Surprise team

[mp3]

Toronto

They had alot of injurys last year, they have a hell of alot of talent up there. Hope for better things this season.

The bobcats wont do jack imo but who knows this could be a first for an expansion team to make some really noice.

[j.23]

i think the sixers will be a surprise team this season.. i've heard so much about glenn robinson working out this summer and being in really good shape.. which is good considering we didn't see him provide much help w/ AI last year. that and plus the addition of andre iguodala and the growth of willie green and samuel dalembert.. should be a fun team to watch

[mp3]

considering we didn't see him provide much help w/ AI last year.

Thats because he was injured, he only played 42 games last year and AI played 48 so they were never really in the mix together much but yeah i do agree that they could be a team to keep an eye out for.

[Fresh8]

Yeah man- I HAVE FAITH IN LA! Lakers that is!

Everyone thinks they'll do bad only cause we lost O'neal. I still think we can keep our high status! Just wait and watch!

If we lose- sue me!

[Jackal]

No one says they will do badly, everyone says they won't win a championship. What's the point of being good, but not good enough to win it all? Make sense? For pretty boy fans that are only willing to watch the highlight reel & say ooh, he scored 75 today, ooh...he jacked up 12 three's today. Nah, winning it all is what counts. Even if they have the best record in the regular season & are ousted in the first round, what point is it? No point, it's all about winning...or isn't it?

A simple yes or no answer will be sufficient.

[mp3]

personally, i feel that theres been to many changes on the laker team for them to just pick up from where they left it.
Its gonna take time for the team to gel.

[Jackal]

Most of us see that change has come. Most of us see it's not the best situation they could've been in. Most of us see their chances have been minimised....

Ignorant folks however only hear this when critisism is being given to the current Lakers squad:

We say they could've been in a better situation, they might not make it as far..(winning it all.)

They hear:

We hate LA, We hate LA, We hate LA. = Haterz.

Their reply:

we believe in da lakez!!1!one!1 haha mark the words la hatorz!!!!!
lakersho4eva w00000t!11!!!!!!!!!!!1111111111!1

Our reply?

How do you discuss with something like that?

[Colin]

Orlando has a good shot given that the winner of the South East Division will be guaranteed one of the top three seeds.

I was thinking that, then I remembered Miami is in that division too.

[fgrep15]

They also got Arajuo (sp?) who could be a 10 and 7-8 guy in the East

I'm thinking more like 6 points and 5rebounds.
I agree about the Raptors though, hardly anyone knows why we did bad, they just think, oh look at that team they have pretty good/decent players, why aren't they winning? I won't say the injury situation was the biggest thing, the biggest problem was the players in certain positions, the coaching, and the system. I mean we did go 0-9 when Carter was out, but the Raptors had the wrong players for the wrong system. First, Jalen shouldn't have been a PG, and Bosh not a C, 2 critical positions were filled with players who shouldn't be there. I've probably said this 10 times, but the Raptors starting lineup was Rose - MoPete/Alvin - Carter - Marshall - Bosh.
Rose is a horrible defender, especially at the point.
MoPete is a good defender, the only one in the starting lineup, and Alvin is good if he had legs which he didn't which made him a liability.
Carter is just slightly above average on defense because of his lackadasical effort on defense.
Marshall gets some blocks and steals because of his long arms but also isn't a good defender.
Bosh though a good defender was not a good one due to him playing the center position.
Now if a team where only one player on the starting lineup is a good defender, and they don't have a dominating interior defender is playing that kind of game then no one should expect too much. Also the teams offense was even worse, we all knew Carter would get doubled and tripled, yet the sets were always isolation, their was no off-ball movement, no getting Carter or other players easy baskets (except when new players came), the team didn't run the break well, and it was just spot up in the corners and watch Carter do his thing, what is that garbage?
The biggest thing was when new players came in and the team would run simple sets like motion, and run the break, they were scoring and winning games. Then the coach would change the offense back to his slowdown isolation garbage, and the team start losing, yet he wouldn't realize that their was a problem
The whole not going after offensive rebounds thing was weird too??

The Raptors are going to be running a fast break offense this year, and they have players who can fit that bill. Doing this will help MoPete a lot because he struggled a little last year in his consistency (not that outside players are very consistent anyways), and he's very good on the break. If the team can have sets that center around movement and cutting and getting open shots, Carter will put up much better numbers, MoPete will improve, and about every player on the team while thrive in that. The Raptors can challenge for the Atlantic, my vote in the Atlantic still goes to Philly though.



Also Washington and the Clippers for me, the Clippers might not make the playoffs, but if they're healthy, they'll get the 9th or 10th seed in the West, and are capable of winning about 40 games.
Q-Rich's lack of defense, taking all the shots when he's the 3rd best player, and erratic play is gone, and if the team is healthy like they were in 2001-2002 (excluding Odom missing almost the whole season), they'll be capable of getting 9th or 10th which is higher than anyone expects from them.

The Wizards definately, I don't understand why people don't even think they'll make the playoffs, did people realize that their 3 best players were all injured last year? They got Jamison who won't need the ball in his hands, which will be good for Arenas and Hughes, and they can be the East leaders in PPG because they have a lot of offense. If Arenas and Hughes stay healthy, and we know Jamison will, they'll do good. Arenas played injured for so much of last year, and was still impressive, he averaged 19-4.6-5, and was second in triple doubles while only playing 55 games. His FG% might have looked a little bad, but his FG efficiency which is really what matters was higher than Carter, Jalen, Pierce, Iverson, Billups, Kidd, Carmelo, Lebron, Q-Rich, 0.8% less than Bosh's, and 0.2% less than Baron (yes his was higher than everyone thinks, he was just as efficient a shooter as Rip), Rip, Joe Johnson, and Marbury.
If Shaq get's injured, Wahsington will be the one to challenge Miami for the top spot in the Southeast.

i'm not posting why but i got suns and wizards.

Good Man

[Colin]

They also got Arajuo (sp?) who could be a 10 and 7-8 guy in the East

I'm thinking more like 6 points and 5rebounds.

could be like that since the east is overall pretty weak at that position. Maybe you missed the second post I made where I said I think it's most likely he will get around 8 and 6.

[Andrew]

Orlando has a good shot given that the winner of the South East Division will be guaranteed one of the top three seeds.

I was thinking that, then I remembered Miami is in that division too.

Good point - I'm not sure how I forgot about Miami with all the hype about Shaq's revenge. I suppose the division realignment will actually work against the Magic, since that's another seed taken by a division winner.

[Riot]

off topic: Andrew one more and your at 10,000

[Rens]

They also got Arajuo (sp?) who could be a 10 and 7-8 guy in the East

I'm thinking more like 6 points and 5rebounds.

could be like that since the east is overall pretty weak at that position. Maybe you missed the second post I made where I said I think it's most likely he will get around 8 and 6.

Colin, when you post that someone "could" average something, it's pretty assumable people take that for a prediction. You've made your point now though, I think 8 and 6 is still very high, one can only hope he gets that.

[toughthug]

orlando magics can be the surprising team if grant hill play more than 74 games but if he doesn't it will be the phoenix suns because they have lots of young talent on that team that will easily make the nba playoffs next season.

[Macca]

My surpises are the Suns, who with in form Marion and Stoudamire at the Olympics right now and the aquisitions of Nash and Richo- they should be a great force to be reckoned with.

Orlando should be able to bounce back after missing the playoffs last season, especailly with the #1 draft pick in Howard plus 2 other exceptional rookies, not to mention the aquisition of Mobley, Cato and Francis. They too, will challenge teams who don't see it coming.

Just my opinions...
Macca