Tuesday, October 26, 2004

NBA Eastern Conference Preview

Teams my LMRA coed team could beat.

15. Charlotte Bobcats
They’re an expansion team. They don’t really count.

14. New Jersey Nets
Okay seriously. It took me ten minutes to figure out which team was the worst. There was that many to choose from.

They have two good players on this team: Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson. Jason Kidd is coming off of serious knee surgery, and has already been skipping practices because he wants to be traded. Richard Jefferson is barely a good player…I like him, and if he’s you’re third best player you have a good team, but when he’s BY FAR your second best player…and really your best player because Kidd is just going to cash it in…yikes.

Do you remember in Major League 2 when Robert Dorn buys the team, and then admits like two games into the season that he didn’t have enough money to buy the team, so he has to get rid of all the good players because he can’t afford to pay them? Well, that’s EXACTLY what happened to the Nets this offseason. So you can imagine how “motivated” they will be this year. And let’s remember…it’s New Jersey…not like the fans give a crap anyway.

One more thing…over/under on number of games Zo plays before he goes down, but still refuses to retire: 15.

13. Atlanta Hawks.
I love the fact that Larry Bird sent Al Harrington here from Indiana. “Oh, you want to complain about not starting? You want to shoot more? Fine. HAVE FUN IN ATLANTA, BITCH! TEN PEOPLE ARE IN ATTENDENCE EACH GAME! THEY’RE SO BAD ROYALE IVEY IS ON THE ROSTER! DON’T FUCK WITH LARRY BIRD, BITCH!!!!” I’m telling you, Larry Legend is a bad ass. I would never mess with him.

Al Harrington isn’t their best player. Antoine Walker…yes, the Antoine Walker who was on the Mavs last year…is their best player. If any fans show up and sit on the front row, they had better deck, cause ’Toines three point bricks are DEADLY! The only reason I think the Hawks will do better than the Nets is that at least the Hawks’ best player will be happy (because he can shoot as much as he wants).

12. Washington Wizards
The saddest thing here isn’t that the Wizards are in twelfth place; it’s that they aren’t any lower.

11. Chicago Bulls
I’ll say this in fairness to Chicago: they had a good offseason. They are the opposite of the other teams in this section: they are moving up instead of down. Unfortunately, they were way, way down.

My biggest problem with Chicago is they have a glut of talent at two positions. Kirk Heinrich, Ben Gordon, Chris Duhon, Adrian Griffin, and Luol Deng all pretty much play the same position. It’s going to take them a while to work that out. Also, this is the last chance for Tyson Chandler and Eddie Curry, because of a man most of you (but not Chris) has never heard of: Gary Trent. Now I remember watching Gary Trent play in college in the MAC. He’s a MAN. If anyone can teach those two talented sissy’s how to play some basketball, it’s him. If they can’t…kick them out of the league. Personally, I’m going with the latter, not the former.

They’ll be bad, but there is at least some hope.

Teams that really suck, but they aren’t embarrassingly bad, but wow there are a lot of them. .

10. Orlando Magic
It’s the same old story: “If Grant Hill plays, the Magic could be pretty good this year!” Yeah, well, we’ve been saying that for what, six years now? Since this is the first year I’m writing an NBA preview, this will probably be the year Grant actually comes back and plays for a full season. But until that day, I’m not counting on him.

I’m having a hard time with this entire section. These teams could finish in any order in this grouping. There’s something intriguing to me about this Orlando team…a starting lineup of Steve Francis, Cutino Mobley, Grant Hill, Dwight Howard, and Kelvin Cato isn’t bad on paper, in the East. They even have Hedo Turkoglu, Jameer Nelson, Pat Garrity, and Tony Battie coming off the bench. Man, as I write this, I’m starting to have second thoughts about tenth…

We’ll see. It doesn’t all depend on Hill…Howard, the first pick of the draft straight out of high school, needs to give them something; Cuttino Mobley—who has taken over for Antoine Walker as Michael Pondrom’s Most Overrated Player in the NBA award winner—needs to not just sit there and jack up threes all day; and one of the three centers—Cato, Battie, or Andrew DeClerq—needs to not suck. That being said, though, they desperately need Hill’s leadership and team style of play. Without it, this will be a team of one on one showboaters that will suck. With it, they MIGHT be an uptempo, young team, that will lose some games badly, but do pretty well in a bad conference.

