jpzx
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Where's Kurt Rambis?
NBA Off-Season News Thread: Roy extends 80/5, AI to Grizz, Chandler/Okafor swap, Marquis to C's.
- Thread in 'Sports & Training' Thread starter Started by japanair21,
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really good pick up for the clippers
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I like the trade for Rasual Butler, gives the Clips more depth.
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Balanced teams win championships, you can't have one or the other, you have to be competent at both to win.
Mike Dantoni and Marc Ivaroni (his defensive assistant) coached that team for 4 and 1/2 years and just about every year they improved defensively.
2004: (17th of 30)
2005: (16th of 30)
2006: (13th of 30)
2007: (16th of 30)
Keep in mind they did this with Steve Nash, Amare Staudomire, and Joe Johnson some of the worst defenders at there position the idea that the suns play NOdefense is an exaggeration.
Mike Dantoni and Marc Ivaroni (his defensive assistant) coached that team for 4 and 1/2 years and just about every year they improved defensively.
2004: (17th of 30)
2005: (16th of 30)
2006: (13th of 30)
2007: (16th of 30)
Keep in mind they did this with Steve Nash, Amare Staudomire, and Joe Johnson some of the worst defenders at there position the idea that the suns play NOdefense is an exaggeration.
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I'll give you the structural differences, Nellie's guys do infact go to isolations or high screen/rolls, whereas D'Antoni insists moreon constant ball and player movement. However that doesn't make or PROVE one to be better than another or any less of a gimmick.
The fact of the matter is neither Nellie nor D'Antoni preach defensive efficiency in regards to the painted area(which is most important). So wouldn'tyou say that's a wash??
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i just don't see an offense that led to the number 1,2,1 and 2 efficient offense in 4 years is a problem in reagards to winning...
defense needs to be adressed but you can run on offense and win.
every coach not named greg popovich or phil jackson has their own faults. I'm more than pleased with D'antoni thus far.
defense needs to be adressed but you can run on offense and win.
every coach not named greg popovich or phil jackson has their own faults. I'm more than pleased with D'antoni thus far.
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[h2]West's pecking order has familiar flavor[/h2]
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By John Hollinger
ESPN.com
Archive
Nathaniel S. Butler/Getty ImagesWith the main ingredients back -- plus the addition of Ron Artest -- the Lakers look poised to repeat.
OK, hungry fans, it's time to turn our attention to the Western side of the menu, after Monday's look at the new pecking order in the East.
I'm not sure the pecking order in the West is quite so "new;" less changed in these parts since the end of last season. But I'm here tobreak it down all the same. Much like the East, the West can be broken into five distinct groups. Make that five and a half, actually, as there's oneadditional category we didn't have in the East.
And, like yesterday, we'll be sticking with an epicurean theme. Without further ado, here's how it lays out.
[h3]Group IA: The Chef's Special[/h3]
There's a lot of good stuff on the menu, but this one looks a cut above. Sure, it costs more, but the reviewers all say it's worth every cent.You'll be talking about this meal for weeks.
Los Angeles Lakers
Consider this: The defending champs won a title despite getting virtually nothing from Andrew Bynum during the postseason. If he comes back and plays to his capabilitiesthey're going to be scary good.
Of more immediate interest, however, is their de facto swap of Trevor Ariza forRon Artest. Artest is nuts and lost a step at the offensive end last season, buthe's still an elite defensive player and he's a better spot-up shooter than Ariza. (For those who watched only the playoffs, I'll remind you thatAriza was a 29.9 percent career 3-point shooter when the postseason began. Let's not get carried away with a well-timed hot streak.)
Committing to Artest for five years was foolish, but the swap makes the Lakers better in the short term. With Lamar Odom and ShannonBrown re-signed at very reasonable prices and Phil Jackson coming back, L.A. has quietly (for them) had a strong offseason.
Of course, the greatest break for the Lakers is that they're still in the Western Conference. While the East is top-heavy with Orlando, Cleveland andBoston all loading up, L.A. remains the clear favorite to oppose one of those three in the Finals.
[h3]Group I: The Entrees[/h3]
Oh sure, you'll eat the free bread and order a side dish or two. But realistically, these will be the last and most memorable items on your plate atthe end of the season.
San Antonio Spurs
On paper, the Spurs look like the most legitimate aspirant to the Lakers' Western crown. They've added Richard Jefferson and Antonio McDyess without surrendering anyone important, giving the starting five a badly neededinfusion of scoring. Throw in the second-round theft of DeJuan Blair and a returnfrom injury from Ian Mahinmi and the Spurs should be deeper, too.
But all this depends on their stars carrying the mail. Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili both broke down at the end of last season and, at their age, one wonders if theycan regain their previous form and sustain it through an entire season. Without knowing the answer to that major question, the Spurs merely rank as another ofthe West's hopefuls.
Denver Nuggets
Last spring, the Nuggets had the Lakers sweating bullets for four games and most of a fifth, so theoretically they entered the offseason on near-equal footing.However, money matters have prevented them from keeping up with the arms race among the other contenders. Denver isn't a high-revenue team despite itssuccess last season and is already over the luxury-tax threshold, so it had to manage its money carefully. As a result, Linas Kleiza and Dahntay Jones won't be back, and Anthony Carter might not be either.
But the Nuggets' top six players return, including a re-signed Chris Andersen,and trades brought in some younger help in rookie Ty Lawson (one of my draftfavorites) and Arron Afflalo. There isn't a huge margin of safety here, but ifthe Nuggets are healthy they'll still be really good.
Portland Trail Blazers
Nobody talks about the Blazers as serious contenders in the West, but we should. Portland had the best scoring margin in basketball after the All-Star breaklast season, and as I keep repeating, scoring margin predicts future success better than winning percentage.
Yes, they went one-and-done in the playoffs, but this team should be better this time around. The Blazers added Andre Miller, vastly improving their backcourt depth, and returned Martell Webster from injury. The only departure was Channing Frye, who fell to the fringes of the rotation by the end of last season. Mostimportantly, one of the league's youngest nuclei gained a valuable year of experience and cut its playoff teeth. Watch out for these guys.
[h3]Group II: The Tasty Hors D'oeuvres[/h3]
Scrumptious in small doses, these clubs are hoping to steal your attention from the centerpiece, and at times it seems they might succeed. But eachlacks a key ingredient to keep it on our plate 'til June.
Utah Jazz
It's hard to get too jazzed up about a ride on the Utah bandwagon when it was healthy for the final 23 games of last season and went 8-15. The Jazz haveeffectively stood pat thus far this summer, drafting a backup point guard in EricMaynor and retaining Paul Millsap by matching Portland's offer sheet. Theymay also lose a breaking-down Matt Harpring to retirement.
However, we're still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Carlos Boozerdismayed everyone by opting in for the final year of his contract, leaving the Jazz well over the luxury-tax line. Pretty much everyone assumes they'lltrade him, and if Utah can score a quality wing player in the deal it could move up a class. Utah owns one other huge asset as well: the completely unprotected2010 first-round pick belonging to the Knicks.
Dallas Mavericks
The Mavs bought when everyone else sold, retaining Jason Kidd and adding Shawn Marion, DrewGooden, Kris Humphries, Tim Thomas and QuintonRoss this offseason. They are well into the tax and overpaid for Kidd especially (three years and $25 million at 36?), but if paying luxury tax doesn'tbother Mark Cuban then it's really not a problem.
Despite their age, the Mavs will try to play small and fast, with Kidd, JasonTerry, Josh Howard, Marion and Dirk Nowitzki playing as a run-and-gun unit in crunch time. That could give them apuncher's chance at a playoff upset, but it's tough to see how they can match up physically against the powerful frontcourts the top contenderspossess.
