The "Official" NBA 08/09 Season Thread!

phatucini

Instead of keeping those threads just about one Team let's try to have some nice discussions about the whole league. So there's less limitations and we can have a more active thread.

I for myself are a fan of the NY Knicks and expect to have another disappointing Season ahead of me. I know they acquired D'Antoni and he seems to be one of the better Coaches the last couple of years but we hadDon Nelson, Larry Brown and Lenny Wilkens in the last couple of years and they were known as some of the best coaches at the time. They all failed miserable so I don't expect that to change.

LONGRD

The team across the Hudson River has some nice young talent on the squad. Vince Carter is pretty the seasoned-veteran on the team, we'll see how he leads them. I'm surprised they didn't trade him as well.

Boston will most likely take the Atlantic Conference again, and a good shot going deep into the playoffs as well.

phatucini

I have to say that I like Houston's chances in the Wild West, as Artest will flourish under Adelman and he doesn't have to worry about scoring as much (with T-Mac & Yao present) and can concentrate on filling the gasps.

LONGRD

phatucini wrote:

I have to say that I like Houston's chances in the Wild West, as Artest will flourish under Adelman and he doesn't have to worry about scoring as much (with T-Mac & Yao present) and can concentrate on filling the gasps.

The West is weird. There's so many high-scoring teams without any defense with exception to the Spurs- and they're the only one who won a title the last few years from the West.

All the teams that won a title from '03-'08 are known to have a good defense. The Heat title was more to do with the shitty defense of Dallas Mavs. LOL

T-Mac and Yao have to play more games and stay healthy. They'll probably in the top 4 West teams though. The Spurs might be too old now.

We'll see what happens in November.

phatucini

I think that the Mavericks are going to be the Team with the biggest downside next season in the West although I like Nowitki & Howard. I think that Kidd, Stackhouse, Terry, Jones & Magloire (just to name a few) have their best days behind them and they will have big time problem keeping up with the high speed in the league/west.

LONGRD

phatucini wrote:

I think that the Mavericks are going to be the Team with the biggest downside next season in the West although I like Nowitki & Howard. I think that Kidd, Stackhouse, Terry, Jones & Magloire (just to name a few) have their best days behind them and they will have big time problem keeping up with the high speed in the league/west.

Yeah those Texas teams are pretty old too. L.A. pretty outplayed the Spurs last playoff with their speed and youth.

I like to see how Portland does with Oden on the floor, they probably the youngest team in the league but with a lot of good young players though.

phatucini

I'll have to say that it is another proof of how weak the East is, that just by signing Elton Brand the 76ers end up being Contenders in the East after barely making the Playoffs last year. The Pistons will probably be a serious candidate as well, even if they're are not as sharp as they used to be 3 to 4 years ago.

polaris

LongRd. wrote:

The team across the Hudson River has some nice young talent on the squad. Vince Carter is pretty the seasoned-veteran on the team, we'll see how he leads them. I'm surprised they didn't trade him as well.

Boston will most likely take the Atlantic Conference again, and a good shot going deep into the playoffs as well.

nobody wanted wince - especially at 10 mill a year ... no team led by number 15 will ever win anything ...

phatucini

I wouldn't buy anyone that's got a huge contract & weak knees. It doesn't add up, not for the couple of Highlight Dunks ... why doesn't anyone trade for Stephon Marbury?

markymark550

I pull for the Bobcats and expect the results for 08/09 to be about the same as last year. I think the record will be within +/- 4 games. Injuries and bad coaching hurt them last year. I'm not entirely thrilled with recent draft picks (May, Morrison, Ajinca), but you gotta make do with what you have....

Wobbie

phatucini wrote:

Instead of keeping those threads just about one Team let's try to have some nice discussions about the whole league.

Do we have to???

suns rival

will the clippers survive the west? they added depth to their team despite losing elton brand to the 76ers.

suns rival

LongRd. wrote:

The team across the Hudson River has some nice young talent on the squad. Vince Carter is pretty the seasoned-veteran on the team, we'll see how he leads them. I'm surprised they didn't trade him as well.

i dont think vince carter can lead his team deep into the playoffs. i thought he's not inspired to play as he was before.

South of Seattle

Watch out NBA!!!!!

He's Baaaack!

suns rival

South of Seattle wrote:

Watch out NBA!!!!!

He's Baaaack!

the question is will oden be the same old greg oden....

South of Seattle

suns rival wrote:

the question is will oden be the same old greg oden....

