ZoomSlowik

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Dec 13, 2011 -> 08:22 PM) I don't want to see a Luol Deng-led Bulls team with Carlos Boozer playing the sidekick role. That's 30 wins. Tops. I really don't see your point. Where would the Mavs be without Dirk? Where would the Lakers be without Kobe? What about the Rockets without Hakeem? What about the early Spurs without Duncan? The Bad Boys without Isaiah? You can say that about a lot of teams without their stars.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Dec 13, 2011 -> 08:09 PM) Theo Ratliff was traded mid-season for Mutombo. A 4-time DOPY and the modern day Bill Russell. I'm sorry. The rosters don't look that much different to me. Mutombo played 26 games for them that year. Again, the Bulls point differential was 3 points better. That's a HUGE difference and the reason that was the only year the Sixers won 50 with AI.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Dec 13, 2011 -> 07:53 PM) Who was the second leading scorer on that Sixer team? I bet you most people would have to look it up. Both teams were defensive-oriented and relied heavily on the scoring/playmaking of a guard. It's not a ridiculous comparison at all. That Sixers' team had a point differential of 4.3. The Bulls were at 7.3 last year. And their second best player isn't Theo f***ing Ratliff.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Dec 13, 2011 -> 07:51 PM) I have to agree. 62 wins this season would set some sort of record. JFL nailed me for that mistake already.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Dec 13, 2011 -> 07:31 PM) Then the Heat overachieved. Bulls had second best point differential last year. That's not luck. Don't you mean underachieved? The Heat had a better point differential than the Bulls...

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Dec 13, 2011 -> 06:49 PM) I think somebody is forgetting we're only playing 66 games this season. Unless you've got the Heat going possibly 60-6. Hahaha, good point. I guess it's 40 wins when you convert for the shorter season.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Dec 13, 2011 -> 06:21 PM) lol. My fault. I meant to say at least 3/5 positions in the starting 5. No amount of alcohol in the world would get me thinking Douglas was better or in the same universe as Rose. Besides that, whatever. You make some good points. I think you totally underestimate having Carmelo from jump as opposed to inserting him mid-season. The Bulls have done nothing to improve from last year, and that includes the draft. All I've heard is "youngest MVP ever" that should get better. And I agree that he should get better. Whether that will be enough to trump likely regression from the rest of the team remains to be seen. I think they'll "improve" but it won't manifest itself in the standings. 62 wins is a lot, so it'd be hard to go up. Regular season wins are highly overrated in my opinion. The Heat won fewer games than Lebron's last two Cavs' teams, but I think everyone would agree that the Heat were far more dangerous. I don't really see them "regressing" anywhere but in the standings, and even then I think they can get the #1 seed because they're built for the grind of the regular season. There are two main things I'm looking for from the Bulls for improvement 1) Noah being healthier and more consistent 2) Rose getting more efficient and putting up the same stats in fewer minutes with a better FG%. I'm not a big Rip fan either, but if he can provide any kind of offense that would give them a different dimension as well. That way they can run TWO guys off a billion screens instead of just having Korver do it! I've got the Knicks at about 50, which is a sizeable improvement already but probably 5-10 short of the Heat/Bulls. Carmelo is a damn good player, but he's never seemed to have the same kind of ability to carry an inferior roster like most of the other superstars have. Same goes for Amare, at times he might have been the third best player in Phoenix. They're both incredibly talented but still need to put everything together to reach the elite level as a team, especially since Chandler isn't really the kind of #3 that can pick up the scoring slack.