Because of Cuban's willingness to spend, they're a far more intriguing team a year from now thanks to what may become the league's most covetedasset: Erick Dampier's expiring, non-guaranteed $12 million in 2010-11. Casualfans may not realize how valuable this is in the current economy. Next summer a financially struggling team could trade a highly paid player to Dallas forDampier, waive him immediately and wipe their books totally clean. And given the current economic conditions, I have a feeling some teams will be willing to doit.
New Orleans Hornets
The Hornets didn't spend any money this summer and, based on recent history, maybe that's good thing. A series of bad free-agent contracts (Peja Stojakovic, MorrisPeterson, James Posey) have tied the Hornets' hands and put them in taxterritory, though they did manage a slight upgrade at center with the TysonChandler-Emeka Okafor swap.
Chris Paul makes them a playoff team on his own, and offseason pickups Darren Collison and IkeDiogu might improve what was among the league's worst benches last season. But the Hornets might still try to shed a contract or two to get under thetax, and as things stand now they're going to get miserable production from the wings.
[h3]Group III: The Mystery Meat[/h3]
These teams are the equivalent of going to a foreign country and ordering blindly off a menu in another language. It might be awesome, it might beterrible; really, you have no idea. But it will definitely be different, and you'll probably walk away with a good story or two.
Los Angeles Clippers
They stunk last season, plus they're the Clippers, which means they could screw this up at a moment's notice. But the offseason certainly pleased theClipper faithful. First overall pick Blake Griffin should be a double-double guyimmediately, and the trade of Zach Randolph for Quentin Richardson gives the Clips cap space for a free-agent run next year. Better yet, theyparlayed Richardson into frontcourt depth with a second deal with Minnesota for underrated forward Craig Smith.
But the biggest reason to like the Clips is because they were going to be better anyway. Baron Davis, ChrisKaman and Ricky Davis should all be in much better physical condition for thisgo-round, and second-year pro Eric Gordon should improve, too. Whether it'senough for a playoff run remains to be seen, but this version of the Clips should keep us entertained.
Phoenix Suns
Thanks to a reluctance to pay luxury tax and some horrific cap management in prior offseasons, the Suns keep shedding personnel. Phoenix traded Shaquille O'Neal for straight cap relief -- plus the already-released Ben Wallace and the soon-to-be-released Sasha Pavlovic -- when he came off an All-Star season. But instead of launching a fulltear-down operation they extended Steve Nash, signed Channing Frye and re-signedGrant Hill, which means they could still make the playoffs if Amare Stoudemire is healthy.
We have no idea how well he'll recover from his eye injury or what the implications are for his game if the eye gives him problems. But if he's notplaying to his usual standard the Suns could embark on a long ride down. One quick note to file away if that happens: Oklahoma City has Phoenix's draftpick from the Kurt Thomas salary dump in 2007, and there's no lottery protectionwhatsoever.
Oklahoma City Thunder
I think the Thunder are ready to move up the standings this season, but I'm just not sure how far. They opted to hold back on spending this summer and saveit for next year, when they'll have about $15 million in space under the cap. So any improvement this season will result from internal development by thecore of Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and RussellWestbrook and the addition of draft pick James Harden.
Is it possible Durant blows up, averages in the high 20s and leads these guys to the playoffs? Absolutely. But they depend an awful lot on one guy for theoffense, and that one guy has yet to demonstrate he can take high-percentage shots or create meaningful opportunities for others. And if injuries hit,there's not a lot of depth here.
[h3]Group IV: Can I Send This Plate Back?[/h3]
Sure, they look like decent appetizers at first glance. But once you have a few bites, it turns out there's something half-baked about each of theseclubs.
Golden State Warriors
Based on talent, the Warriors shouldn't be down here. They have plenty of offensive firepower with the return of Monta Ellis and the addition of Stephen Curry to go with the likes of Corey Maggette, AndrisBiedrins, Stephen Jackson and summer-league star Anthony Randolph.
Unfortunately, we already know they'll screw this up somehow. The dysfunctional mess of a front office is too busy running Don Nelson'sleast-favored players out of town to bother acquiring pieces that fit. Al Harrington,Jamal Crawford and Marco Belinelli already departed with nothing to show for it, and Brandan Wright's got next. With this roster and Nelson's basic M.O. of playing sevenshooting guards 30 minutes each, the Warriors are guaranteed to be among the worst defensive teams in the league, so if the offense isn't lights-outthey're gong to struggle.
Houston Rockets
Medical problems pretty much ended Houston's season before it started, as YaoMing and Tracy McGrady went under the knife and will contribute little, ifanything. Meanwhile, the de facto swap of Ron Artest for Trevor Ariza bodes well for Houston's future but doesn't alter its present outlook much.
That was the only major offseason move. Otherwise, Houston tried to supplement its future with the biggest run of property acquisitions since the LouisianaPurchase. Houston paid nearly $9 million to acquire the rights to Jermaine Taylor, Chase Budinger, Sergio Llull and David Andersen -- not their salaries, mindyou, just the right to be the ones paying them -- but only Andersen is likely to be in the rotation this season.
If the Rockets stay healthy and get bust-out years from Aaron Brooks and Carl Landry it's possible they can stay on the fringes of the playoff race, but it'smore likely they'll struggle too much to score.
[h3]Group V: Roadkill[/h3]
I'm pretty sure this is meat, but it tastes like an animal not normally served in restaurants, and I think I see a tread mark. We're outta here…
Memphis Grizzlies
Chris Wallace's nameplate still says general manager, but it's obvious that owner Michael Heisley is calling the shots on personnel. As usual when anowner meddles, the results have been disastrous. What kind of a buffoon trades PauGasol for pennies on the dollar and then a year later acquires Zach Randolph at the same money? The same kind that prefers trading for Randolph to tradingfor Carlos Boozer, or to making a run at David Lee, or to just setting $16 million onfire. Oh, and he wants Allen Iverson too. Great.
Despite a near-empty arena, the Griz still make money. That's partly because they'll do anything for $3 million, even trading a useful player(Darko Milicic) for a finished one (Quentin Richardson). But the few fans left inMemphis will get to see two of the league's biggest ball hogs fight it out for shots every night when Randolph and Rudy Gay take the court. One almost wants to see them add Iverson to the mix just to see ifthey could go an entire game without an assist.
Minnesota Timberwolves
While other teams have gained more attention as belt-tighteners, the T'pups have quietly joined their ranks. Trading Craig Smith just to be rid of a $2.7million obligation to Sebastian Telfair next year has to qualify as a low point, andone gets the impression they're pretty happy to defer a $3 million obligation to Ricky Rubio a couple years into the future. They dumped Mike Miller and RandyFoye, eventually acquiring a non-guaranteed player they can waive (Chucky Atkins),and their only foray into free agency was a low-wattage bid for Ryan Hollins.
If Al Jefferson returns to his All-Star-caliber level of the first half of lastseason it lifts Minnesota half a notch above doormat status, but the Wolves leaked a lot of talent since their strong January last season.
Sacramento Kings
Shell-shocked by increasingly horrific economics in Sacto and the woefully outdated Arco Arena, the Kings locked down financially while they wait to find outwhere their next home will be. If it's a new building in Sacramento, great, but if not, San Jose, Anaheim, Kansas City and others await with open arms.Either way, they won't spend a nickel without some certainty on this front.
The Kings did pick up a potential star in the draft in Tyreke Evans and alow-budget breakout possibility in Sergio Rodriguez, plus Kevin Martin should be healthier. That should keep them run-of-the-mill bad rather thanhistorically awful, but optimists won't find a lot of ammunition here.
