Well, one thing is for certain, this has DEFINITELY not been dull since the All Star break!
We had huge trades, shakeups all over the league, and then there's that silly little problem of a probable 50 win team not making the playoffs in one conference while more than likely a team with a losing or .500 record will make the playoffs in another conference. So who's got the real mojo now, and who's lost it? Let's look at the teams who made the most and biggest moves and analyze their probable playoff projections as things stand now. I rank each team based on my own impressions, feel free to comment:
1. San Antonio Spurs - Im not the biggest fan of the Spurs, but Im also a straight shooter. The Spurs gave up the least next to the Lakers to get a player that can help them in the playoffs (Kurt Thomas), and then they get back one of the players in a month (Brent Barry). Say what you like about this, but it's SMART. Ever since the all-star break the Spurs have been playing at an amazing pace, but even more amazing is that it's not a playoff pace yet. Popovich has them in end-of-season form a little earlier than usual, because he knows full well that more than any other year in recent memory home court will REALLY matter in the playoffs, and the less travelling you have to do the better this off-season. The Spurs are going to be a very tough team to beat this year, because they seem bound and determined to prove once and for all they are NOT a soft champion, and to beat an NBA this competetive would solidify their claims to historical greatness. For once, I am on their side, I would like to see it happen, they are the Patriots without the cocky swagger, and I can live with that.
2. Los Angeles Lakers - When did "Showtime" come back to L.A.? The Lakers gave up a bunch of scrubs, got a solid (if underutilized before now) Pau Gasol, and suddenly POOF they are playing like it's the 80's again! The biggest difference maker to me is that Kobe has stopped trying to be the "man" for 48 minutes and instead focuses this into the final 8 minutes of the game, and that spurt of focused intensity is proving devastating for nearly every team out there. The rest of the game he is the playmaker and the leader everyone clamored for him to be all along. I can live with this Kobe Bryant, and I can root for this team thats playing an extremely solid style of ball that is eerily similar to the all out triangle offenses of the Bulls' haydays. There's still a part of me that wonders if all the pre season "trade me" stuff was just a smoke screen to make the team gel together, if so, I have no complaints, it's proven to have worked perfectly. The Lakers have gone from a first round exit waiting to happen to being the team NO ONE wants to face in round one.
3. Cleveland Cavaliers - Ok, so you rip apart the team that got to the NBA finals last season, trade off most of them, bring in a whole bunch of underachievers from other teams, and the one thing that hasn't changed is that LeBron really has no help, but they are still winning. Either the Cavs' management are the biggest bunch of #### savants the NBA has ever seen or we are missing something here, and I think what we are missing is just how amazing a player LeBron really is. Ok, so in the cluch he can be made mortal, but for the other 43 minutes of the game he is simply unstoppable. Now if only his team could do for him what the Lakers are doing for Kobe, and allow LeBron to focus that intensity into the final 8 minutes of the game only, and the Celtis and Pistons would be deeply concerned. Until that can happen, the burden of carrying so many big men on his broad shoulders will keep making King James the best NBA player to not win a title of this generation.
4. Boston Celtics - The no longer thought of but hardly forgotten trades of the pre season that led to their resurgence cannot be overlooked, nor should they be. The Celtics are proving to the regular season at least that they will be the class of the NBA come playoff time. The real problem will be injuries and having the target on their backs, because EVERYONE will be gunning these guys as we get closer and closer to the playoffs, and they are already showing signs of slowing down. The biggest mistake Doc Rivers would ever make would be to rest his stars and sit on their record in order to give them time to get healthy. These guys will have to be ready to play through pain to win the title this year, so he better get them ready for it now. I love what the Celtics have done for the NBA this year, but I just see too many cracks showing right now to even say they will come out of the east let alone win it all. And the upcoming addition of Sam Cassell is NOT going to help, Sam I Am is just too old and too self centered to really make a big #### on this kind of a stage, but he will at least give them some extra scoring in key moments (poor man's Robert Horry in a way). In the end, I am afraid it will be close but no cigar this year for the Celtics.
