Atlantic Division: Boston Celtics and then everybody else. When the Celtics show up on Opening night, they will have clinched their 4th straight division title. In what used to be one of the best divisions in the NBA the Atlantic has not had 2 teams finish above .500, in the same season since ’04-’05. How is that for pathetic? Toronto and Philadelphia should compete for playoff berth’s, the Knicks have molded their roster so they can become the “LeBrons” next year and the Nets are “hooking” themselves for $25,000 per game.
1. Boston Celtics: Maybe the best starting 5 in basketball. Depth at PG could be an issue if Rondo goes down. Rasheed adds versatility off the bench but this team needs Garnett to come back to pre-injury form. This may be Boston’s last shot with this core.
2. Toronto Raptors: Adding Hedo Turkoglu to join Chris Bosh and Andrea Bargnani should give Toronto one of the better front courts in the Eastern Conference. It was a desperate attempt to get Bosh to stay put after the season. Expect Toronto to have a decent year, Bosh to leave as a free agent, and Hedo to turn into untradeable dead weight in the next 2 seasons.
3.Philadelphia 76ers: Stuck in limbo. If this team wanted to win, they should have kept Andre Miller. If this team wanted to lose, they should have traded Elton Brand and/or Igoudala. They don’t know which way to go and this is what we are stuck with. 38-43 wins and a quick first round exit.
4.New Jersey Nets: Devin Harris is a good player. Brook Lopez and Courteney Lee have the potential to be good players. The rest of the team? They stink. Namesake’s boy Yi is horrendous. The Knicks and the Nets fight until the end for last place. Who wants it more? Ot is it- Who wants is less?
5. New York Knicks: It is a contract year for just about everybody on the roster. This team has not competed in years. Their only focus has the been the special ’10 free agent class. This is what David Stern and company has turned the NBA into. If your team is not elite, you might as well tank.
Players to Watch – Andrea Bargnani C, Tor: Came on late last year. Chris Bosh owns the paint so Bargnani has the space to shoot from outside. Will never live up to his top overall draft slot but has the chance to be better than most soft European big men. Still soft but not quite Darko
Player to Hate: Rajon Rando – not sure where this guys thinks that he gets to have an ego. Shut up and get the ball into your scorers hands.
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I got kinda worried when I read SI's preview this week.
ReplyDeleteThere was a two page preview of the Sixers and not one mention (NOT ONE!) of Jrue Holiday? Was that really a bad pick? When a team is as "average" as the Sixers, you hope and pray thay a draft pick is at least mentioned at the beginning of a season.
I have Thaddeus Young on my Fantasy Team. Hopefully he has a breakout year!
Jrue Holiday was a pick for the future. He is basically Lou Williams with (hopefully) more potential..The way I look at it is - he would probably have been a top 5-10 pick next year.
ReplyDeleteThey took a chance on that instead of getting another mid-level pick like Rodney Carney.
Ty Lawson or kid from VCU would have been better immediately but Holiday might be better long run. Rolling the dice because Holiday wasn't even UCLA's PG as a freshman last year.
Sixers lack direction right now.
Bargnani stinks. Boston will win the division but they will break down like they did last year. That was a 1 year run for them.
ReplyDeleteYoung is a quality fantasy player because he fills up the stat sheet. He does nothing great but a lot of things well.