[h2]Taste test: Rating East offseason order[/h2]
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By John Hollinger
ESPN.com
Archive
Fernando Medina/NBAE/Getty ImagesVince Carter, 32, should help make the Magic the East favorite to return to the NBA Finals.
Say this about the NBA this summer: They've kept it interesting.
We were expecting a fairly humdrum free-agent season while everyone held their cards for the LeBron Sweepstakes next summer. Instead, the opposite happened.Every contender in sight began loading up, and despite warnings of economic Armageddon, several championship hopefuls blew past the luxury-tax thresholdwithout even tapping the brakes.
Though we didn't have any All-Star free-agent signings, the list of players who changed uniforms this summer is an impressive one. Shaquille O'Neal, Richard Jefferson, VinceCarter, Ron Artest, Trevor Ariza, RasheedWallace, Andre Miller, Shawn Marion, BenGordon, Antonio McDyess, Emeka Okafor, TysonChandler, Charlie Villanueva and Hedo Turkoglu were among the prominent names to relocate.
And we might have a few more to add to that list, as prominent free agents like DavidLee, Allen Iverson and Ramon Sessions are still unsigned. We also could still see several money-driven moves byteams over the tax line, with the most notable potential one being Utah's CarlosBoozer. And with nearly two months to go until camp starts, it's still possible we'll see Quentin Richardson dealt six or seven more times.
But while the offseason isn't complete, things have clearly calmed down from the initial frenzy. Money is tight everywhere, and a lot of teams are doneshopping, especially since several clubs will limit themselves to the minimum 13-man roster.
Hungry for more? So are we. And as luck would have it, it's time to check out the menu for this season. With 30 different items there are several kindsof grub to choose from, ranging from five-star specials to stuff you wouldn't feed your dog.
In the big picture, there's a pretty clear pecking order in each conference, so I've grouped everybody into five categories. So order your drinksand stay awhile. Today I'll start with the East and establish where everybody stands and how, exactly, they got there. In the next edition, we'll moveon to the West.
[h3]Group I: The Entrees[/h3]
Oh sure, you'll eat the free bread and order a side dish or two. But realistically, these will be the last and most memorable items on your plate atthe end of the season.
Orlando: The defending conference champs didn't exactly rest on their laurels, did they? At this juncture, in fact, their roster looksa lot more fearsome than it did at the end of last season. Carter is a major upgrade on Turkoglu, while free-agent additions Matt Barnes and BrandonBass make what was a thin frontcourt suddenly look much deeper.
Add in whom they retained (Marcin Gortat) and returned (Jameer Nelson, after a shoulder injury wiped out the second half of his season) and the Magiclook absolutely stacked. At this point, they have to be considered the favorites in the East, and depending on how this remix works out at the defensive end,there's a chance they could post a jaw-dropping win total.
The one reason for misgiving is a lack of backcourt depth after the trades of RaferAlston and Courtney Lee to New Jersey; now Mickael Pietrus is a likely starter and J.J. Redick and AnthonyJohnson will have to play major minutes, and another injury to Nelson could leave them exposed.
Cleveland: Scary thought -- the Cavs won 66 games and got better in the offseason. Whatever they get from Shaquille O'Neal will dwarfthe contributions of Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic a year ago, so that trade is a home run for Cleveland. Beyond that, theyaddressed the greatest area of concern by adding size and depth on the wings in the form of Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon.
Cleveland also kept Anderson Varejao, and while their payroll is on pace tooutstrip the national debt, that's Dan Gilbert's problem. On the court, they've strengthened three key rotation spots without losing a singleimportant player.
The Cavs can make a strong case that they will match much better against Orlando now, especially against Dwight Howard with Shaq in the middle. One caveat, however: They must overcome thedistraction of the most eagerly anticipated walk year in sports history.
Boston: Yes, it's possible the Celtics' magical championship march in 2008 was a one-shot deal. But dismiss them at your peril.
Last season they won more games than Orlando, even though Kevin Garnett missed thefinal two months, and took the Magic to seven games in the conference semifinals. Garnett will be back, but is something of a question mark until he shows hisknee is fine. Meanwhile, the Celtics brought in reinforcements in Rasheed Wallace and Marquis Daniels, with the former being particularly useful since the Celtics lacked a"stretch 4" a year ago.
Age is a huge issue here, and they'll have to pace themselves in the regular season, so they're probably going to be the East's No. 3 seed. Butif they're healthy come playoff time and the Ubuntu is flowing, they still look like a team that can win the East.
[h3]Group II: The Tasty Hors D'oeuvres[/h3]
Scrumptious in small doses, these clubs are hoping to steal your attention from the centerpiece, and at times it seems they might succeed. But eachlacks a key ingredient to keep it on our plate 'til June.
Atlanta: A distant fourth in the East this past season, the Hawks look to have retained that position after a successful offseason. Atlantakept all its major free agents (Marvin Williams, Mike Bibby and ZazaPachulia), and supplemented its shaky backcourt depth by trading for JamalCrawford and drafting Jeff Teague.
The most controversial move is the acquisition of Crawford, a mindless gunner who plays no defense whatsoever. But they got him for free, and the man hereplaced, Flip Murray, wasn't exactly known as the Human Assist. He'll be fine as the designated launcher off the bench.
If Atlanta can extend Joe Johnson and add a veteran big man (Joe Smith, anyone?), it will be a near-perfect summer, with the only blemish being theHawks' inability to convert restricted free agent Josh Childress into a usableasset.
Chicago: Postseason darlings after taking Boston to seven thrilling games in the first round, Chicago lost a big chunk of its offensivefirepower when Ben Gordon bolted for Detroit. But with the trio of Kirk Hinrich,Luol Deng and John Salmons likely to be healthier than they were last season, Gordon might not bemissed.
The other big factor in Chicago's favor is the likely improvement of young players like Derrick Rose, JoakimNoah and Tyrus Thomas. That's not a "nice to have," though;it's imperative. The kids have to get better, because the Bulls didn't sign any players as they gear up for a free-agent run next summer. In fact,it's possible they'll trade Thomas or Hinrich to have more cap space left over.
Miami: Like the Bulls, the Heat mostly stood by with their hands in their pockets waiting until next summer, when they'll have enoughcap space to add a max-contract free agent and another well-compensated sidekick to run with Dwyane Wade. In the meantime, this club doesn't look much different than the one thatlost to the Hawks in the first round a year ago. Wade guarantees them a .500 record if he's healthy and gives them a puncher's chance of pulling anupset in the playoffs, but it's hard to see how they'll get better right away unless Michael Beasley blows up.
[h3]Group III: The Mystery Meat[/h3]
These teams are the equivalent of going to a foreign country and ordering blindly off a menu in another language. It might be awesome, it might beterrible; really, you have no idea. But it will definitely be different, and you'll probably walk away with a good story or two.
Toronto: The Euraptors spent a ton of money this summer, but whether it was well-spent is a question open for debate. For starters,spending a combined $100 million for Turkoglu and Andrea Bargnani would make a lotmore sense if basketball had a DH rule. Jarrett Jack at $20 million was excessive aswell, and if the Euraps don't commit to paying a luxury tax down the road, these deals are going to give them a lot of problems.
But hey, it's not my money, and it might all work out brilliantly. They're committed to a floor-spacing, sweet-shooting outfit reminiscent of BryanColangelo's old Suns teams in a final crack at convincing Chris Bosh to staybeyond this season. Either that or they're trying to convince Bosh he's really living in Geneva; somebody needs to check to see if they aren'tsetting all the clocks six hours ahead up there.
While Toronto spent freely, there were some value moves beneath the surface: They got Rasho Nesterovic for a song and Marco Belinelli for less than that, and while I'm not high on DeMar DeRozan, a lot of folks whom I respect are.