5. Dallas Mavericks - I think after 2 years I have finally spotted the Mavs major weakness, and it's Avery Johnson. I know he has turned the Mavs from a scoring first team into a decent (but still overrated) defensive team, but in the end, he is gun shy. Avery has a game plan and sticks to it almost to the bitter end. The addition of Jason Kidd will ONLY help if he is allowed to play his style of ball, not Avery Johnson's. Let Kidd be the leader you traded half the team for and you might have a chance, sort of like what D'Antoni does with Steve Nash, who is the on court coach and D'Antoni is the time out/off court coach. Avery may be one of the nicest and most respected men in the league, but in the end he is not flexible enough to take this team to the next level, and this is showing in his team over the past 2 years, and the recent overtime loss to the Lakers is a solid example, as they had no fire in their eyes, no anger, no WILL to win that game, while the Lakers just went out in OT and burned them. Don't even get me started on the Spurs game with Kidd on the bench at crunch time, that's almost a whole blog in itself! No fire = no title, and the Mavs have no fire at all right now. They'll barely make the 2nd round at this rate.
6. Phoenix Suns - Ah how the mighty have fallen. Now don't get me wrong, I am not signing off on the Shaq trade, nor do I think it was a horrible deal overall. I just think the expectations are a bit too high for this early in the trade to say the Suns are done. Do I think they can win it all, sure I do, but Im a Suns homer, albeit an objective one. The flaws are right there for all to see, the Suns are HORRIBLE on defense, and their offense is spluttering like bacon in a too greasy pan on Sunday morning. How much of that is the lack of Marion or the addition of Shaq is an open debate, but in the end each is only one man, so each has to bear the burden of their own. The Suns can make this work, and the one thing I can point to is what I said at the announcement of the trade, having a happy locker room in a league with margins this small is amazingly powerful. As long as the Suns are not giving up on themselves or the season I don't see where we can either. Will they set the world on fire with defense, no, but they will make it entertaining as hell along the way at least! Next year I think will be their year.
As for the others who made moves, they can't even register on the radar right now. Marion must be wondering what time warp he entered going from the #1 ranked team in the tough West to the worst team in the NBA, and Seattle must be drooling at the thought of all the cap room and draft picks they will have (Too bad Seattle FANS will never see them).
Team to watch out for: Hornets, plain and simple. I said before they play the toughest schedule of the 2nd half and they are still in there and slugging it out with the big boys.
Team to stay away from: Jazz - no one wants to see them on their schedule right now, especially if you are a Western Conference team, they are the spoiler team of the West if you are on the playoff bubble.
Mid-season Whiner award Isiah Thomas. I remember once Charles Barkley saying that Jerry Reinsdorf had to have pictures of the Bulls owner fornicating with farm animals in order to keep his job, but I find myself wondering what skeleton Thomas has on the Knicks ownership to keep HIS job. Has there EVER been a worse coach, for a more high profile team, that has NOT been shown the door after even ONE season of ineptitude this bad, let alone MULTIPLE years? Bring in Jerry Colangelo, Snoopy, John Wooden, Buck Rogers, ANYONE for god's sake, but get rid of Isiah! And now he doesn't want to talk about Marbury anymore..ok..let's just go back to that other little topic that kept your name in the papers during the pre-season...you remember Isiah, that little legal trouble you so smarmily smiled through? If ever there was a "Teflon Don" in the NBA it would have to be Isiah Thomas.
Phoenix is "HORRIBLE" on defense. Even worse than I expected. I thought the purpose of slowing down the offense was to get Shaq touches. They aren't even using him. He attempts 5-8 shots a game. So what's the point of acquiring him? So he can get 10 + rebounds a night? How many players can do that?
I couldn't agree more with your opinion of Avery. I contemplated writing a blog about him after he chose to sit Kidd during crunch time. He lost the NBA Finals because of his decision to double Shaq instead of Wade. He lost their series to GS last year because he decided to try and play small ball against the Warriors. He's probably going to screw them again this year.
He's a great motivator but his adjustments have been questionable at best.
Good read Dalamar. I had some questions about your comments on the Celtics.
Exactly how are they "showing signs of slowing down"? What specifically are you referring to when you say " I just see too many cracks showing right now to even say they will come out of the east let alone win it all"? Please comment further.
I think the Cassell pickup was excellent, he was the only player available with championship winning experience, and can definitely help the Celtics.
They have maintained the league's best record, are currently 3 games ahead of the Pistons going into tonight's home game against them, and 4.5 games ahead of the best teams in the west. They lead in most defensive categories, and have the highest point differential. They also have the league's best record against the other 14 teams with winning records. Anyone else coming out of the east would be a major upset, in my opinion...
