Nba Off Season

[bigant1986]

Lots of moving pieces as a die hard Celtics fan I think they made the right move to speed up the rebuild. I'd say 6 teams could legit win it Miami,Bulls,OKC,Houston,Brooklyn,Spurs. Lebron will get this third. Thoughts?

 

[Jewbacca]

Well, first off, let me congratulate you as a die hard Celtics fan on luring Brad Stevens away from Butler. I won't go into specifics for obvious reasons, but what I can tell you is that you just acquired the most intelligent, personable and honest young coach in the game, and I can vouch for that first hand. Of course, the NBA is a different animal than college, so his success will largely hinge on Danny Ainge and his personnel moves and draft management over the next few years, but I promise you that Brad will get 100% out of the players he's given.

As for the rest of the league, Miami will remain the class of the Eastern Conference next season, and so long as Rose is back to 100% (as I understand he is), the Bulls will definitely have something to say about the balance of power in the East. And don't count the Pacers out. They return a young core of starters, led by the re-signing of David West, who's one of the most underrated leaders and tough post players in the league. The Pacers - Bulls battle should be one to watch next season. OKC will obviously return to contention with Westbrook back and healthy, and the Spurs, while aged a bit, always seem to find a way to remain in contention.

On the other end of the spectrum, I'm just not sold on Houston and Dwight Howard. I think he's a bench killer, and the pressure will be on them early, as they have one year and then they'll have enormous salary cap issues with escalators in Lin and Hardin's contracts, among others. They'll be good, but I'll be surprised if they make the conference semi's. Same with Brooklyn. Despite being loaded with name talent, they're going to be long in the tooth and have a $75M luxury tax bill to pay, not to mention a rookie head coach with no coaching experience at all. Yeah, yeah, I know, Mark Jackson has done well in Golden State, but Mark and Kidd are different guys. There aren't enough possessions in a game for all the guys on the Nets who'll want the ball, and if you pass the ball on that squad, you won't get it back, so I foresee chemistry issues. Again, another 1st round playoff exit, 2nd round at best.

Finally, the Clippers intrigue me with Doc Rivers' arrival, but I'm still not sold on Chris Paul and Griffin as a core. It'll be interesting to see if Doc can instill a "team first" ethic out there. If so, they have the talent to reach the finals, but in the end, I'm with you. Lebron gets his 3-peat.

 

[JustChiilin]

interesting thread.....  yes next season seems to be wide open probably more so in quite some time... It will be a big challenge for the Heat to 3peat. Can Wade hold up? he seems to be on the down side and  will Ray Allen still have some gas left in the tank. Indeed Indiana will be tough with their your core back who played the heat very well. With Rose back the Bulls will indeed challenge to be in discussion of the top 3 teams.

The West seems to be wide open...  OK, Clippers, Spurs, Golden State Houston & Memphis. Don't think the latter two teams will complete but with Howard and Hardin it will be interesting to see how they play together. Overall can't count the Spurs out as they made some nice free agent signings keep there core together and have some young talent emerging such as Denny Green.

Jewy made a good point in regards to the Clippers.. They have made some great signings with Dudley and Redick to go along with CP3 and Griffin. As good a guard as CP3 is he has yet to demonstrate he can take a team to Championship level. Griffin needs to prove he has game other than throwing down monster Dunks. Signing Doc could be the most important signing as they now have a great coach. Interesting to see if he can mold that team to the elite level to challenge and get past the Spurs.

just my two cents....

 

[bigant1986]

I've always loved watching Butler and mainly because of Stevens great hire. It's going to be interesting when Rondo comes back if  he plays well they may ship him out. The Bulls and Nets are neck and neck. The Nets are stacked they somehow signed AK47 to a one year 3.1 million deal after he opted out of a 10 million dollar, Blatche and Evans are extremely good role players. I think either of those teams could beat the Heat and obviously the Pacers have proven that. Heat still win it all because of Lebron and I think it'll be Houston and OKC in the WC finals.

 

[bigant1986]

The Pacers trading for Scola was a great move. Also, cj watson is an upgrade over dj augustin, I'm not counting much on Granger but if he can be a factor the Pacers might do it and even without him it's Paul George's team, Lebron is the best player in the world but he can only do so much. The Spurs had that won in game 6 this year. Whoever comes out of the East is going to win it. Heat, Pacers, Bulls. I'll be rooting for the Nets because I've got nothing but love for Pierce and KG but they have their work cut out for them. Bottom line it's been a while since the east is the obvious class of the NBA

 

[Dkaramazov]

Just wondering if there are any Knicks fans on here and if so what do you think needs to be done to compete with the top teams. Been a huge Knicks fan all of my life and saw how close they were with winning it all or going to the finals multiple times during Patrick Ewing's reign there.