I guess what I'm saying is I have no idea how this will work out, which is how they ended up in the mystery meat section. It's easy to split thedifference and say they'll be a .500-%+# team, but I don't think that will be the outcome. I'm expecting either a brilliant success or aspectacular failure, and I'm really not sure which.
Washington: "We won 19 games last year. Let's go all-in." Hey, if Boston can do it after winning 24 games, why not theseguys?
That said, this isn't quite like landing Garnett and Ray Allen. Washingtonobtained Mike Miller and Randy Foye from Minnesota and is hoping that Gilbert Arenas can finally shake off two years of knee injuries and become a dominating scoreragain. While the Wizards are finding out if this works any better than last season's outfit, or the procession of 40-something-win teams that preceded it,they'll also be paying luxury tax through the nose.
Only one offseason move can allay my cynicism, and that's the hiring of Flip Saunders. Yes, he's had some playoff failures, but the dude wins.Somehow, he'll figure out how to get some competent defense from these guys and teach talented-but-frustrating young 'uns like JaVale McGee, AndrayBlatche and Nick Young how to play with others. If somehow Arenas can regain hisold form, it might all work out spectacularly well.
[h3]Group IV: Can I Send This Back?[/h3]
Sure, they look like decent appetizers at first glance. But once you have a few bites, it turns out there's something half-baked about each of theseclubs.
Detroit: Are we sure Joe Dumars is still the one calling the shots over here? Trading Chauncey Billups? Extending Richard Hamilton? Signing Kwame Brown and ChrisWilcox? Trading in coaches like they're eligible for the "cash for clunkers" program? Does this sound like the guy who was two steps ahead ofeverybody else in the league for half a decade?
The Pistons have four guards who can score and none who can pass. They have two centers who might not shoot .800 from the line … combined. Their starters atthe 2, 3 and 4 would have trouble bench-pressing my laptop. They have another new coach, and maybe he'll make this all work somehow, but I'm notholding my breath.
Philadelphia: It's painful to watch a quality team leak talent because finances have tied their hands, but that's what happened tothe Sixers. They had to let Andre Miller walk because their woeful attendance can't support a luxury-tax payroll, and now they have to hope that Elton Brand bounces back from a horrific first year in Philly.
If Brand delivers, this might work out anyway. There's quite a bit of young talent here (Thaddeus Young, Marreese Speights, Andre Iguodala, LouWilliams, Jrue Holiday and a returning-from-injury Jason Smith), and an offseason trade for Jason Kapono will help with their biggest Achilles' heel, shooting. New coach EddieJordan, an offensive maestro, should find them a few extra points as well. Nonetheless, getting back to the playoffs is the ceiling here. As for the floor?Don't look down.
Charlotte: The best news of the offseason is that owner Robert Johnson plans to sell the team. Bobcats fans have to hope he'll find abuyer immediately, and that whoever takes over won't be too awed by Michael Jordan's presence to tell him you can't run a basketball team from adriving range 700 miles away.
Otherwise, the Bobcats willfully downgraded from Emeka Okafor to Tyson Chandler because … well, we're not sure why. They haven't re-signed Raymond Felton because they don't want to be a tax team next year, and they haven'tsigned any new players at all, and since they were one of the league's worst offensive teams a year ago and just traded the only guy who made half hisshots, I'm not sure how it's gonna work.
Indiana: Note to the Pacers: Signing seven players who average two points a game isn't the same as signing one player who averages 14.Indiana spent its offseason combing the league for 11th men, forking out a four-year, $11 million deal for Dahntay Jones and another $2.9 million for Earl Watson. SolomonJones and Josh McRoberts were the other big offseason signings for the Pacers,who also picked up gritty but limited forward Tyler Hansbrough in the draft.Meanwhile, they let Jarrett Jack and Marquis Daniels walk to sign deals for roughly the same money; Jack alone will probably outproduce the five new playerscombined.
About the only piece of legitimately good news for Indy is that Mike Dunleavy isapparently recovering very nicely from a career-threatening knee injury. Plug him into last season's roster and this was probably a playoff team. Alas, thesame can't be said for this year's bunch.
Milwaukee: You could argue the Bucks should go in the next category down as another of the league's economic victims. They gave awayRichard Jefferson and lost Villanueva without a fight. The thing everyone forgets,though, is that Milwaukee was playing well last season until Michael Redd and Andrew Bogutwere injured. The Bucks made a couple helpful additions amidst all thesubtractions -- Hakim Warrick, Kurt Thomas, ErsanIlyasova, Amir Johnson -- and if they can find a way to hang on to Ramon Sessions, they might be OK.
[h3]Group V: Roadkill[/h3]
I'm pretty sure this is meat, but it tastes like an animal not normally served in restaurants, and I think I see a tread mark. We're outta here…
New Jersey: New Jersey and Milwaukee were the first Eastern teams to offer a total capitulation to the economic downturn. The Nets tradedVince Carter for spare parts, slashed the salaries of any staff they hadn't already laid off and hid in a bunker the rest of the summer. Their onlyactivity this season will be removing players, not adding them, and the result will be even more empty seats than usual in the Swamp.
New York: The Knicks didn't sign anybody, which is probably a good thing considering whom they targeted. Jason Kidd? GrantHill? Does this make any sense for a rebuilding team? Hey, you want to put in an offer for Adrian Dantley while you're at it?
They still haven't moved to retain David Lee or Nate Robinson, as they'recaught in a quandary of whether to forfeit their 2010 cap space and a possible run at LeBron James. Trading Quentin Richardson for Darko Milicic will help a bit as they now have a legit center -- albeit one who plays hard inaround one game in five -- but that's about the high point of the summer thus far.
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By John Hollinger ESPN.com
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OK, hungry fans, it's time to turn our attention to the Western side of the menu, after Monday's look at the new pecking order in the East.
I'm not sure the pecking order in the West is quite so "new;" less changed in these parts since the end of last season. But I'm here tobreak it down all the same. Much like the East, the West can be broken into five distinct groups. Make that five and a half, actually, as there's oneadditional category we didn't have in the East.
And, like yesterday, we'll be sticking with an epicurean theme. Without further ado, here's how it lays out.
[h3]Group IA: The Chef's Special[/h3]
There's a lot of good stuff on the menu, but this one looks a cut above. Sure, it costs more, but the reviewers all say it's worth every cent.You'll be talking about this meal for weeks.
Los Angeles Lakers
Consider this: The defending champs won a title despite getting virtually nothing from Andrew Bynum during the postseason. If he comes back and plays to his capabilitiesthey're going to be scary good.
Of more immediate interest, however, is their de facto swap of Trevor Ariza forRon Artest. Artest is nuts and lost a step at the offensive end last season, buthe's still an elite defensive player and he's a better spot-up shooter than Ariza. (For those who watched only the playoffs, I'll remind you thatAriza was a 29.9 percent career 3-point shooter when the postseason began. Let's not get carried away with a well-timed hot streak.)
Committing to Artest for five years was foolish, but the swap makes the Lakers better in the short term. With Lamar Odom and ShannonBrown re-signed at very reasonable prices and Phil Jackson coming back, L.A. has quietly (for them) had a strong offseason.
Of course, the greatest break for the Lakers is that they're still in the Western Conference. While the East is top-heavy with Orlando, Cleveland andBoston all loading up, L.A. remains the clear favorite to oppose one of those three in the Finals.
[h3]Group I: The Entrees[/h3]
Oh sure, you'll eat the free bread and order a side dish or two. But realistically, these will be the last and most memorable items on your plate atthe end of the season.