Nope, he will be better! He has been working out non-stop and it frickin' enormous right now (muscle wise) It's gonna be like Young Shaq down low.

suns rival

South of Seattle wrote:

Nope, he will be better! He has been working out non-stop and it frickin' enormous right now (muscle wise) It's gonna be like Young Shaq down low.

yep. it's that's the case then it'll be better for the blazers. they'll also be a team to watch in the west.

LONGRD

suns rival wrote:

i dont think vince carter can lead his team deep into the playoffs. i thought he's not inspired to play as he was before.

yeah, that's why I said, I was surprise they didn't trade him along with Jefferson. But like other posters have said, he's pretty hard to trade since not many teams want him anymore. He didn't do himself any favors either for his last stint in Toronto. People there(the few that cares about basketball) still thinks of him as a baby.

aNiMaL

The NBA is dead to me. :(

South of Seattle

aNiMaL wrote:

The NBA is dead to me. :(

Come on down. I'll take ya to a game

Benzor

As a Knicks fan all we can hope for is to lose as much as possible and to somehow trade ZBO

South of Seattle

While working as an assistant with the U.S. Olympic team, McMillan has worked closely with Orlando's All-Star center, Dwight Howard. Jensen said McMillan told him that Oden is more powerful than Howard. And McMillan last month said he thinks Oden is more powerful than Shawn Kemp was at age 20.

phatucini

South of Seattle wrote:

While working as an assistant with the U.S. Olympic team, McMillan has worked closely with Orlando's All-Star center, Dwight Howard. Jensen said McMillan told him that Oden is more powerful than Howard. And McMillan last month said he thinks Oden is more powerful than Shawn Kemp was at age 20.

He might be more powerful than Howard & Kemp but I don't think he is as athletic as either one of them and definetly not as explosive as Kemp at age 20. Even Shaq is still more powerful than anyone in the league, but pure strength isn't everything when you got quick guards flying around your head (especially in the West!). But I'm pretty sure Oden will be impressive and might win R.O.Y.

suns rival

phatucini wrote:

But I'm pretty sure Oden will be impressive and might win R.O.Y.

yeah. with the hype of the 2008 rookie class... but wait there's still oden from the 2007 class who's also a rookie.

South of Seattle

phatucini wrote:

He might be more powerful than Howard & Kemp but I don't think he is as athletic as either one of them and definetly not as explosive as Kemp at age 20. Even Shaq is still more powerful than anyone in the league, but pure strength isn't everything when you got quick guards flying around your head (especially in the West!). But I'm pretty sure Oden will be impressive and might win R.O.Y.

Yeah, Kemp was an athletic freak. If he wouldn't have snorted 3 kilos of coke and had 34 babies he could have been a top 50 all time player.

suns rival

South of Seattle wrote:

Yeah, Kemp was an athletic freak. If he wouldn't have snorted 3 kilos of coke and had 34 babies he could have been a top 50 all time player.

why didn't the sonics retire kemp's no. 40 or even payton's no. 20?

South of Seattle

suns rival wrote:

why didn't the sonics retire kemp's no. 40 or even payton's no. 20?

Answer: Because there are no Sonics! :(

suns rival

South of Seattle wrote:

Answer: Because there are no Sonics! :(

no. sonics retain their team history, logos, retired jerseys, etc.

payton & kemp retired way before the team moved to okc.

South of Seattle

suns rival wrote:

no. sonics retain their team history, logos, retired jerseys, etc.

Not exactly http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-33-18/Clay-Bennett-Didn-t-Exactly-Give-Up-that-Sonic-Legacy.html

Payton deserves to be retired. Shawn Kemp is questionable.

phatucini

South of Seattle wrote:

Not exactly http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-33-18/Clay-Bennett-Didn-t-Exactly-Give-Up-that-Sonic-Legacy.html

Payton deserves to be retired. Shawn Kemp is questionable.

Kemp definetly deserves to be retired in Seattle should they ever get another NBA franchise. The fact that he had an awful career afterwards in Cleveland, Portland & Orlando doesn't really matter. He was the best Power Forward in the league for a couple of years (along with the Mailman) you can't take that away from him. He's probably questionable as a person off the court but who cares.

polaris

LongRd. wrote:

yeah, that's why I said, I was surprise they didn't trade him along with Jefferson. But like other posters have said, he's pretty hard to trade since not many teams want him anymore. He didn't do himself any favors either for his last stint in Toronto. People there(the few that cares about basketball) still thinks of him as a baby.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/attendance

toronto's 9th in league attendance - NJ is 21st ... i think there are more then a few who care ...