That’s why I went with tenth. There’s just too many “If they…” to make me put them higher. However, they might be fun to watch, and they might surprise us. One of the few Eastern teams I’m a bit excited to see play.

9. New York Knicks
I can’t wait to watch this team play. That’s right kids…it’s time for your favorite part of the show…THE BULLET POINT LIST!!!! YAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!
 There are few more egotistical and disgusting people in the world than Isiah Thomas. So watching him TOTALLY DESTROY ANOTHER franchise is hilarious to me. Seriously, how many chances will he get to fail? This guy literally put an entire LEAGUE out of business (the CBA). Fantastic. Keep embarrassing yourself, Isiah.
 Stephon Marbury and Jamal Crawford are both on this team. Two shoot first, selfish point guards who don’t try to play any defense. And aren’t great shooters. And are ego-maniacs (especially Marbury). I seriously think they will get in a fight at least once this season.
 Vin Baker was RESIGNED to play on this team. Not only that, but the Knicks had a shot at landing Erik Dampier, and decided to sign Alcoholic Vin instead! I don’t even have a joke here. Let’s just move on.
 Sorry Knick fans: Allan Houston and his 100 million dollar contract did not die. They’re hurt, of course, but still alive, well, and on the bench/salary cap. Wow. Thank God I hate New York…otherwise I would now light myself on fire.

Man I hope Orlando beats this team out. Number of times during the preview I’ve now thought “Man, I wish I could pick this teams to finish LOWER”: 4. We’ll start keeping track of that.

8. Cleveland Cavaliers
They have a halfway decent team. Combine that with the fact that David Stern will do ANYTHING to get Lebron James in the playoffs, and I think they’ll grab the 8th seed.

7. Toronto Raptors
That scale I was talking about? It just blew up with this team. Seriously, I’d written a whole schpeel about how the Raptors and Vince Carter were losers (Here’s a snippet: Vince Carter and the Toronto Raptors are losers. I’m sorry to say it, but it’s true. In the “tight playoff races for the 7th and 8th seeds”, they always end up finishing ninth, even when they have the talent to finish much higher.), and then realized that I had forgotten about the Knicks and Cavs.

If Chris Bosh continues to improve, if Vince stays healthy, if Jalen Rose doesn’t act like an idiot, blah blah blah, you know what? Why am I picking this team ahead of Orlando? Don’t be surprised at all if Vince finds a way to lead Toronto gloriously to ninth place again.

And yes, I am bitter. I wanted him to be so good. He could have been so good. He was so great to watch! And they have purple uniforms! It’s my favorite color! Stop making fun of me.

6. Philadelphia 76ers
Unbelievable that this team makes the playoffs. Not only that, but in SIXTH FRICKING PLACE? I’m about to have a seizure. Seriously, I’ve already started crying. This is embarrassing. I feel so sorry for Memphis right now (remember in my Western Conference Preview how I said they’d finish fourth? Yeah…you see, I thought I was exaggerating).

Say this about Allen: that little bastard won’t die. Literally since he started getting arrested for inciting riots in high school (no, I’m not kidding) he has proven to be a survivor. Every time you think he’s done, he bounces back. And he definitely needs to bounce back from the Olympics this summer (not his fault! I think he actually did a decent job over there. He tried to be a leader and a team player, and was not absolutely horrible at it. Allen is what he is, and a great leader of men and team player he is not, but that doesn’t mean he is a terrible person or player. It just means he isn’t a great one…maybe not even a very good one.)

Well, even though he is a horrible player to watch, Glenn Robinson does contribute 20 and 7 a night. I agree that Samuel Dalembert will have a breakout year this year, Kenny Thomas is a solid power forward (especially in the East), and Corliss Williamson and Brian Skinner were both good pickups for them.

I think that seizure is coming. My body is shaking as I type this. The count is up to 6.

5. Boston Celtics
I hope Lockheed Martin doesn’t do a drug test on me, because SURELY I would fail it. I have just picked the Boston Celtics to finish fifth. That is one spot off of home court in the playoffs. That means there are ten teams worse than them. That’s it kids…the apocalypse is here…time to start running naked through the streets.