San Antonio Spurs
On paper, the Spurs look like the most legitimate aspirant to the Lakers' Western crown. They've added Richard Jefferson and Antonio McDyess without surrendering anyone important, giving the starting five a badly neededinfusion of scoring. Throw in the second-round theft of DeJuan Blair and a returnfrom injury from Ian Mahinmi and the Spurs should be deeper, too.
But all this depends on their stars carrying the mail. Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili both broke down at the end of last season and, at their age, one wonders if theycan regain their previous form and sustain it through an entire season. Without knowing the answer to that major question, the Spurs merely rank as another ofthe West's hopefuls.
Denver Nuggets
Last spring, the Nuggets had the Lakers sweating bullets for four games and most of a fifth, so theoretically they entered the offseason on near-equal footing.However, money matters have prevented them from keeping up with the arms race among the other contenders. Denver isn't a high-revenue team despite itssuccess last season and is already over the luxury-tax threshold, so it had to manage its money carefully. As a result, Linas Kleiza and Dahntay Jones won't be back, and Anthony Carter might not be either.
But the Nuggets' top six players return, including a re-signed Chris Andersen,and trades brought in some younger help in rookie Ty Lawson (one of my draftfavorites) and Arron Afflalo. There isn't a huge margin of safety here, but ifthe Nuggets are healthy they'll still be really good.
Portland Trail Blazers
Nobody talks about the Blazers as serious contenders in the West, but we should. Portland had the best scoring margin in basketball after the All-Star breaklast season, and as I keep repeating, scoring margin predicts future success better than winning percentage.
Yes, they went one-and-done in the playoffs, but this team should be better this time around. The Blazers added Andre Miller, vastly improving their backcourt depth, and returned Martell Webster from injury. The only departure was Channing Frye, who fell to the fringes of the rotation by the end of last season. Mostimportantly, one of the league's youngest nuclei gained a valuable year of experience and cut its playoff teeth. Watch out for these guys.
[h3]Group II: The Tasty Hors D'oeuvres[/h3]
Scrumptious in small doses, these clubs are hoping to steal your attention from the centerpiece, and at times it seems they might succeed. But eachlacks a key ingredient to keep it on our plate 'til June.
Utah Jazz
It's hard to get too jazzed up about a ride on the Utah bandwagon when it was healthy for the final 23 games of last season and went 8-15. The Jazz haveeffectively stood pat thus far this summer, drafting a backup point guard in EricMaynor and retaining Paul Millsap by matching Portland's offer sheet. Theymay also lose a breaking-down Matt Harpring to retirement.
However, we're still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Carlos Boozerdismayed everyone by opting in for the final year of his contract, leaving the Jazz well over the luxury-tax line. Pretty much everyone assumes they'lltrade him, and if Utah can score a quality wing player in the deal it could move up a class. Utah owns one other huge asset as well: the completely unprotected2010 first-round pick belonging to the Knicks.
Dallas Mavericks
The Mavs bought when everyone else sold, retaining Jason Kidd and adding Shawn Marion, DrewGooden, Kris Humphries, Tim Thomas and QuintonRoss this offseason. They are well into the tax and overpaid for Kidd especially (three years and $25 million at 36?), but if paying luxury tax doesn'tbother Mark Cuban then it's really not a problem.
Despite their age, the Mavs will try to play small and fast, with Kidd, JasonTerry, Josh Howard, Marion and Dirk Nowitzki playing as a run-and-gun unit in crunch time. That could give them apuncher's chance at a playoff upset, but it's tough to see how they can match up physically against the powerful frontcourts the top contenderspossess.
Because of Cuban's willingness to spend, they're a far more intriguing team a year from now thanks to what may become the league's most covetedasset: Erick Dampier's expiring, non-guaranteed $12 million in 2010-11. Casualfans may not realize how valuable this is in the current economy. Next summer a financially struggling team could trade a highly paid player to Dallas forDampier, waive him immediately and wipe their books totally clean. And given the current economic conditions, I have a feeling some teams will be willing to doit.
New Orleans Hornets
The Hornets didn't spend any money this summer and, based on recent history, maybe that's good thing. A series of bad free-agent contracts (Peja Stojakovic, MorrisPeterson, James Posey) have tied the Hornets' hands and put them in taxterritory, though they did manage a slight upgrade at center with the TysonChandler-Emeka Okafor swap.
Chris Paul makes them a playoff team on his own, and offseason pickups Darren Collison and IkeDiogu might improve what was among the league's worst benches last season. But the Hornets might still try to shed a contract or two to get under thetax, and as things stand now they're going to get miserable production from the wings.
[h3]Group III: The Mystery Meat[/h3]
These teams are the equivalent of going to a foreign country and ordering blindly off a menu in another language. It might be awesome, it might beterrible; really, you have no idea. But it will definitely be different, and you'll probably walk away with a good story or two.
Los Angeles Clippers
They stunk last season, plus they're the Clippers, which means they could screw this up at a moment's notice. But the offseason certainly pleased theClipper faithful. First overall pick Blake Griffin should be a double-double guyimmediately, and the trade of Zach Randolph for Quentin Richardson gives the Clips cap space for a free-agent run next year. Better yet, theyparlayed Richardson into frontcourt depth with a second deal with Minnesota for underrated forward Craig Smith.
But the biggest reason to like the Clips is because they were going to be better anyway. Baron Davis, ChrisKaman and Ricky Davis should all be in much better physical condition for thisgo-round, and second-year pro Eric Gordon should improve, too. Whether it'senough for a playoff run remains to be seen, but this version of the Clips should keep us entertained.
Phoenix Suns
Thanks to a reluctance to pay luxury tax and some horrific cap management in prior offseasons, the Suns keep shedding personnel. Phoenix traded Shaquille O'Neal for straight cap relief -- plus the already-released Ben Wallace and the soon-to-be-released Sasha Pavlovic -- when he came off an All-Star season. But instead of launching a fulltear-down operation they extended Steve Nash, signed Channing Frye and re-signedGrant Hill, which means they could still make the playoffs if Amare Stoudemire is healthy.
We have no idea how well he'll recover from his eye injury or what the implications are for his game if the eye gives him problems. But if he's notplaying to his usual standard the Suns could embark on a long ride down. One quick note to file away if that happens: Oklahoma City has Phoenix's draftpick from the Kurt Thomas salary dump in 2007, and there's no lottery protectionwhatsoever.
Oklahoma City Thunder
I think the Thunder are ready to move up the standings this season, but I'm just not sure how far. They opted to hold back on spending this summer and saveit for next year, when they'll have about $15 million in space under the cap. So any improvement this season will result from internal development by thecore of Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and RussellWestbrook and the addition of draft pick James Harden.
Is it possible Durant blows up, averages in the high 20s and leads these guys to the playoffs? Absolutely. But they depend an awful lot on one guy for theoffense, and that one guy has yet to demonstrate he can take high-percentage shots or create meaningful opportunities for others. And if injuries hit,there's not a lot of depth here.
[h3]Group IV: Can I Send This Plate Back?[/h3]
Sure, they look like decent appetizers at first glance. But once you have a few bites, it turns out there's something half-baked about each of theseclubs.
Golden State Warriors
Based on talent, the Warriors shouldn't be down here. They have plenty of offensive firepower with the return of Monta Ellis and the addition of Stephen Curry to go with the likes of Corey Maggette, AndrisBiedrins, Stephen Jackson and summer-league star Anthony Randolph.
