'09-'10 Preview: Pacific

Pacific: The Lakers will run away with this division, with maybe only the Suns also finishing over .500. The Clippers, Warriors and Kings and bad, worse and terrible.

1. Lakers: The rich get richer. Ron Artest joins the champs and on paper the move looks like a good one but can he replace the intangibles that Ariza brought? It reminds me of Rodman joining the Bulls. Can Kobe manage Artest?

2. Suns: Nash and Stoudemire give it one last go. Probably this teams last shot but they will be lucky to get into the playoffs. They probably sneak in because they get to play the rest of this division.

3. Clippers: Griffin shattered his kneecap and that shattered the Clips chances of competing.

4. Warriors: A couple of scorers on this team but nobody to pass or defend. Two somewhat important things. How is this team not picked to finish dead last?

5. Kings: This is why. Name me two players on the Kings. I can’t either and I’m looking at their roster. 17 wins last year – they need to get lucky to reach that mark. I’m saying 14

Player to Watch: Stephen Curry – the guy can spot up from anywhere on the court. He may have to with all of the gunners on Golden State.

Player to Hate: Kobe


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'09-'10 Preview: Southwest Division

Southwest:  Last year this was an extremely competitive division, with 4 of 5 teams making the playoffs and three teams finishing with 50+ wins.  San Antonio, Dallas and New Orleans will most likely finish around the same totals as last year, with Houston probably taking a major step backwards. Expect San Antonio to land in the top spot again this year. 

1. San Antonio: Added Richard Jefferson to an already potent lineup.  They’ll dominate again this year.
2. Dallas: Not much different from the ’08 team.  Jason Kidd is 36 years old now, and how much he has left in the tank is up for debate.
3. New Orleans: CP3 is the man, but he’ll have his hands full competing within this division.
4. Memphis:  This team has tons of potential moving forward, with the likes of O.J. Mayo, Rudy Gay and Hasheem Thabeet coming up the ranks.  This year will be a maturing season for the squad, but expect big things in the next year or two.  Oh yeah, they added some dude named Iverson in the offseason.
5. Houston:  No McGrady and no Yao for at least 30 games to start the season. This team will be in the toilet all season.

Player to Watch: Allen Iverson.  How will Philly’s favorite son fare coming *gasp* off the bench? Is it over for A.I.? I say yes.

Player to Hate:  Marco Jaric. Why? Because of his wife. You will be pleased/infuriated when you click on the link.

 

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'09-'10 Preview: Northwest

Northwest: Three teams won 48 or more games in this top heavy division last year. Again Denver, Utah and Portland figure to battle it out this year. The Thunder have a very talented team, most of whom cannot drink yet. The T’Wolves are already scouting more point guards to draft next year.

1. Blazers: Deep, deep team. Brandon Roy is a star and now he has Andre Miller to get him the ball. LaMarcus Aldridge is one of the better big men in the league but the other big man is where the question are. If last year’s Greg Oden is what we should expect then there may be a limit on how good this team can be. If he developed into the hype he had a few years ago, the sky is the limit. Rudy Fernandez, Travis Outlaw provide spark off the bench.

2. Jazz: Not much change for this team that won 48 games last year. This team has chemistry and really knows how to play together. One potential hurdle is if Boozer continues to bitch about wanting a trade. Paul Millsap was re-signed for that reason and the Jazz didn’t miss a beat when Boozer was down last year.

3. Nuggets: Chauncey Billups taught this team how to win last year when he replaced Allen Iverson. Arron Affalo and Ty Lawson provide needed depth at the guard positions. The Nuggets should be right there all year.

4. Thunder: There is a whole lot of young talent on this team. They would definitely contend for the ACC or Big East title. They might be a year or two away from contending for a division title though.

5. T’Wolves: The T’Wolves will struggle. Al Jefferson and Kevin Love can be effective big men but how will they adapt to Kurt Rambis’ up tempo style?

Player to Watch: Greg Oden: He shed lbs in the offseason and is focused on not being such an asshole. Is he a black Greg Ostertag or Dikembe Mutombo with an offensive game?

