NBA Prediction - BUCKS win the East!!

In My Humble Opinion
1

Alright time for a bold prediction for the NBA Season.

My Milwaukee Bucks will win the East. Barring injury we are at least 10 deep. Still need an inside scoring presence but damn have we got the shooters. Plus they are finally buying into Karl’s defensive philosophy.
Ray Allen
Ready to take his place with the elite.
Glenn Robinson
Can score on anyone, Just that everyone scores on him.
Sam Cassell
It all starts with the point guard. Cassell can take over a game.
Tim Thomas
Tim is just scratching the surface of his potential
Lindsey Hunter
Why thank you Detroit… Were you drunk or clearing cap space?
Darvin Ham
You want energy, defense and rebounding!!!
Ervin Johnson
Shot blocker but doesn’t throw down the dunk like he should.
Joel Przybilla
Meet “The Eraser. Perfect for Karl’s trapping defense.
Jason Caffey
Solid #4 allows us to bang a little more and work the ball inside.
Scott Williams
Overachieved last year or finally started trying you tell me.
Plus 2 open slots barring a trade.

That being said they may fall flat on their face but from what I have seen this is the best team we have put on the floor since the the 80’s and it might be even better than those teams.

So let’s here it Doper’s what are your assessments of the Bucks and your own teams chances to compete?

2

Bwah-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha!!

Seriously though, no chance. My Phoenix Suns, or my hometown Seattle Sonics have a better chance of taking the east, and they play in the west.

Even assuming that the deal to bring Rony Seikaly to the Heat falls through, Pat Rileys team is still far better top-to-bottom than the Bucks.

Second place will probably still go to the Knicks, assuming that TPTB don’t make some idiotic Camby-Sprewell package deal to bring in a non-scoring big man like Mutumbo.

The Bucks have a decent shot at third, but so do Toronto and Indiana.

Out west, while I’d love to say that Iakovos Tskaladis (or whatever the hell his name is) is going to elevate the Suns to the one spot, or that Ewing is finally going to give GP his second chance at a ring, I think everybody knows it’s the damn Lakers game, we just all play it.

San Antonio or Portland probably have the best chance at upseting the Lakers. If I was going to pick a long shot, it might just be the T-Wolves. I think this might just be Kevin Garnett’s breakout year (finally).

3

Watch and see.

The Heat w/o Zo don’t scare me. The Pacers are not half the team they were last year when we should have run them out of the playoffs. The Knicks…get that chicken bone out of your throat…they are the wildcard here because nobody believes they are done dealing but I’ll stack our starting 5 against them any day.

Perhaps you didn’t catch us on TV last year. More specifically the last month of the season and into the playoffs.

Also I am not saying they will take the 1 seed in the East… I am saying they are Eastern Conference Champions.

4

When I’m finsihed with the post it probably should belong in the pit.

I just thought I’d say that basketball sucks. All basketball sucks, college, pro, everything. Yes, it does take some skill, but how far can you get on hard work alone? In a sport like hockey or football you can be short and slow, but if you’re a hard worker, you can still find a spot on the team, it may be at the end of the bench, but a spot none the less. Basketball relies almost solely on someone that has a major genetic advantage (height, speed). What really pisses me off about basketball? The coverage it gets. This sport sucks. It gets the cover of SI and an entire issue for it’s season preview. What does hockey get? Might as well not been any coverage. Two storys and one page scouting reports. Oh, did I mention that most of basketball’s players are terrible role models? Allen Iverson, Anthony Mason, Kobe Bryant, Scottie Pippen, I know there are way more. I hate these punks. Kobe Bryant especially considering he thinks he’s such hot shit. He’s so arrogant, in that all star game a couple of years ago when he told Malone he didn’t need a screen and then went on to brick his shot. I wish Jordan were still around to put Kobe in his place. Jordan won’t be coming back though, for that I hope that the league of overpaid, babied adolescents sinks and those kids realize that maybe they should have gone to college.

5

I don’t know, ask Mugsy Bouges, Lindsey Hunter, or Steve Nash. Ask Dennis Johnson, ask Danny Ainge. Then get back to me.

People like to watch certain sports. They don’t like certain other sports. Wah. Really it’s not the games fault that it’s popular.

Hockey has the least to complain about out of American minor pro sports. Imagine how badly it would suck to be a soccer fan, let alone a fan of something more obscure like volleyball.

As opposed to those fine role models in Football (Carruth, Chmura, Lett, LT), Baseball (Rose, Alomar, Codero, Straw), Hockey or Boxing. Sheesh.

6

Hmm… first of all JDeMobray did an excellent job of skewering your post.

Now to address the above comment… The fact of the matter is the NBA is the Marketing benchpost against which all other sports are measured. Hockey didn’t even have a National TV contract until they hired away one of the top marketing guys from the NBA.

Pick your sport and I am sure there is someone who we could agree is a poor role model. For every Allen Iverson there is a Ray Allen. For every Anthony Mason there is a Kevin Garnett.

If you wish to rage against the machine that is the NBA I suggest opening a pit thread.