Unfortunately, we already know they'll screw this up somehow. The dysfunctional mess of a front office is too busy running Don Nelson'sleast-favored players out of town to bother acquiring pieces that fit. Al Harrington,Jamal Crawford and Marco Belinelli already departed with nothing to show for it, and Brandan Wright's got next. With this roster and Nelson's basic M.O. of playing sevenshooting guards 30 minutes each, the Warriors are guaranteed to be among the worst defensive teams in the league, so if the offense isn't lights-outthey're gong to struggle.
Houston Rockets
Medical problems pretty much ended Houston's season before it started, as YaoMing and Tracy McGrady went under the knife and will contribute little, ifanything. Meanwhile, the de facto swap of Ron Artest for Trevor Ariza bodes well for Houston's future but doesn't alter its present outlook much.
That was the only major offseason move. Otherwise, Houston tried to supplement its future with the biggest run of property acquisitions since the LouisianaPurchase. Houston paid nearly $9 million to acquire the rights to Jermaine Taylor, Chase Budinger, Sergio Llull and David Andersen -- not their salaries, mindyou, just the right to be the ones paying them -- but only Andersen is likely to be in the rotation this season.
If the Rockets stay healthy and get bust-out years from Aaron Brooks and Carl Landry it's possible they can stay on the fringes of the playoff race, but it'smore likely they'll struggle too much to score.
[h3]Group V: Roadkill[/h3]
I'm pretty sure this is meat, but it tastes like an animal not normally served in restaurants, and I think I see a tread mark. We're outta here…
Memphis Grizzlies
Chris Wallace's nameplate still says general manager, but it's obvious that owner Michael Heisley is calling the shots on personnel. As usual when anowner meddles, the results have been disastrous. What kind of a buffoon trades PauGasol for pennies on the dollar and then a year later acquires Zach Randolph at the same money? The same kind that prefers trading for Randolph to tradingfor Carlos Boozer, or to making a run at David Lee, or to just setting $16 million onfire. Oh, and he wants Allen Iverson too. Great.
Despite a near-empty arena, the Griz still make money. That's partly because they'll do anything for $3 million, even trading a useful player(Darko Milicic) for a finished one (Quentin Richardson). But the few fans left inMemphis will get to see two of the league's biggest ball hogs fight it out for shots every night when Randolph and Rudy Gay take the court. One almost wants to see them add Iverson to the mix just to see ifthey could go an entire game without an assist.
Minnesota Timberwolves
While other teams have gained more attention as belt-tighteners, the T'pups have quietly joined their ranks. Trading Craig Smith just to be rid of a $2.7million obligation to Sebastian Telfair next year has to qualify as a low point, andone gets the impression they're pretty happy to defer a $3 million obligation to Ricky Rubio a couple years into the future. They dumped Mike Miller and RandyFoye, eventually acquiring a non-guaranteed player they can waive (Chucky Atkins),and their only foray into free agency was a low-wattage bid for Ryan Hollins.
If Al Jefferson returns to his All-Star-caliber level of the first half of lastseason it lifts Minnesota half a notch above doormat status, but the Wolves leaked a lot of talent since their strong January last season.
Sacramento Kings
Shell-shocked by increasingly horrific economics in Sacto and the woefully outdated Arco Arena, the Kings locked down financially while they wait to find outwhere their next home will be. If it's a new building in Sacramento, great, but if not, San Jose, Anaheim, Kansas City and others await with open arms.Either way, they won't spend a nickel without some certainty on this front.
The Kings did pick up a potential star in the draft in Tyreke Evans and alow-budget breakout possibility in Sergio Rodriguez, plus Kevin Martin should be healthier. That should keep them run-of-the-mill bad rather thanhistorically awful, but optimists won't find a lot of ammunition here.
[h2]Taste test: Rating East offseason order[/h2]
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By John Hollinger ESPN.com
Archive
Say this about the NBA this summer: They've kept it interesting.
We were expecting a fairly humdrum free-agent season while everyone held their cards for the LeBron Sweepstakes next summer. Instead, the opposite happened.Every contender in sight began loading up, and despite warnings of economic Armageddon, several championship hopefuls blew past the luxury-tax thresholdwithout even tapping the brakes.
Though we didn't have any All-Star free-agent signings, the list of players who changed uniforms this summer is an impressive one. Shaquille O'Neal, Richard Jefferson, VinceCarter, Ron Artest, Trevor Ariza, RasheedWallace, Andre Miller, Shawn Marion, BenGordon, Antonio McDyess, Emeka Okafor, TysonChandler, Charlie Villanueva and Hedo Turkoglu were among the prominent names to relocate.
And we might have a few more to add to that list, as prominent free agents like DavidLee, Allen Iverson and Ramon Sessions are still unsigned. We also could still see several money-driven moves byteams over the tax line, with the most notable potential one being Utah's CarlosBoozer. And with nearly two months to go until camp starts, it's still possible we'll see Quentin Richardson dealt six or seven more times.
But while the offseason isn't complete, things have clearly calmed down from the initial frenzy. Money is tight everywhere, and a lot of teams are doneshopping, especially since several clubs will limit themselves to the minimum 13-man roster.
Hungry for more? So are we. And as luck would have it, it's time to check out the menu for this season. With 30 different items there are several kindsof grub to choose from, ranging from five-star specials to stuff you wouldn't feed your dog.
In the big picture, there's a pretty clear pecking order in each conference, so I've grouped everybody into five categories. So order your drinksand stay awhile. Today I'll start with the East and establish where everybody stands and how, exactly, they got there. In the next edition, we'll moveon to the West.
[h3]Group I: The Entrees[/h3]
Oh sure, you'll eat the free bread and order a side dish or two. But realistically, these will be the last and most memorable items on your plate atthe end of the season.
Orlando: The defending conference champs didn't exactly rest on their laurels, did they? At this juncture, in fact, their roster looksa lot more fearsome than it did at the end of last season. Carter is a major upgrade on Turkoglu, while free-agent additions Matt Barnes and BrandonBass make what was a thin frontcourt suddenly look much deeper.
Add in whom they retained (Marcin Gortat) and returned (Jameer Nelson, after a shoulder injury wiped out the second half of his season) and the Magiclook absolutely stacked. At this point, they have to be considered the favorites in the East, and depending on how this remix works out at the defensive end,there's a chance they could post a jaw-dropping win total.
The one reason for misgiving is a lack of backcourt depth after the trades of RaferAlston and Courtney Lee to New Jersey; now Mickael Pietrus is a likely starter and J.J. Redick and AnthonyJohnson will have to play major minutes, and another injury to Nelson could leave them exposed.
Cleveland: Scary thought -- the Cavs won 66 games and got better in the offseason. Whatever they get from Shaquille O'Neal will dwarfthe contributions of Ben Wallace and Sasha Pavlovic a year ago, so that trade is a home run for Cleveland. Beyond that, theyaddressed the greatest area of concern by adding size and depth on the wings in the form of Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon.
Cleveland also kept Anderson Varejao, and while their payroll is on pace tooutstrip the national debt, that's Dan Gilbert's problem. On the court, they've strengthened three key rotation spots without losing a singleimportant player.
The Cavs can make a strong case that they will match much better against Orlando now, especially against Dwight Howard with Shaq in the middle. One caveat, however: They must overcome thedistraction of the most eagerly anticipated walk year in sports history.
Boston: Yes, it's possible the Celtics' magical championship march in 2008 was a one-shot deal. But dismiss them at your peril.
Last season they won more games than Orlando, even though Kevin Garnett missed thefinal two months, and took the Magic to seven games in the conference semifinals. Garnett will be back, but is something of a question mark until he shows hisknee is fine. Meanwhile, the Celtics brought in reinforcements in Rasheed Wallace and Marquis Daniels, with the former being particularly useful since the Celtics lacked a"stretch 4" a year ago.
