – Not much to say about them other than that they will suck. Durant and Green will do well, Westbrook will solidify himself as a “solid†rookie PG, and they’ll be one of the league’s worst. I expect they’ll hope for better luck in next year’s lottery than this year, when they got 4th in a year with 3 potential superstar picks.
2. New Orleans Hornets - It was tough deciding between them on the two teams below for this spot, as if all things go right for them, they will be better, but the Hornets are more of a sure bet. The lineup is similar to last year, the biggest difference being that they dropped the kind of chucking me-first guy who don't want on a contender (Pargo) for the ultimate role playing glue one you do want (Posey). Going 7-0 in the preseason is always a good sign too. On the negative sign though, their bench outside of Posey a bit weak. Mike James sucks.
3. LA Lakers - The fact that a team with as many question marks as this can still rank so high, shows the potential of this team. How will Bynum play after his surgery? Will there be room for him and Gasol to both excel? Where does Odom fit, playing him as a starter is a problem because neither him, Gasol, or Bynum has shooting range, so does he come off the bench? On a broader note, how is the team's chemistry this year? Will we see the Kobe loves everyone fest of the second half of the regular season last year, or will the poisonous looks of the finals continue? Bynum's reputation is not the best either, and Odom is naturally a wussie. Finally, does Phil Jackson even give a crap anymore or is he just there because of the nice pay and becuase he's banging the boss's daughter? Should be an interesting year.
4. Houston Rockets - Like LA, if all goes well, they're on the shortlist of teams to win it all. Houston already had the 2nd best defense in the league last year, adding Ron Artest just makes it ridiculous... and we all know what wins championships. But then again, he's Ron Artest... the guy so mentally unstable he single handidly killed a franchise and basketball loving city. As well, the chances of TMac and Yao staying healthy the whole year is about as high as Eddy Curry turning down a hamburger. They just have to hope they're both available for the playoffs.
5. Utah Jazz - They didn't change their team much from last year, but they didn’t really need to. Deron Williams is still one of the league’s very best, and with Boozer and Okur as primary weapons and Sloan’s system, their offense should be near tops in the league. Watch out for the improvement of Brewer and Price, who along with Korver and Millsap give them a great supporting cast. And who knows when someone might find Kirilenko from his hiding place in the bushes. It’s noteable that last year they started out shifty, then from the Korver trade on played as well as anyone. If they keep that pace this year, 60 wins will be easily attainable, especially considering you can lock up between 36 and 38 of them just from their home games... play a couple games over .500 on the road and they could win the conference. I’m less confident in their playoff potential. Boozer and Okur just aren’t good enough defensively, and the former’s disappearance in the playoffs last year doesn’t give me confidence in him. Offensive supremacy is ultimately nice,
but it rarely wins it all.
6. San Antonio Spurs – What can you possibly fill a paragraph with when predicting the Spurs? They’re getting older, but as long as Duncan and Pop are there, they should be there. Still though, Ginobli’s injury will hurt, not because of their first half record (they usually coast anyways), but because they won’t have an opportunity to coast this time, they won’t have the fresh legs they usually do in the playoffs. On that note too, they could definitely use a player like Detroit’s Stuckey to spruce up their team. On one last note, Ginobli’s injury is noteable in the sense that the Spurs last year might’ve been better than they looked, the main reason they lost was because they couldn’t keep up offensively, would that have different with Manu there? Could they have beaten LA and Boston? Wouldn’t they be #1 in that case? In any case, they’re still here.
7. Detroit Pistons – Hard to rank because this list is a mix of regular season and postseason rankings. If we’re talking regular season, they’re top 5. If we’re talking postseason, they’re out of the top 10. No reason not to predict 55 wins and an ECF loss once again, this team doesn’t have the urgency or fire to win it all. Their best chance might be if they move Billups while his value is still high, and give the reins to Stuckey, who I love.
8. Cleveland Lebrons – Well they made the finals two years ago and came within a definitive Paul Pierce performance of knocking off Boston last year, with a team that was mostly Lebron and a bunch of guys who play defence and rebound. This year they have Lebron, Mo Williams, and a bunch of guys who play defence and rebound. With Williams taking some scoring pressure off him, it’s conceivable Bron makes the jump to peak Jordan numbers and gets close to 35ppg. They also have Wally’s 12 mil expiring contract that they can trade for another big player at the deadline... I don’t think anyone as good as Gasol will be open, but who knows. With that being said, I still don’t think this team’s biggest weakness has been solved: Mike Brown. He’s just not good. The Cavs play some of the ugliest basketball that has ever been seen, it can only go so far. Jordan didn’t win anything until he found the right coach in Jackson, and I don’t think Lebron will either. They remain dangerous in the playoffs to anyone though.