JDeMobray…

Just wanted to point out that I didn’t even touch the West because I agree…We can’t handle Shaq-Fu. The talented Big men reside in the West without question and that will give the Bucks trouble when they face, Shaq-Steel, Mr. Robinson and Tim Duncan among others. God I wish we could have gotten Baker back.

However in the East…bring it!!!

7

Mugsy was fast and quick. Did you read my whole post? Ainge isn’t in the pros anymore is he? He played in the 80’s when basketball wasn’t the same crap it is now with 18 year olds thinking they’re the next Jordan.

  • People like to watch certain sports. They don’t like certain other sports. Wah. Really it’s not the games fault that it’s popular *

Yeah, I guess basketball is so much more popular that people would rather watch Oregon and Arizona State play basketball instead of a professional hockey game.

  • As opposed to those fine role models in Football (Carruth, Chmura, Lett, LT), Baseball (Rose, Alomar, Codero, Straw), Hockey or Boxing. Sheesh. *

I had meant to put in there that out of all the sports most of the bad ones are in basketball. I would say in terms of bad behavior here is how they rank.

Basketball
Football
Baseball/Boxing
Hockey is the last. Hockey has the best people playing that sport. You couldn’t come up with any for hockey could you? One that happened recently: Patrick Roy, but he’s a dickhead to begin with. What? You think McSorley is a bad example? Well, whether you want to admit it or not, what he did is a part of the game.

Basketball sucks, soccer does too, just thought I’d clear that up.

8

I forgot to mention, it is possible for a “team” to ride the shoulders of one player. They might not win the championsip, but in basketball you can go further than any other “team” sport with one player.

9

So Dignan do you have anything to add to the OP?

10

I think that the Knicks are lacking a center to compete, they’ll never fill that void left by Chris Dudley.

I think that Grant Hill is an idiot for saying he’d go to Orlando before Duncan made his decision. He would have been in the same position (or better) in Detroit. Good luck to him and the “superstar” McGrady.

I hate the Lakers. I would put my money on the TrailBlazers to win it all. I hate all the kids coming out of college so early, but I think the Clips are on the right track, provided that idiot owner isn’t an idiot.

My Bulls struck out in the FA market, so I could really care less. Before anyone starts in with the smart asstic comments, I used to watch basketball, and I watch a lot of SportsCenter.

11

I would spend time replying to Dignan, but it would likely be a waste of my time because he obviously has a bias that clouds rational thought. Maybe if he keeps spoutig off like a drunken loudmouth.

I think the Bucks will be improved, but they will fall behind the Heat, Hornets, and the Magic. They’ll take 4th, edging out the Knicks who will fall shoort of expectations. This all changes when the Bulls make a magical run.

12

Ainge didn’t retire until '94. How about Stockton? Hornaceck?

Yes, they would. Ratings and attendance bear that point out. College basketball is second only to college football in popularity among the NCAA sports, and given the current trends I wouldn’t be surprised to see those two switch places in a few years.

Sorry, like 95% of the world I have no intrest in hockey at any level. Is Gretzky still playing? I liked him on SNL :wink:

Wow, you really aren’t a basketball fan are you?

13

Oh yeah that’s a good one, don’t spend time replying to me, spend the time saying how you won’t. Brilliant move there, buddy. I’d be willing to bet that my knowledge of the NBA matches or exceeds yours.

JDemobray, dude, do you read my entire post ever? You don’t seem to be.

I forgot to talk about Stockton, he is old school, I am a fan of his, but I don’t like the Jazz. What role was Ainge reduced to by the time he retired? He wasn’t getting near the PT. Not to mention that the game has changed over the past 6 years.

First of all I was making a comparison between PRO hockey and COLLEGE basketball. I was refering to ESPN covering stupid college basketball games between Podunk U. and Alaska Valley State Community College.

14

First, in '93 Ainge was the backup point guard on the Phoenix Suns team that took the Bulls to 6 games. In '94 he was way-way backup and primarily a shooter.

Secondly, okay, let me just ask:

WHAT THE HECK DO YOU WANT THE NETWORKS TO DO?!?!?!

Nobody will watch regular season “professional” hockey. Sure, they could broadcast it (and probably do on ESPN-7, right after WNBA highlight films). People will watch college basketball.

Do you think ESPN has an obligation to cater to hockey’s non-existent fanbase at the expense of making, you know, actual money by broadcasting college basketball between Purdue and Wichita State?

I mean, folks, the people have spoken. We’ll watch basketball. We’ll watch football. If you play hockey, or soccer, or gymnastics we call our SO’s and pop in the tape of last nights “Ally McBeal”.

What is your solution? I mean aside from saying ‘dur basketball blows’. How is it a problem? In your initial post you said:

And all I have done is say: Yes, yes they would. They do, and they will. SO WHAT?

Why do you keep asking “Did I read your entire post?” Yes, goddamnit, I did. What have you said that I haven’t replied to.