This must be the Sports Guy’s (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/simmons/index) fault. Surely he’s tricked me into believing Boston can be this good. They can’t. I mean, I’m sorry, but their draft was not that good. I keep hearing how great Tony Allen looks…but I watched him play a lot at OSU, and he’s Even Stephen. He hurts you as much as he helps you. Delonte West as an NBA point guard? Please tell me that the NBA point guard position has not slipped that far. Al Jefferson supposedly has been fantastic in summer league play, and has all the talent in the world. He’s still coming straight out of high school.

It’s not just the draft. They gave some guy named Mark Blount $40 something million this offseason! Ricky Davis is on this team! He’s certifiably insane! They are COUNTING ON Raef LaFrentz! And Jiri Welsch! And Gary Payton! Gary Payton is supposed to turn his career around on this team!

And yet…Paul Pierce is a winner. He is a great player, and he finds a way to win. He’s the opposite of Vince Carter. That’s all there is to it. He’s the only Kansas player who has ever really panned out to anything. He’s the exception to the rule.

I mean, this team made the playoffs last year. How…well, I know how. They shouldn’t have, but they did it. They did it because Paul Pierce is a great player, and is a winner. He’ll never get the credit he deserves, because his team’s suck, but he should go down as a great one. So, since this team made the playoffs, and improved a little, and the rest of the bottom of the East stayed the same or got worse, sure, I’ll put them here. May God have mercy on my soul.

Final count on teams I wish I could put lower: 7.

4. Milwaukee Bucks
This was a team that played hard, played smart, and overachieved last year. However, they didn’t improve in the offseason. In fact, they got worse, because they lost TJ Ford, perhaps for the year, perhaps for his career, to a neck injury. I also think they will miss Brian Skinner a lot.

So this team could easily drop a lot further. I hope they keep the same magic they had last year, because I love Michael Redd, and of course Desmond. Root for this team because as a sports fan you should want them to win. They are good guys who play the game the right way. We’ll see though…

Thank God…some good teams.

3. Miami Heat
Here’s the problem with this team: remember what I said about Houston? No? Well fine, I’ll tell you: “It’s hard to win in this league with only 3.5 starters.” Yes, the Heat got Shaq, but they gave up a LOT to get him. Personally, I would have played hardball, and hung onto Caron Butler. But whatever. Let’s take a peek at the starting lineup.

Shaq is going to be awesome this year. He is actually in good shape for once; he looks great. Dwayne Wade will continue to improve on his outstanding rookie season. Eddie Jones will be solid, as usual. So there are three starters.



Yep. That’s it kids. Three starters. Now, two of those three are unbelievable players. But it’s still only three starters. Hey, in the East, that’s good enough to easily get them third, maybe even second if Indiana chokes (always a possibility). But no NBA titles here.


2. Indiana Pacers
Wow. This team has a chance to take over the Blazer’s title as “crackhead crazy team of the league”. Stephen Jackson, Ron Artest, and Jamaal Tinsley all on one team? Seriously? Through in Scott Pollard’s crackah ass? Wow! This is going to be awesome!

Only one problem: Larry Legend runs this team, and as Al Harrington found out the hard way, he rules with an Iron Fist. So I think he and Rick Carlisle will be able to keep everyone (somewhat) in line.

Other than that, pretty much the same talented team that was there last year.

1. Detroit Pistons
The defending champions are pretty much the same as last year. Should coast to the top of the East. They were lucky last year; they matched up PERFECTLY to the Lakers. They would not have defeated the Spurs or Wolves.

There are only two problems with the Pistons: 1) Derrick Coleman. He’s a cancer who’s destroyed every team he’s ever been on. “But Larry Brown has somewhat handled him before!” you say. “Okay,” I say, “I’ll give you that.” But that leads me to point number 2) Larry Brown. I seriously think he is crazy. Like, I wonder if he has mental control-freak issue problems. Can’t you see him stalking women? And after the Olympics this summer…man, I kind of see some kind of mental breakdown. Like how Don Nelson had a nervous breakdown when he was coaching the Knicks, and then tricked everyone into thinking he was better, and then has been running the Mavs like a madman ever since. I can see Larry Brown going nuts and going full blown Nazi on us this year. But I think his assistants should be able to somewhat keep him in line.

So the Pistons win the East. Big frickin deal. The East is so bad it almost makes me want to watch college basketball. Thanks God the West is so entertaining. 

There’s my previews everybody…feel free to make fun of me at the end of the season!

And remember…the NBA…it’s FANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNTASTIC!!!!!!

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