Unfortunately, at the time the Knicks were great was the same time that Michael Jordan played. Lol! And we all know how that went. Being a Knicks fan, I hated Michael Jordan for killing them time after time. I have to say though, Jordan was the best to have ever played the game, in my humble opinion.

 

[Jewbacca]

Just wondering if there are any Knicks fans on here and if so what do you think needs to be done to compete with the top teams. Been a huge Knicks fan all of my life and saw how close they were with winning it all or going to the finals multiple times during Patrick Ewing's reign there.

Unfortunately, at the time the Knicks were great was the same time that Michael Jordan played. Lol! And we all know how that went. Being a Knicks fan, I hated Michael Jordan for killing them time after time. I have to say though, Jordan was the best to have ever played the game, in my humble opinion.

Well, I'm a life-long Pacers fan, so you're probably asking the wrong guy, but maybe they could start by bringing this guy back, LOL!

 

[Dkaramazov]

Well, I'm a life-long Pacers fan, so you're probably asking the wrong guy, but maybe they could start by bringing this guy back, LOL!

Haha! Oh you're killing me. Pacers and Knicks had to have been one of the greatest rivalries in the NBA back then. And damn Starks, he ruined it for us season in the finals I think. All I think about when I hear the Pacers, is Reggie Miller's 20 points in about 30 seconds. I know you remember that. I'm sure you're grinning from ear to ear Jewy lol!

 

[Jewbacca]

Haha! Oh you're killing me. Pacers and Knicks had to have been one of the greatest rivalries in the NBA back then. And damn Starks, he ruined it for us season in the finals I think. All I think about when I hear the Pacers, is Reggie Miller's 20 points in about 30 seconds. I know you remember that. I'm sure you're grinning from ear to ear Jewy lol!

You know it brother, LOL! In all seriousness, that was, for me anyway, the most enjoyable rivalry I've ever witnessed as a fan, in any sport. I loved the Reggie Miller era Pacer teams, and my ex-wife and I used to go to quite a few road games, in addition to having season tickets, particularly before my oldest was born in 1996. Anyway, we were actually at the Garden for Game 5 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals when Reggie had the magic 25 point 4th quarter barrage that you mentioned, 8 of which were in the final 10 seconds or so as I recall. That was one incredible week sports-wise. At the time, a large (now defunct) financial services company we did business was primary sponsor of an Indy Car team, and they had given us race day pit and garage passes, so we were either at the track or at Games 3 and 4 of the Knicks - Pacers series that entire weekend. My hockey career had just ended the prior season, so I knew a lot of Ranger players at the time, and one of them hooked us up with Game 5 tickets, so we flew to New York on the Tuesday following the race and were probably 15 or 20 rows behind Spike when it all unfolded. I've had the good fortune of being a part of some incredible sports moments, but man, that game, and series, was just awesome. Truly one for the ages, despite you guys ultimately taking it in 7. That was a tough one to swallow, but we got revenge the following season! I could go on and on all night about that NBA era in general, which was really the last era that I really enjoyed the NBA. The league started changing a lot in the late 90's, and just hasn't been the same since, at least in my opinion, but I'm admittedly old-fashioned where hoops is concerned, and still remember watching Roger Brown, Mel Daniels, Billy Keller and the rest of the Bobby Leonard coached ABA Pacers when I was a kid.

On a positive note though, I do enjoy this Pacers team that Larry Bird has built over the past few years, and barring injury and / or Danny Granger's return posing a chemistry issue, I think they have a real shot at contending against the Heat, Bulls and your Knicks this year. It's going to take all anyone has to get past Miami, but regardless, this latest Pacers group is really team-first oriented, extremely unselfish and are great in the community, which is great to see again after a long, dark and boring period of years following the "Malice at the Palace", which took us from a serious title contender in Reggie's final years to a rebuilding project with one Ron Artest punch. Or, rather, a "Metta World Peace" punch. What a strange one he was. Nicest guy you'd ever meet off the court, but once he hit the hardwood, he was a violent nut case. Anyway, I'm looking forward to this season after we handled our business against you guys last year, and gave Miami all they could handle. It should be a good one, and I'm looking forward to seeing your boy Chris Copeland in blue and gold this season, LOL!

Great memories my man. Thanks for the great post!

 

[kittykat]

Larry Bird One of all time greats......When he played for the Celtics they were a KICK asss team many many years ago....I have always liked Larry. Bird growing up used to watch them all the time.......

 

[Jewbacca]

Well, it's not the NBA off season any longer, but this seemed like the best place for this. I was looking through some photos on my phone from the Pacer's season home opener the other night, and it immediately struck me when I saw this one of the Pacer's radio play by play man (left) and arena PA announcer (right) that they're a dead ringer for Walter and Gus on Breaking Bad, LOL All I know is, if these two show up at your door tonight, you BETTER have candy!