Age is a huge issue here, and they'll have to pace themselves in the regular season, so they're probably going to be the East's No. 3 seed. Butif they're healthy come playoff time and the Ubuntu is flowing, they still look like a team that can win the East.
[h3]Group II: The Tasty Hors D'oeuvres[/h3]
Scrumptious in small doses, these clubs are hoping to steal your attention from the centerpiece, and at times it seems they might succeed. But eachlacks a key ingredient to keep it on our plate 'til June.
Atlanta: A distant fourth in the East this past season, the Hawks look to have retained that position after a successful offseason. Atlantakept all its major free agents (Marvin Williams, Mike Bibby and ZazaPachulia), and supplemented its shaky backcourt depth by trading for JamalCrawford and drafting Jeff Teague.
The most controversial move is the acquisition of Crawford, a mindless gunner who plays no defense whatsoever. But they got him for free, and the man hereplaced, Flip Murray, wasn't exactly known as the Human Assist. He'll be fine as the designated launcher off the bench.
If Atlanta can extend Joe Johnson and add a veteran big man (Joe Smith, anyone?), it will be a near-perfect summer, with the only blemish being theHawks' inability to convert restricted free agent Josh Childress into a usableasset.
Chicago: Postseason darlings after taking Boston to seven thrilling games in the first round, Chicago lost a big chunk of its offensivefirepower when Ben Gordon bolted for Detroit. But with the trio of Kirk Hinrich,Luol Deng and John Salmons likely to be healthier than they were last season, Gordon might not bemissed.
The other big factor in Chicago's favor is the likely improvement of young players like Derrick Rose, JoakimNoah and Tyrus Thomas. That's not a "nice to have," though;it's imperative. The kids have to get better, because the Bulls didn't sign any players as they gear up for a free-agent run next summer. In fact,it's possible they'll trade Thomas or Hinrich to have more cap space left over.
Miami: Like the Bulls, the Heat mostly stood by with their hands in their pockets waiting until next summer, when they'll have enoughcap space to add a max-contract free agent and another well-compensated sidekick to run with Dwyane Wade. In the meantime, this club doesn't look much different than the one thatlost to the Hawks in the first round a year ago. Wade guarantees them a .500 record if he's healthy and gives them a puncher's chance of pulling anupset in the playoffs, but it's hard to see how they'll get better right away unless Michael Beasley blows up.
[h3]Group III: The Mystery Meat[/h3]
These teams are the equivalent of going to a foreign country and ordering blindly off a menu in another language. It might be awesome, it might beterrible; really, you have no idea. But it will definitely be different, and you'll probably walk away with a good story or two.
Toronto: The Euraptors spent a ton of money this summer, but whether it was well-spent is a question open for debate. For starters,spending a combined $100 million for Turkoglu and Andrea Bargnani would make a lotmore sense if basketball had a DH rule. Jarrett Jack at $20 million was excessive aswell, and if the Euraps don't commit to paying a luxury tax down the road, these deals are going to give them a lot of problems.
But hey, it's not my money, and it might all work out brilliantly. They're committed to a floor-spacing, sweet-shooting outfit reminiscent of BryanColangelo's old Suns teams in a final crack at convincing Chris Bosh to staybeyond this season. Either that or they're trying to convince Bosh he's really living in Geneva; somebody needs to check to see if they aren'tsetting all the clocks six hours ahead up there.
While Toronto spent freely, there were some value moves beneath the surface: They got Rasho Nesterovic for a song and Marco Belinelli for less than that, and while I'm not high on DeMar DeRozan, a lot of folks whom I respect are.
I guess what I'm saying is I have no idea how this will work out, which is how they ended up in the mystery meat section. It's easy to split thedifference and say they'll be a .500-%+# team, but I don't think that will be the outcome. I'm expecting either a brilliant success or aspectacular failure, and I'm really not sure which.
Washington: "We won 19 games last year. Let's go all-in." Hey, if Boston can do it after winning 24 games, why not theseguys?
That said, this isn't quite like landing Garnett and Ray Allen. Washingtonobtained Mike Miller and Randy Foye from Minnesota and is hoping that Gilbert Arenas can finally shake off two years of knee injuries and become a dominating scoreragain. While the Wizards are finding out if this works any better than last season's outfit, or the procession of 40-something-win teams that preceded it,they'll also be paying luxury tax through the nose.
Only one offseason move can allay my cynicism, and that's the hiring of Flip Saunders. Yes, he's had some playoff failures, but the dude wins.Somehow, he'll figure out how to get some competent defense from these guys and teach talented-but-frustrating young 'uns like JaVale McGee, AndrayBlatche and Nick Young how to play with others. If somehow Arenas can regain hisold form, it might all work out spectacularly well.
[h3]Group IV: Can I Send This Back?[/h3]
Sure, they look like decent appetizers at first glance. But once you have a few bites, it turns out there's something half-baked about each of theseclubs.
Detroit: Are we sure Joe Dumars is still the one calling the shots over here? Trading Chauncey Billups? Extending Richard Hamilton? Signing Kwame Brown and ChrisWilcox? Trading in coaches like they're eligible for the "cash for clunkers" program? Does this sound like the guy who was two steps ahead ofeverybody else in the league for half a decade?
The Pistons have four guards who can score and none who can pass. They have two centers who might not shoot .800 from the line … combined. Their starters atthe 2, 3 and 4 would have trouble bench-pressing my laptop. They have another new coach, and maybe he'll make this all work somehow, but I'm notholding my breath.
Philadelphia: It's painful to watch a quality team leak talent because finances have tied their hands, but that's what happened tothe Sixers. They had to let Andre Miller walk because their woeful attendance can't support a luxury-tax payroll, and now they have to hope that Elton Brand bounces back from a horrific first year in Philly.
If Brand delivers, this might work out anyway. There's quite a bit of young talent here (Thaddeus Young, Marreese Speights, Andre Iguodala, LouWilliams, Jrue Holiday and a returning-from-injury Jason Smith), and an offseason trade for Jason Kapono will help with their biggest Achilles' heel, shooting. New coach EddieJordan, an offensive maestro, should find them a few extra points as well. Nonetheless, getting back to the playoffs is the ceiling here. As for the floor?Don't look down.
Charlotte: The best news of the offseason is that owner Robert Johnson plans to sell the team. Bobcats fans have to hope he'll find abuyer immediately, and that whoever takes over won't be too awed by Michael Jordan's presence to tell him you can't run a basketball team from adriving range 700 miles away.
Otherwise, the Bobcats willfully downgraded from Emeka Okafor to Tyson Chandler because … well, we're not sure why. They haven't re-signed Raymond Felton because they don't want to be a tax team next year, and they haven'tsigned any new players at all, and since they were one of the league's worst offensive teams a year ago and just traded the only guy who made half hisshots, I'm not sure how it's gonna work.
Indiana: Note to the Pacers: Signing seven players who average two points a game isn't the same as signing one player who averages 14.Indiana spent its offseason combing the league for 11th men, forking out a four-year, $11 million deal for Dahntay Jones and another $2.9 million for Earl Watson. SolomonJones and Josh McRoberts were the other big offseason signings for the Pacers,who also picked up gritty but limited forward Tyler Hansbrough in the draft.Meanwhile, they let Jarrett Jack and Marquis Daniels walk to sign deals for roughly the same money; Jack alone will probably outproduce the five new playerscombined.
About the only piece of legitimately good news for Indy is that Mike Dunleavy isapparently recovering very nicely from a career-threatening knee injury. Plug him into last season's roster and this was probably a playoff team. Alas, thesame can't be said for this year's bunch.