Last edited by nba is the worst on March 5th at 3:48 PM.
Appreciate the comments, folks. NBA Worst, what I refer to by the Celtics is nothing I can say is quantifiable, but at the same time is a hunch I have seen based on how they are playing right now compared to earlier in the season.
The Celts are playing as hard as they can, but I get the sense that playing at such a high level for so long is starting to take a toll on them, and my concern is that, like the Mavs last year who played at a high level only to find no other gear to use during the playoffs in addition to their own exhaustion, that they too will find themselves unable to match other team's intensities once the playoffs begin. Thats why Doc has to push these guys HARD, now, and get them ready to play through pain if they are going to come out of the east, in my opinion.
Jazzette, no argument. Never even said the Suns would beat the Jazz. As for the Suns being too slow, THAT will dispute, they are still arguably the fastest scoring team in the west, they just are even worse on defense than ever so the other teams get free walks into the paint anytime they want. Slow? Not hardly. Weak as hell, definitely. There's a LOT of work to do and only a handful of games left to get it done in if the Suns are going to make any rumbles this year, which is why I think next year will be their year to shine.
Utahfan, I do strongly believe that the Jazz will be the one team no one wants to face in the first round, but I don't see them making the Western finals this year, the improvements to the Lakers and Hornets, coupled with the solid and steady play of the Spurs makes this IMO highly unlikely.
It's no knock on the Jazz, any other season they would be a Western finals contender but this year there are just too many teams and too much parity for the Jazz to make the splash they made last year (admittedly, they got lucky in not having to play Dallas thanks to Golden State).
If the Jazz were smart they would position themselves for a possible series with the Lakers in the first round, as IMO they are the only team besides the Spurs with the talent to beat them in a 7 game series right now, and the time to do that would be in round 1 before the Lakers get any momentum to bring to the next round. Lakers or Suns would be the teams I would want in round 1 were I a Jazz fan.
The Suns defense has taken a nosedive into the realm of the embarassing since the trade no question about it. When Amare Stoudemire is night in and night out being one of your better defenders you KNOW you suck rocks.
As for Shaq, as I mentioned before, I truly do not feel he is there for points and rebounds, he is there for a presence and to help with the morale of a team that was being fractured by personal agendas and egos. Yes, its a high price to pay for that, but they were paying Marion the same money to have a crappy locker room, now at least they have something more positive for their money.
In any league where margins of success are this razor thin, morale is more often than not the impetus that means success or failure, and it's for that reason the trade was made, not for Shaq's points and rebounds. In that one sense, this trade works. While the suns are playing badly they are playing with energy most nights that they lacked before, and that's a good thing for now.
Dalamar, I will have to agree with you about the jazz, if all these crazy trades in the west hadn't happened i think the jazz would have a great chance of going to the finals but now the west is just ridiculous and they will have to do some serious ballin to make it all the way which will be way tough with how stacked the western conference is
I have to agree that the Spurs are still number one this year.
As for the Jazz I think they would be better off with the Suns or the Hornets than the Lakers first round. They can usually handle the Suns okay and they can route the Hornets. The Hornets have problems against the Jazz. Even when they beat the Jazz they let them come so far back they could've taken the game. If the Jazz win at the next meeting they should have a pretty easy playoff series with the Hornets. They should hope the Lakers get picked off first round (unlikely but look what happened to Dallas...) and prepare for them if they need to. I do think they will play better against the Lakers than the Spurs.
I think they have a better chance for the finals than you think. No guarantee but if they get past the first 2 rounds and end up against the Lakers they would have a chance, Spurs not so much. They do have an big uphill battle ahead because they will almost undoubtedly have to face at least one of these two teams. They can absolutely win a series against any other Western Conference team but the two on top.
Last edited by crazyforyou on March 7th at 3:35 PM.
I am a big basketball fan, tho I admit I prefer the NBA to college, mainly because the NCAA has even more stupid rules than the NBA does. I enjoy other sports as well, tho I do admit I prefer the playoffs than the regular season for most sports other than the NBA.
My favorite teams in the NBA ?
1. Phoenix Suns
2. Dallas Mavericks
3. Chicago Bulls
4. Indiana Pacers
5. Los Angeles Lakers (Tho I can't STAND Kobe)