9. Dallas Mavericks – The Kidd trade might be one of the most damaging of all time. The biggest damage was not that they made an exchange where the player they gave up will be better than what they got by this year, or that Kidd had no place in the slow Dallas system at all, but rather that they wasted their only tradeable asset at all to fill a position they didn’t need (Terry was suitable PG as it was). Imagine if they had a little patience and accepted this wasn’t their year... after all, Dirk is still like 29, this isn’t a situation like the Suns where they had to win NOW. If they waited till the summer and watched Artest keep his contract, they could’ve easily moved Harris for him... he would’ve solved their needs in terms of giving them an edge (the Mavs are pussys), adding one of the best defensive presence in the league, and giving them a player who can relieve Dirk’s scoring pressure. From there they could’ve either played Howard off the bench or moved him for a more suitable scoring guard, considering his off court issues. With a lineup of Terry, Artest, Dirk, either Howard or whatever they got for him, they would’ve been an absolute favourite instead of a playoff team at best. Ah, the virtue of patience.
10. Orlando Magic – Pretty similar team to last year, with the core pieces being Howard, Lewis, Shard, and Stan Van Gundy’s coaching. As long as you have Dwight Howard on your team, you won’t have a problem being a top 4 seed in your conference. What’s scary is that he could potentially get better this year... his offensive game is very raw and basic and liable to improvement. Hedo is also in a contract year. On the negative side though, their bench stinks. But regardless, expect another good if not great year from the Magic.
11. Philadelphia 76ers – I’m more confident in them in the regular season than I am in the playoffs. They should excel at defence and with the strength of Miller, Young, Iguodala, Brand, and Dalembert, they should be strong all around. However there’s simply no one on that team who can shoot AT ALL, so in the playoffs it should be easier to isolate their weakness by playing zone, for that reason I can’t see them making it past the second round.
12. Phoenix Suns – Amare should be a beast, but after that, I dunno. Nash’s strengths were exemplified by D’Antoni’s system, before he entered that he was a very good point guard but far from MVP quality. If you add that to his age, I think he’ll have a big drop this year. Shaq is done. They should still make the playoffs, but I think their championship window is closed.
13. Toronto Raptors – Adding Jermaine O’Neal is nice, but like Cleveland , the biggest fault in the team remains with the coach. Sam Mitchell is nice as a rebuilding coach, but when it comes to actually competing, he doesn’t cut it. Without plays or a system, and with continuingly shady defensive philosophies, it’s second round at best for us this year. Bargnani looks good in preseason though.
14. LA Clippers – Their starting lineup of Davis, Gordon, Thornton, Kaman, Camby is good, but their problem lies in their bench, chemistry, and health. The mix of the most cursed sports franchise in history and having Ricky Davis on your team is not a good omen.
15. Golden State Warriors – They had about as bad as an offseason as possible. Davis left, Ellis crashed his moped, and they signed Corey Maggette to a retarded “resigning to mediocrity†contract for the next 5 years. This team has no direction at all. The fans should cherish their upset two years ago, because they’re not making any more noise anytime soon.
16. Portland Trail Blazers – I’m not completely buying into the Blazers hype this year. Oden is still a rookie, and away from their 13 game winning streak last year, they were we a pretty shite team. This team is stacked with young talent but has a lot of questions to answer... to be a championship team you really only need 3 big stars, and the Blazers have about 7, of which they can’t afford to pay all at once when the rookie contracts run out, so if they’re smart they’ll look to move some of that young talent like Bayless, Webster, and Outlaw for more veteran strongholds, and build around the Oden, Roy, Alderidge, and Fernandez.
17. Memphis Grizzlies – Maybe the year’s most underrated team, I think their young talent is comparable to Portland’s. They should make a big step forward this year at the PG and C positions with the improvement of Conley, Jr. and the addition of Marc Gasol, and then adding that to Gay’s solidified place and the budding star of Mayo, they should be really solid. This team’s goal next year should be to use their 20 mil+ of capspace to SIGN ANDREW BYNUM. If they do that, they become the next Spurs aka the small market team that wins 4 + championships while Stern hangs himself. The Gasol trade might end up being a stroke of genius in that sense, as it led to getting Mayo and having all this space.
18. Atlanta Hawks – Their starting lineup is the same as last year and should be quite solid, only with Horford presumably improving to the status of top flight center. They have one of the league’s worst benches though, and Mike Woodson is still terrible. Expect 7th or 8th seed at best in the East.
19. Sacramento Kings – Their lineup is probably among the worst in the league, but I like Theus as a coach and I wouldn’t be surprised if Kevin Martin puts up 28+ ppg this year. Don’t be surprised if John Salmons puts up most improved player and puts up close to 20 a game either. In any case though, this team needs to be one of the bottom 3 in the league and get a stud in the lottery, I love Martin but he’s not multi-dimensional enough to build a team around. The more losses the better for the Kings this year.