Milwaukee: You could argue the Bucks should go in the next category down as another of the league's economic victims. They gave awayRichard Jefferson and lost Villanueva without a fight. The thing everyone forgets,though, is that Milwaukee was playing well last season until Michael Redd and Andrew Bogutwere injured. The Bucks made a couple helpful additions amidst all thesubtractions -- Hakim Warrick, Kurt Thomas, ErsanIlyasova, Amir Johnson -- and if they can find a way to hang on to Ramon Sessions, they might be OK.
[h3]Group V: Roadkill[/h3]
I'm pretty sure this is meat, but it tastes like an animal not normally served in restaurants, and I think I see a tread mark. We're outta here…
New Jersey: New Jersey and Milwaukee were the first Eastern teams to offer a total capitulation to the economic downturn. The Nets tradedVince Carter for spare parts, slashed the salaries of any staff they hadn't already laid off and hid in a bunker the rest of the summer. Their onlyactivity this season will be removing players, not adding them, and the result will be even more empty seats than usual in the Swamp.
New York: The Knicks didn't sign anybody, which is probably a good thing considering whom they targeted. Jason Kidd? GrantHill? Does this make any sense for a rebuilding team? Hey, you want to put in an offer for Adrian Dantley while you're at it?
They still haven't moved to retain David Lee or Nate Robinson, as they'recaught in a quandary of whether to forfeit their 2010 cap space and a possible run at LeBron James. Trading Quentin Richardson for Darko Milicic will help a bit as they now have a legit center -- albeit one who plays hard inaround one game in five -- but that's about the high point of the summer thus far.
Show me the team that ran on offense and won titles?
We goin back to the 80's?
Not one of them teams ever won nothin. Mavs, Kings, Suns, Nuggets, Run TMC.
It's one or 2 superstars with some good role guys, and defense. Period.
If they get Bron, they have the star, get some role guys, ok, but if Mike is there, and they don't play any D, lose in the 2nd or 3rd round every year
We goin back to the 80's?
Not one of them teams ever won nothin. Mavs, Kings, Suns, Nuggets, Run TMC.
It's one or 2 superstars with some good role guys, and defense. Period.
If they get Bron, they have the star, get some role guys, ok, but if Mike is there, and they don't play any D, lose in the 2nd or 3rd round every year
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Powe-ned. (v) To completely control and annihilate one's NBA competition. usage: Danny Ferry just Powe-ned the Celtics.
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Not to defend anyone in this discussion, but Mike D'Antoni had different players in place in Phoenix than what he has to deal with the Knicks.
I still think it would of been better for the Knicks to hire someone after this off-season then to let any free agent see what D'Antoni can do with theplayers he has. D'Antoni I think is in a rough spot with the Knicks IMO but Walsh and Dolan will handle that.
No matter what free agent it is, wouldn't you want the guys to fit into the system the coach has in place?
(Sessions is already on the team, his Jersey says Duhon.)
Walsh was brought in to get two things done: clean out the contracts that Isiah did and get Lebron James.
Walsh has done a good job at getting the contracts out and has two contracts that will be difficult but can be done (Heisley and Wallace on speed dial, lol)
Keeping to the plan is all well and good but come the end of the day, is this knick team right now as good as last year? They played well almost every nightand scored a lot of points. (With some defense..........maybe........kinda) but who on this team next year besides Will, Danillo, Toney, Jordan WILL STILL BEON THE TEAM FOR THE SUMMER OF 2010?
You need a foundation in place. You just can't throw guys together and say PLAY.
and if Lebron comes here, does this team how it is setup, both players and coaches, become an NBA elite team?
I truly do not feel so.
But that is just the Swamp rat's impression. I am not knocking Knick fans here or anywhere.
I just do not understand how D'Antoni gets a fair deal from this situation especially if no major free agent comes their way.
I still think it would of been better for the Knicks to hire someone after this off-season then to let any free agent see what D'Antoni can do with theplayers he has. D'Antoni I think is in a rough spot with the Knicks IMO but Walsh and Dolan will handle that.
No matter what free agent it is, wouldn't you want the guys to fit into the system the coach has in place?
(Sessions is already on the team, his Jersey says Duhon.)
Walsh was brought in to get two things done: clean out the contracts that Isiah did and get Lebron James.
Walsh has done a good job at getting the contracts out and has two contracts that will be difficult but can be done (Heisley and Wallace on speed dial, lol)
Keeping to the plan is all well and good but come the end of the day, is this knick team right now as good as last year? They played well almost every nightand scored a lot of points. (With some defense..........maybe........kinda) but who on this team next year besides Will, Danillo, Toney, Jordan WILL STILL BEON THE TEAM FOR THE SUMMER OF 2010?
You need a foundation in place. You just can't throw guys together and say PLAY.
and if Lebron comes here, does this team how it is setup, both players and coaches, become an NBA elite team?
I truly do not feel so.
But that is just the Swamp rat's impression. I am not knocking Knick fans here or anywhere.
I just do not understand how D'Antoni gets a fair deal from this situation especially if no major free agent comes their way.
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so because you run, you can't play defense at the same time?
i never said defense was not needed. but you don't need to slow things down and grind out baskets to win.
you're right though, winning a title does center on LeBron coming or not.
you give him lebron and he can fill in role players around him to result in an average to decent defensive team (like the suns were) it's definitelypossible.
basketball has changed since the 90's....ever big guy except dwight now is basically a face up player, more running...more spaced floors. the magic thisyear were 1 in 4 out all the time themselves.
My whole point is, i do not see what is wrong with the approach offensively when it comes to winning.
i never said defense was not needed. but you don't need to slow things down and grind out baskets to win.
you're right though, winning a title does center on LeBron coming or not.
you give him lebron and he can fill in role players around him to result in an average to decent defensive team (like the suns were) it's definitelypossible.
basketball has changed since the 90's....ever big guy except dwight now is basically a face up player, more running...more spaced floors. the magic thisyear were 1 in 4 out all the time themselves.
My whole point is, i do not see what is wrong with the approach offensively when it comes to winning.
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The Magic got scraped in the Finals by a half court team and D'Antoni has no rings.
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They got past another half court team that was defensively 'great' without a clue on offense.
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OH
SNAP
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this has been a great discussion goin non......
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And?
Orlando was a bad matchup. Bigger and stronger. Neither have to do with fast break basketball.
The Lakers were bigger and stronger with a better superstar and disposed of them in 5 games.
The Cavs have certainly addressed their size issues this offseason while maintaining their core that won 66 games and the best player in the league. Time willtell (shrugs)
But this isn't about Cleveland which you insisted on dragging into the convo.
And why am I not surprised CP was on my tail into this thread...
@#$%^ please, I been in this thread for @#$%^& 3 months, don't get all sad when I crack on your sorry !@# team and it hurts your feelings.
What, we aren't allowed to tell the truth in here?
Did what I say not happen? I make somethin up?
Get outta here with me chasin you anywhere, I been in here all damn day and nobody even mentioned the Cavs yet, we were talkin about D'Antoni and Bron, NewYork Knicks property.
What, we aren't allowed to tell the truth in here?
Did what I say not happen? I make somethin up?
Get outta here with me chasin you anywhere, I been in here all damn day and nobody even mentioned the Cavs yet, we were talkin about D'Antoni and Bron, NewYork Knicks property.
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Everytime I post
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FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT
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Chester, I wish I could sucker punch that damn Oregon duck in your avy. It just pisses me off because it looks so friendly.
Then I guess I'm chasin Allen, and Nas, and JA, and BigMike, and Dirk, and every other dude that post in this thread up to 300 pages.
Don't make me show you what I ate for breakfast and make you run outta here for a week or two like last time. Don't make me......
Don't make me show you what I ate for breakfast and make you run outta here for a week or two like last time. Don't make me......