I agree, in basketball, just like in any sport other than perhaps baseball, you can ride one superstar to considerable success. However, all the truly dominant teams are just that: TEAMS. Jordan-Pippen-Kukoc (with Rodman, or Cartwright, or Grant, or Paxton); Bird-McHale-Parish (with Ainge, Johnson, Walton, even Joe-Friggin-Kleine); Shaq-Kobe-Rice (et al.); Duncan-Robinson-Johnson.

Where are the single player champions? Why hasn’t Iverson got a ring? Where’s the ‘Vinsanity’ (Stupid, stupid, all hype-no defense joke-of-the-year). Unfortunately, the need to be a team player is the primary reason that Charles Barkley never got a ring. He did figure it out, towards the end of his career, but by then it was too late.

Finally, as to your ‘Ranking the Sports Role Models’, pardon me but it’s crap. They aren’t your role-models. Yes, there are some head cases in each and every sport, and if you don’t believe me why not take a chartered ride in the Detroit Red Wings limo?

But for every nutso, there are like three or four or five guys doing great things for their team and their community who get no press (again, because nobody would pay to read it.)

15

No, you obviously did not. I said:

I never said they could win a championship with one player. I said that it was possible to ride on the shoulders of a single player (look, it’s right there). Would the 6ers have made it to the playoffs last year without ballhog Iverson? What about the Raptors without Carter. Those two teams would not be near the “teams” they were if they actually had to play as a team.

A major problem that I have with basketball is, like I said, the whiny 18 year old kids that think they have the world on a string. I said you can’t really get anywhere in basketball on hard work any more, you have to be tall or something like that. Bogues, he was quick; Spud, he could jump; so those short guys did have skills other than their hardwork alone. What else don’t I like about basketball? It’s a cancer to inner city youth. They think they’re going to be the next Jordan and make millions in endorsements, and they could go to college for free, but why wait to make the millions that they “deserve.” Need an example: Ronnie Fields.

Is my ranking crap? Look over the sports, like I said, I guarantee that basketball will have more people that are getting into trouble, in the wrong place, or causing problems. As for the Red Wings limo thing, a player wasn’t driving, what is your point about that? The players that were in the limo were over 21, so they’re aloud to drink aren’t they. I don’t know what the hell you’re trying to prove with that.

16

Yeah, it sucks. But they gotta show something to fill up time until spring training starts.

17

OK Dignan I’ll deal with the 1 post you have made that relates to the OP.

The void left by Chris Dudley???

McGrady actually is a pretty solid player. He was overshadowed by Vince Carter. Who is a chump but a talented chump nonetheless.

Congrats we agree on something We both hate the Lakers. Now you claim Basketball knowledge but you think the Lakers aren’t the favorites because you hate them. Barring injury they are the unquestioned favorites. The Trailblazers need to come together as a team with their new roster. So is the owner of the Clippers an idiot or not?!?

So you watched Basketball until the Bulls went into rebuilding?? Are you bitter because of their bumbling offseason? Never mind I don’t want to get into that here.

Dignan

Again I say if you have a problem with basketball go to the pit and open your own thread to bash it to your hearts delight. You are obviously a hockey fan from your other threads. So maybe you should start a hockey thread and profess your undying love for the game or that IYHO it doesn’t get a fair shake when it comes to television coverage.

18

I’d be willing to bet you haven’t been around this board very long then.

I won’t make any apologies for the NBA. It is as far removed from good basketball as it could be. But, if you start to lump college hoops in there you are just letting a bias against the sport get in the way. Yes, the NCAA is far from perfect, but the sport itself is safely among the top of the popularity ladder.

19

**

Sure, in basketball where you only have five on a side and they are expected to play both offense and defense, one player will have more of an impact.

However, let’s not forget baseball, where one player (the pitcher) pretty much dictates an entire game. And in football, a great QB can - and has - won games for his team as single-hendedly as the great hoopsters have. Joe Montana, anyone? Dan Marino always had the Dolphins in the playoffs with a HORRIBLE surrounding cast!

Finally, this is less a concern in college hoops where coaches can play creative zone defenses. That is a reason college hoops is higher on my list as a fan than the pro game.

**

What a stupid comment. This happens in every sport now. It’s called the times we live in.

**

You know what else I don’t like about religion? The Crusades.

You know what else I don’t like about alcohol? Drunk drivers.

You know what else I don’t like about the SDMB? You.

See, this is what happens when you confuse the issues. In your case, you blame basketball as a sport for the actions of a few people who look at it the wrong way.

Is football to blame for people losing their shirts betting on the game? The NFL is the most gambled-on sport in this country. But I am not going to blame the game because some guy loses three fingers to a guy named Lefty…

Meanwhile, back at the OP…

Go Knicks! :smiley:

Yer pal,
Satan

*I HAVE BEEN SMOKE-FREE FOR:
Six months, two weeks, three days, 13 hours, 24 minutes and 49 seconds.
8022 cigarettes not smoked, saving $1,002.79.
Extra life with Drain Bead: 3 weeks, 6 days, 20 hours, 30 minutes.

I slept with a REPUBLICAN moderator!*

20

Satan…

What does the rumor mill have in store for us regarding the Knicks? They have to trade somebody…don’t they??