ADN

Okay, so I've seen a lot of different threads talking about free agency, a lot of team's moves, player's legacies, but no real place to put it all together. To save from everyone posting elsewhere, with the expection of TT's free agency thread.... This may be a good place to discuss what's going to happen in the NBA next season.

Mainly I want to talk about who everyone thinks is going to win the championship next year.

As I see it right now, there are only a few serious contenders.

Those are of course the Lakers, Celtics, Cavs, Spurs, Magic.

Now I suppose you could make an argument for a few other teams....like maybe the Nuggets.....okay maybe ONLY the Nuggets lol, but if you have any other favorites, feel free to hype them up for everyone.

Personally, I do not really see how any team can top the Lakers.

The Spurs gave up their entire front court besides Tim Duncan to get RJ, who is a tad overrated if you ask me. So they do not match up well with the Lakers aside from no one being able to guard TP, but no one in the league can guard him (the way I see it at least) so that doesn't really make a huge difference. TD is phenomenal, the best power forward in history, imo, but he just can't match up with Pau and Bynum (I'm hoping Bynum finally comes alive in the playoffs) alone. Artest and Kobe > Manu and RJ.

Assuming everyone stays healthy out East, I think the Celtics have an edge over both the Magic and the Cavs.

A new Celtics vs Lakers matchup would be my dream come true.

Rondo vs D-fish (or S. Brown, or J. Farmar...who knows by next year's playoffs)
Allen vs Bryant
Peirce vs Artest
Garnett vs Gasol
Sheed vs Bynum

Dude I'm salivating right now just THINKING about watching those games....


I know this is early, but the NBA is my passion as far as sports go...so its never too early to talk about next season and even next season's playoffs.

Please, someone else tell me they love the NBA as much as I do, and join in on the discussion!


And, I'm new to the board, so if this has been discussed at length elsewhere, feel free to link me :)

Nope, don't think so...

I guess now is as good a time as any to have a NBA 2009-10 General discussion thread...If its all the same to you, I can rename this and pin it, and we can be on our way...

I have enjoyed the NBA more this year than I have in recent years...But I'm getting a little tired of all the hype they are putting on these players...OK, let me just go on and say now, 1 LeBron James...I mean, dude is GOOD...Damn good...But the fact that he has as many MVP trophies as Kobe does makes me sick to my stomach...I would have rather seen D. Wade win it, cause without him, we all know the Heat would have been the worst team in the league...

LeBron is a great specimen, yes, I get it...But...If I hear one more person compare him to Kobe...I'm gonna puke...

As a Longhorn, I'm almost ashamed to admit it, but...If I were still collecting basketball cards, I'd be buying Blake Griffin shit left and right...

Please do. I felt it was too early for that, so that's why I went ahead and named this one Preseason, but if you think it's fitting, you've got my okay.

Without question, D-Wade carried his team more than every superstar I can remember. I mean seriously, the dude KILLED himself just to squeak out as many wins as they got. I feel bad for him though, because he is KILLING his body. Out of every superstar player to come out around or after his draft class, I think Wade will have the shortest reign in the NBA, because he just wrecks his body every night to get those wins. I remember watching him one night play the Bulls, a game that went into double overtime (that he hit the game winner for) and I could just see how physically drained and exhausted he was...and that was to get a win over the Bulls.

Now I'm from Chicago, so I'd like to think the Bulls are a little better than they are (and of course everyone is going to be riding their jock after that first round series this playoffs) but if you have to basically kill yourself just to get a win over the Bulls, it tells me two things, 1. your team isn't going anywhere. 2. he's gonna burn out if he stays there much longer.

Now as far as Lebron....he was pretty damn valuable to his team too man. You are seriously going to believe it was the addition of Mo Williams that catapulted them to the 66 wins they got, are you? It was LeBron elevating his game and doing what his team needed. Now you know I'm not very high on LeBron comparisons to Kobe as Kobe is and always will be my favorite player, but LeBron really carried that team...esp. in the playoffs...has for years and will continue until he leaves after this season lol.

I will give you the Blake Griffin nod though, he's going to be a great player in this league. You'll be happy to know I had Okalahoma going very far in the tourney and they were the team I watched most closely throughout the season. UT still has football on lock though....and will probably get basketball back this season.

Yo yo yo NBA guys, I'm glad you made a thread like this Drew!

OK, my own opinions on next season. First things first, the Lakers are again the heavy favorites again to win next years championship after they were recently able to resign Lamar Odom. I felt that any hopes they had of repeating was nonsensical if they could not resign Lamar Odom, but now that they have, I think they can do it all (providing good health of course).

And I totally agree with Ayhja about King James being over hyped. Yes he is good, and he did carry the Cavs to some extent, but not as much as DWade carried Miami Heat. OK, and about the 66 games -- the fact that they won 66 games is just fool's gold to me. I was not attracted to that regular season record they had at all. Thank goodness that the NBA has something called the playoffs, to really expose teams for what they are, and make them play 7 games against each other so really see who is better. When a team plays in a series, the better team always wins, there is no such thing as luck.
The Cavs might have won 66 games, but they had losing records against the teams that were title contenders -- Lakers, Celtics, and Magic. I knew deep down inside me that they would be lucky to get past the Magic in the playoffs -- they were just an ordinary team playing in an extremely weak eastern conference.

OK and now, if you think King James is over hyped, then Blake Griffin is super hyped. Him being the first round pick this year says a lot more about the other draftees' than it says about Blake Griffin himself. This years draft was extremely weak. Blake Griffin has an erratic jumper, and maybe the Clippers will win just 11 more games than they did last season with him. However, no fucking way will I be "buying Blake Griffin shit left and right."

Anyway, my prediction is that the Lakers are heavy favorites to win it all again next season. For me, KG + Rasheed + Pierce + Allen = Eastern Conference Champions, so I think that the Celtics will win the east.
The Cavs, again, I think, will be lucky to get past Orlando come playoff time. Why? Because, Shaq will not defend the pick-and-roll for shit now at 37 years old, when he never did even at 25.

Peace!