Player to Hate: Carlos Boozer: Talented as hell but whines like a bitch. Now he is crying his way out of Utah.



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'09-'10 Preview: Southeast

Southeast Division: This is not a bad division. Orlando should remain an elite team in the NBA and Atlanta has a chance to be very good. The 3, 4 and 5 spots are up for grabs but the guess here is that Larry Brown takes the next step in getting Charlotte to the playoffs while the Heat prepare for the departure of D-wade. The Wizards should not be very good. If they are it will be because Arenas has taken the next step into one of the game’s top players.


1. Magic: There was a lot of turnover for a team that reached the NBA Finals last year. Gone are Hedu, Courteney Lee and Skip to my Lou. Replaced by Vince Carter and Brandon Bass. This should continue to be one of the elite teams if Jameer Nelson can fully recover from injury and Vince Carter can fit in to the team. Hedo will be missed if Carter starts bombing away.

2. Hawks: Solid team top to bottom. Solidified the bench by adding Joe Smith, Jamal Crawford and Jason Collins. If Marvin Williams can continue to develop and Josh Smith can stay focused, this team could very well challenge Orlando.

3. Bobcats: Larry Brown’s team has some talent. They need consiatant PG play from Felton and/or Augustin and somebody other than Wallace to score. Boris Diaw needs to develop consistency. Gerald Henderson could impact the team right away.

4. Heat: It’s been an interesting off-season for Michael Beasley. We know about the rehab and the passing out on the boat but what we don’t know is if he played any basketball. This team should hover around the .500 mark again.

5. Bullets: This team will go as far as Gilbert can take them. He played 2 games last year, lets hope he improves on that. Apparently Brandon Haywood is still in the league.

Players to Watch: Jameer Nelson. How does he recover from last year’s injury. He hurried back for the Finals but was very rusty. The guy is a leader and it will be important for him to incorporate Vinsanity into the game without Superman getting pissed.

Players to Hate: J.J. Redick

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'09-'10 Preview: Central

Central Division: Much like the Atlantic Division, the Central Division consists of Cleveland and then everybody else. This season will be nothing more than a tune-up for the playoffs for the Cavs, and as long as LeBron is in town that’s the way things will stay. Depending on the maturation of Derrick Rose, the Bulls may be able to add some wins to last season’s tally, but they finished 25 games behind the Cavs in ’08 so thinking they can compete for the division is wishful thinking. The rest of the slop in this division resides in the same 30-40 win range, and expecting anything more would be foolish.


1. Cleveland: Added Shaq in the offseason to attempt to neutralize Dwight Howard in the playoffs. Personally, I don’t think he’ll have too much of an impact on the season’s outcome. Regardless, the Cavs will cruise this season and battle for one of the top seeds in the East.

2. Chicago: If Derrick Rose can elevate his game to superstar status – which is definitely possible considering his playoff performance last season – the Bulls could be decent this year. I still find it hard to root for a team this guy is on. Who knew Doc’s boy, John Salmons, averaged 18.3 ppg last season? Not me.

3. Detroit: Added Ben Gordon and Charlie Villanueva to the roster in the offseason. The Pistons now will be playing with a 3-guard rotation consisting of Gordon, Rip Hamilton, and PG Rodney Stuckey. Stuckey is the only PG of the three, so I’d expect him to get a majority of the minutes. They should be better than last season, but not great.

4. Indiana: Tyler Hansborough will try to prove that he’s the NBA’s great white hope – doubt it. He’s listed right now as the 3rd PF on the Pacers behind Troy Murphy and Josh McRoberts. I don’t see this ending well.

5. Milwaukee: Wow. They suck. Check out this lineup.


Players to Watch - Derrick Rose…see above. Pistons Guards: It will be interesting to see how the 3-guard rotation works out – they definitely have some talent there but we’ll see how they mesh. Shaq: I don’t think he makes a huge difference. We’ll see.

Player to Hate: Joakim Noah – do a Google image search on him and tell me you don’t want to punch him in the face.

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'09-'10 Preview: Atlantic Division

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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