20. Minnesota Timberwolves – Their season should be similar to the one the Grizzlies had last year, where with the big stats Gay, Gasol, Miller, Navarro were putting up, and the decent play of Conley/Lowry, you’d think they’d be good, but they were one of the league’s worst... because they couldn’t play d. I expect the same here. They should excel offensively with the stats of Miller, Jefferson, Love, McCants, Foye put up, but they just won’t be able to guard anything. Giving away Mayo for Love will haunt them for the next ten years. You just can't win with the defensive inabilities of a Jefferson and Love frontcourt. Mayo and Jefferson would've been fantastic.
21. New York Knicks – D’Antoni’s system seems to benefit Lee and Randolph quite well, I don’t think this team will be quite the embarrassment they were the last couple years. Still though, you can’t disregard their weakness defensively, and while Lee and Randolph may improve, the Knicks have a lot more problems than that aka Starbury, Curry, Nate Robinson, Q Rich, etc. They’re in a rebuilding state.
22. Chicago Bulls – Well it’s easy to forget they won 49 games two years ago, but if they can get their defensive and chemistry issues worked out, they should be respectable again. That may be easier said than done though, Deng and Gordon have pretty clearly solidified themselves as money first guys. I think this team would have a better chance just blowing everything up and hitting top 5 lottery picks the next couple years to build around Rose, as it stands I don’t know if this mediocore to decent Rose/Gordon/Deng combo will lead them anywhere substantial.
23. Denver Nuggets – They should score a lot of points with Melo, AI, Jr Smith, Kleiza, but considering they were one of the league’s most embarrassing defensive teams and traded away two of their strongest contributers in that area, they will be atrocious defensively... not to mention at extreme risk considering Nene and Kmart’s injury issues. If those players go down, which they almost surely will, god help the Nuggets.
I still think they should trade Melo. He’s just gonna bolt in a couple years anyways, plus he’s a cancer. If they were commited to created a winning team, they’d blow things up and go back to the draft. But of course, the Denver FO cares almost entirely about money.24. Miami Heat – I love Wade, I question the team ethic of Marion and Beasley, and I question their holes at PG, C, and in their bench. Probably not a playoff team yet, despite the high possibility Wade wins a lot of games on his own just by being insanely clutch.
25. Washington Wizards – Would be a decent team if they weren’t injured all the damn time.. their medical staff is absolutely atrocious. Losing Brendan Haywood is probably more damaging than losing the overrated Arenas, because without Haywood there’s no-one who plays defence on that team whatsoever. Considering Jamison also won’t be there to start the season, they should be in trouble for a while. They deserve this fate for stupidly signing Arenas to that mega contract, clearly the owners signified they cared more about money than ever competing.
26. Indiana Pacers – Probably the league’s most irrelevant team this year. They should be respectable with Ford, Granger, Dunleavy, Rasho this year, but not good enough to make the playoffs... they should mostly just be ‘there’. Another team that would be better off losing a lot of games this year.
27. Milwaukee Bucks – Same Bucks. Talent is there, but so is the horrible chemistry, lack of defence, and constant chucking. If Skiles can get these guys to play together and play d, they’ll be a playoff team, but their awful performance in the preseason doesn’t give me too much confidence. The Jefferson trade made no sense in terms of their long term plan, it felt more like hearing “We’ll give you RJ for shitty Yi and Simmons’ ass contract! You have to take that rightâ€Â... and they did.
28. New Jersey Nets – As the primary focus of the offense again, Vince should have a big year assuming he doesn’t wussy out, but this team mostly sucks balls. Their gameplan is to clear as much space by 2010 so they can sign Lebron if they move to Brooklyn (it’s been in doubt lately), and to further entice him trade for as much young players, and suck enough to soak in the high lottery picks in the next two years. It’s a pretty brilliant strategy actually. Fuck you Rod Thorn.
29. Charlotte Bobcats – I know preseason is just preseason... but you still can’t ignore going 0-8. After all, look who went winless last year: the Heat. This is another team that has no direction at all... No franchise player, and guys like JRich and Gerald Wallace will only lead you to low lottery picks. MJ is a seriously retarded GM. Hiring Larry Brown made no sense at all because he'll just leave within a year or two anyways... this team seems content with an 8th seed at this point.
30. Oklahoma City Thunder – Not much to say about them other than that they will suck. Durant and Green will do well, Westbrook will solidify himself as a “solid†rookie PG, and they’ll be one of the league’s worst. I expect they’ll hope for better luck in next year’s lottery than this year, when they got 4th in a year with 3 potential superstar picks.
Bosh and Calderon have been totally magnificent so far, Bargnani is looking like a surprisingly adept defensive contributer. Biggest concern is the thin bench, we only really have 2 real players off there. You can't ask for a better first week, although we won't stay up here long.
He crapped on the Bulls twice in one week. Absolutely took a huge giant crap on them. With that being said, they haven’t played many good teams yet.
I'm not sold on their title chances but they look great.