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Dec 13, 2011 -> 05:31 PM) And that's where Tyson comes in. How many all-defensive teams has Dirk made? A dominant defensive big can cover up a lot of other inadequacies. Yes, Tyson will take on more minutes. No reason he shouldn't be able to handle it. He's healthy and, what, 28? The Knicks' bench is not very good, though Shumpert has a chance to be an impact player. But who cares. It's the east and depth doesn't matter that much. They're better than the Bulls at at least 4/5 positions in the starting lineup. That would imply that Tyson is a "dominant" defensive big man and not merely a good one. As I said, Dallas wasn't a dominant defensive team (8th in efficiency) and the net impact from 9/10 to 10/11 in Dallas was only 1.3 points per 100 possessions, and that's with Dallas splitting starts between Erik Dampier, Brendan Haywood and Drew Gooden (what I would call two serviceable defenders and a terrible one). I would think a truly dominant defensive big man (someone like Dwight or Mutombo) would make a far bigger impact than that. That's what the Knicks need considering they were 22nd in defensive efficiency last year. It's not like he has a career with that kind of reputation early, this "defensive stopper" persona is quite recent. He put up PER's below 14 the two years before this and the Mavericks were able to get him for basically nothing. One year later he's some kind of monster because his team won it all. I would also love to know how the Knicks are better than the Bulls at "at least" five positions. They're not remotely close at point guard, so that's already off. I think most would argue that Noah is about as good as Chandler and is younger. Even if the Knicks have the edge at the other 3 (and it's not like they have a world-beater at the 2 either), it's about how the pieces fit together too. The Bulls are an elite defensive team with good depth while the Knicks are a likely mediocre defensive team with no bench. Those things matter, otherwise the Suns would have a ring or two and the Nuggets when they had AI, Carmelo and Camby would have been a lot better. Bottom line is that you're trying to argue that the Knicks are better than/as good as the Bulls even though they won 20 fewer games last year and basically traded Billups for Chandler. That's highly dubious even if you subtract a few from the Bulls.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Dec 13, 2011 -> 04:49 PM) Oh my goodness. Again, Rip is awful. He's old, unathletic, can't create a shot for himself or anybody else, and is a hack defensively. He's better than Keith Bogans so that's an upgrade? lol. The Bulls were not 62 wins good last year. Their division was terrible. It might be terrible again. Who knows. They still have nobody to take the scoring/playmaking load off of Rose. They have nobody that commands a double-team inside. Boozer, even when healthy, is a hack defensively. Athletic front-courts eat him for breakfast. And the Knicks now have the best front-court in the east. Even with the Knicks' deficiencies last year, they're a 50+ win team with 'Melo. Amare/Melo should be even better this year now that they've had a chance to mesh some. Tyson Chandler changes everything. Talk about Dirk all you want. Tyson's elite defensively abilities were the difference between last year's Mavs and all the other chocking teams they've had in the past. Their backcourt is not terrible. Fields > Rip. No question there. I can think of a lot worse PGs than Douglas. Knicks, Bulls can go either way. But the Knicks have improved. The Bulls simply haven't. The major flaw here is that you're talking about Rip and Boozer being "hacks" defensively when comparing them to a team that employs Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony. Those two guys don't even try on defense most of the time. Oh, and the Bulls were #1 in defensive efficiency last year by a solid margin even with Boozer. One player does not make or break a defense (with the exception of Dwight). Dallas was 8th in defensive efficiency last year and 12th the year before, not exactly night and day. Also, the Knicks were 28-26 before they acquired Melo and finished 42-40, so it doesn't seem like he made nearly enough difference to say they'd be a 50-win team if he were there all year. They're probably the 3rd or 4th best team in the East depending on how much Boston ages. They only have five players that are remotely useful and their two frontcourt players have extremely checkered injury histories. One other thing to point out is that Chandler is going to have to play A LOT more minutes than he did last year. He only played 27.8 MPG for Dallas because they actually have depth. The Knicks are screwed if that doesn't increase by a lot, which doesn't help with his injury history.

