The blog is getting a little stale, so thought I'd post an interesting question posed by PTI. Who will be the first to 5 titles? Kobe? Shaq? or Duncan?
Obviously the offseason has made things more interesting, Shaq is now teamed with Prince James... Duncan has Richard Jefferson... and Kobe is coming off winning his 4th.
I'm biased here... but I'd like to think it's Kobe. He is younger, is coming off winning a championship, and I'm pretty sure he's hungry for more. Key issues are they need to resign Lamar and Chase/Ariza (and hopefully Shannon Brown). If they do that and Bynum comes back to close to where he was before the injury (solid double-double and 2-3 blocks), then my money is on Kobe.
I'd have to put Duncan as second most likely. The key is Ginobli. If he can get himself healthy, then it will be Lakers v. Spurs in the Western Finals. The damn Spurs never seem to die. Props to Coach/Gm Popovich. The guy knows what he's doing.
The Shaq to Cleveland thing is intriguing. Obviously Shaq will be motivated. He's probably on the treadmill as I'm typing this. We know Lebron is focused. I think they need another piece though. Maybe they make a move and get it done. In truth, the move they need to make is to fire Mike Brown. Imagine Riley coaching Lebron and Shaq? Crazy, right? Anyway, I think their coach is holding them back.
My two cents...
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
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i have kinda already been chopping this one up by posing who will win next year (or contend strongly next year)....
ReplyDeletehttp://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4301111
looks like the pistons may be out of the race for hedo by picking up gordon and charlie...i am not sure of the team they will put on the floor as iverson and rasheed are free agents i think and judging by these pick-ups the pistons are not interested in retaining either one...so they will start rodney, richard, tayshun, villanueva, ______ with gordon coming off the bench strong....they could matter next year pending who they put in the middle.
now back to ace's question and why the pistons deals matter....i think the spurs and cavs may have interest in sheed with the spurs being the team that can offer him a real contract most likely....i think the spurs win next year (and ace your question is who is first to 5 so age is irrelevant). basically the question is who will win NEXT YEAR because the only other team that will matter outside of these 3 are the celtics if healthy and rondo situation resolved, the magic if wince works out, and maybe the trailblazers if they sign hedo (huge IFs for these 3 teams)....houston is done with these yao injury questions and t-mac trade rumors. maybe the pistons matter but i think it will take 2 yrs for their new pieces to gel and who knows what happens free agency wise summer 2010.
right now i put my money on these 3 guys in the question....i believe shaq-bron come out of the east...i think they will be the number 1 seed and boston and the magic will kill each other playing at 2 vs 3. honestly if the magic are playing that well with vince and the celts are playing that well to be in the eastern semis they are probably playing well enough to beat the cavs regardless of seeding. i say this to say that i don't know how sure of a thing it is that the cavs come out of the east. it depends mainly on motivation and health. the healthy motivated team of the 3 comes out of the east (i don't know actually the east will be tough---atlanta may be better with crawford, the wiz may be better, and philly may be better with elton brand). if i have to pick i choose shaq and bron....although i think the magic will be a tough out. i think vince will be motivated for once as this is his best shot at a title he has ever had and he is home. ultimately although the magic will be just as good as the team last year they will lose to the celts in 7 in the eastern semis and folks will say hedo/vince exchange was the difference. realistically it will be jj reddick's fault as he will get more pt. actually the shaq-bron success lies in mike brown's coaching ability. if he can't get a clue they will not beat either the celts or magic.
my east assertion is probably not clear because there are too many IFs....i tried.
in the west it is definitely down to kobe and duncan...only the trailblazers can get a full step function better and that is only if they get hedo which still won't be enough (the hornets, jazz, nuggets, rockets are getting worst or staying the same).
i think the spurs get it done next year....a lineup of parker, gino, jefferson, duncan, blair (or maybe sheed) will be too much for any team....they will have key reserves in finley, george, bonner, mason (all these guys have grown (except fin-dog) due to the injuries to team argentina last yer (gino and oberto). i think this team is stronger than any laker team, plus i am not sure the lakers sign both lamar and ariza....if either one of these guys go, so does the title....they cannot afford to dump those minutes into walton.
thus my answer is the nba's best PF---DUNCAN is the first to 5 (although i hope it is shaq and the lebrons---they need one more piece but surprisingly i think THEY THINK they don't)!
1st to 5 is Lebron in 2016.