I'll go on another part of this rant... Knicks' bench right now... PG- Mike Bibby's corpse SG- Iman Shumpert SF- Bill Walker PF- Renaldo Balkman, Jared Jeffries C- Jerome Jordan, Josh Harrelson While I think benches are a bit overrated, that's worse than the Heat. They're going to get out-scored by 25 points/100 possessions when those guys are in.

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 13, 2011 -> 01:49 PM) They remind me of the mid decade Bulls. I think at some point they will make a move to get someone. Not tier 1 superstar, but someone to get people excited in indiana. Sort of what I was thinking. Those Bulls were probably better defensively, but I think these Pacers have more offensive punch. Granger and West are both fringe-stars that can score, Hibbert has some touch down low, Collison is a decent all-around point, and they'll have some scorers off the bench with Crawford (yes, I'm assuming George starts for defense, and they have plenty of options with the first unit) and Hansbrough.

QUOTE (Palehosefan @ Dec 13, 2011 -> 01:40 PM) To me, that's a .500 lineup at best. But at least they would be competitive. I'd say add about 5 wins since they play in the East.

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 13, 2011 -> 01:34 PM) Pacers having an interesting offseason. SG-Crawford SF Granger PF West C Hibbert Very interesting. That West signing was pretty amazing assuming he's healthy. They're not quite a contender, but I think they're around the 5th best team in the East as things are structured right now and I could see them pushing the Bulls or Heat to six games if they make the second round.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 13, 2011 -> 12:59 PM) They can't hold all of that this year...and they're going to have this Deron Williams guy to deal with. $30 mil in cap space isn't enough to max-offer both of them. Deron's $17.8 million player option is already counted against their total. They'd have damn near enough space for two other maxes BESIDES Deron. Edit- However, my math was slightly off because the total didn't count a couple of options/qualifying offers properly. Their salary/holds would leave them about $23 million in space and it already includes Deron, Lopez (qualifying offer), Morrow and a couple other players. That's enough for Dwight and another $6-7 mil or so depending on what the max ends up at, plus if they had to they could out-right Lopez and make another $4.1 mil in space. New Jersey is well positioned to have plenty of room for Dwight and still have enough left over to add another role player or two.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Dec 13, 2011 -> 12:54 PM) Great point. And really, how attractive would the Nets be? At that point Deron will be whoring himself out to the league trying to land in the best possible spot. Really, couldn't the Magic have as much a case as the Nets to sign both players? If they are serious about winning, they could rock a buyout to make enough room for both. Orlando isn't remotely close to having room for two max contracts. Even with Gilbert Amnesty'd, and not counting Dwight or Glen Davis (contract figure not determined for Davis yet), the rest of their roster is slated to make $36 million. Even if they could wipe out all of that money with buyouts (which I don't think they can), that's a really big check to write to MAYBE have a shot at Deron Williams.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 13, 2011 -> 12:51 PM) If the Magic are smart, they read this, and realize...none of those teams will be under the cap far enough to offer anything close to a max contract next year...Except Maybe the Nets, and it would be really pushing it for them to do so. Thus, if Dwight Howard wants to play for any of those teams other than Orlando, it's going to be really hard for him to have a team around him, and it's going to cost him $30-$40 million, and that's in NJ (depending of course on what the Nets do this year in order to fill out their roster and get to the salary floor). The Nets are currently on track to have almost $30 million in cap space if (more like when) they anmesty Travis Outlaw.

Still dumb. Most flops don't make nearly as much money as Kwame has.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Dec 12, 2011 -> 06:01 PM) The real question would be how this effects their interest in CP3. It does seem odd given their pursuit of Paul. Sterling doesn't seem like the type to pay Williams $17 million to go away either (at least I'm pretty sure they'd have to buy out his player option too).

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 12, 2011 -> 04:23 PM) I don't understand why people are so up in arms about this. The league (owners) own the team. The league (owners) pay the salaries of the various people associated with the team. The league (owners) have to consider whether it's fair to allow a team like the Lakers to get another superstar to the detriment of the league (owners). The problem was the league pretending that NO was going to be run without some kind of oversight from Stern. It should have made known up front that the guy who works on behalf of the owners is going to control and manage the franchise owned by the owners collectively. The bolded part. Do you think Memphis really gave a s*** when they traded Gasol to the Lakers? That's not a team issue, that's a league issue that is creeping into the management of the team. It's a colossal conflict of interest.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Dec 12, 2011 -> 02:09 PM) So they would've received Gordon and the pick, correct? I'm asking because I thought that's what I heard on the radio just now. The way it's worded in the ESPN report on it is that the sticking point is that they're demanding both Gordon and the pick, not Bledsoe. They make it sound like the Clippers are offering Bledsoe, Aminu, Kaman and either the pick or Gordon.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 11, 2011 -> 03:32 PM) If I read that right, his current team can sign him to an extension right now, but they just can't trade him for 6 months if they do so? They can only add two years to his contract, not the five that they could if he declares for free agency.

Totally different topic: I love the Pacers signing David West for 2-20. He's easily worth that if he's healthy, and if he isn't healthy they're not totally screwed due to the short length and reasonable price. He also fills a need as they needed another big and another player that can put the ball in the basket.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 11, 2011 -> 03:21 PM) Interesting, didn't know that, good point. Yeah, it's a little odd to me, it seems to encourage guys to wait to hit free agency rather than signing an extension. I get the extend-and-trade related limitations, but I don't see why his current team can't sign him to a full extension right now.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 11, 2011 -> 12:40 PM) Well clearly. No deal happens if he doesn't sign the extension right then. Which is something that isn't likely to happen because of changes to the CBA. From the New York times (about Paul, but the facts are the same): It just doesn't make sense for these players to sign contracts before or during the season.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Dec 11, 2011 -> 12:45 AM) Now I wonder, if the Magic do indeed get Bynum and Gasol + something else for Dwight and Hedo, does that make them a contender still in the East, if they decide to hang onto both of them? Do they ship off Gasol and Bynum for young assets and try to rebuild? In either case, this forces New Jersey to improve their offer. Brook Lopez and a couple of draft picks ain't going to get it done here. I have to say, Dallas did very well to get Odom for nothing as well. He'll allow them to give Dirk much more of a rest during the regular season which can only help them come playoff time. I think they could be similar to last year where they were a 4/5 seed type team. Gasol is still a damn good player and when he's healthy Bynum can be a force as well. Their perimeter players wouldn't be totally awful either (I'd assume you'd start Nelson, Redick and Richardson). I'm not sure I'd go that route in the west where the competition is a bit stiffer, but they could be in that middle tier with New York, Atlanta and Indiana. And I agree on Odom, I have no idea why LA would give away Odom for basically nothing. He's not a star, but he's an extremely good glue player.