ReplyDelete- I'm convinced that Phil Jackson is not coaching next year, or he'll do such a half-arsed job with this coaching only home games that the Lakers will not win another 1. Already hearing that Ariza is gone, Brown might be leaving... :(
- Jefferson is a nice upgrade, but I honestly believe it's going to take 1 more part to win this year's ring. Without being able to count on Manu in the playoffs and Duncan's additional wear and tear, i think that San won't pull it off this year. I actually think them falling into Blair in the 2nd round will help more than Jefferson, since they need that type of stud rebounder, 2nd post option to go with Duncan.
- Trey, stop playing on Duncan being the best PF. He plays center.
yes duncan at pf was sarcasm from me.
ReplyDeletehow can you say jefferson will not have an BIG impact....we ranked small forwards in this league....jeffereson's avg ranking by the myself, ace, and yourself (trevor) was about 8th in the league....
http://wolfpackaz.blogspot.com/2009/04/rank-current-small-forwards-in-league.html#comments
if you add richard jeffereson to any playoff team last year that team goes one round deeper if not 2 or 3....adding him to the spurs is huge because he takes the load offensively and defensively off the aging guys like duncan and gino...gino will never tire splitting defensive responsibilities with jefferson...jefferson is probably the best player talent wise that poses no threat to chemistry in this league...he is very easy to plug and play...jefferson is also the kinda guy that plays big in the case that duncan and gino miss 30 games to injury....just ask vince carter if you don't believe me....when vince went out jefferson was filling the stat sheet...when vince came back he went right back into second fiddle mode scoring 20 pts with no problems....my point is gino was hurt last year and that left parker doing all the slashing and them splitting up wingman minutes to mason, finley, udoka, bowen, aka bums (not bums but backups in this league)....
now add jefferson to the mix (another defender, another slasher, a guy with a better jumper since his days in new jersey----nobody watched his games in milwaukee). this feels alot like the lakers getting gasol from memphis whereby only the few avid nba watchers really knew how good he was because he played in memphis (folks like the joose saying this year's playoff "i like that dude (gasol)".
if the spurs had jefferson last year with an injured gino they are definitely playing the nuggets (aka not getting beat by the mavs) and possibly beating the nuggets....with parker, gino, jefferson, duncan this team would have beat the lakers especially with sad playing bynum...ariza would not have beasted against jefferon like he did against the likes of anthony carter and billups and klieza---sorry. ariza capitalized and is a good fit for the lakers but there is a reason why he always matched up against team's PGs on d...we know what parker does with fish....this all comes down to health but like when boston got allen and garnett, folks knew that that team would be hungry and better than any other guys any team could put on the floor....this jefferson deal feels like the same thing....parker, gino, jefferson, duncan (not to mention these guys are hungry and not known for checking out of games ever) is better than any body else's team except maybe boston but question boston's chemistry with this rondo crap.
it really comes down to health...for real does anyone think that a healthy boston team wouldn't have repeated....this jefferson pickup feels like the garnett/allen pickup or the gasol pickup....everyone forgot how good these guys were because they played in memphis, seattle, sota but you knew the team made a couple of step functions in improvement....
also i hear the cavs are courting artest (fat chance---but if they get artest i have revamp my thinking) and ariza (reports say ariza may end up a laker because other teams will offer him the same thing as the lakers--he may be bluffing to get more money--who is going to make a role player a $9 mill man with the 2010 free agency class coming up)....
Basketball talk in July..... ridiculous. As I really don't care the blog has been slow and I am at home. You all make some good points, I think this could get more people excited about the NBA regular season, just not me.
ReplyDeleteIf Kidd ends up in Cleveland, wow, on paper I would want to watch them play in the regular season but that wouldn't actually happen.
I think Boston is done, would be surprised to see them in the finals.
I can't take the Magic seriously because they traded for Vince Carter, a player with no heart.
I would be surprised to see the Spurs be dominate again.
When it comes down to it, now that Lebron is playing with Shaq I don't want to see him win. I don't like the fact that Shaq is chasing another ring to try and one up Kobe. I continue to lose respect for him.
PTI is alluded to the fact that boston may be trying to get sheed....
ReplyDeletehow can boston be done and they lost the title to injury really....its not like they have yao or bynum or oden (mr glasses)....garnett will be back...the only question is smoothing things over with rondo....which i think is pretty simple....if they trade away rondo and ray they may be done....