2005-06 NBA Season Discussion (1 Viewer)

[Casey Trowbridg]

I would've thought we would've had one of these already with the season starting on Tuesday. I don't have high hopes for the Kobe/Phil soap opera round 2.

Its funny because a couple years ago the East was the joke conference, but now it might be more competitive than the Western Conference. If its not then the gap has definitely closed. I don't know about the others but that Atlantic division might still suck.

One thing that has me excited for the NBA season is the fact that I have Sirius Satellite Radio and can listen to lots of ball.

 

[Shane Martin]

Looks like Tayshaun Price signed a big 5 yr 47 million dollar contract extension with the Pistons.

This years NBA will be interesting. I do expect the Spurs to repeat but I don't favor one team or another so I don't really care either way.

I may try to attend a New Orleans game in Oklahoma City but they still want a mint for tickets.

 

[Haggai]

It's interesting how the East finally seems to have more legitimate title contenders than the West, for the first time in many years. Indiana, Detroit, and Miami are all obviously strong contenders, and although the Spurs are the clear favorites overall, I don't think there are any other teams in the West that could beat any of the East's big three in a playoff series. Of the other top West teams last year, Phoenix had already taken a hit from Joe Johnson leaving before Amare went down, nobody thinks Seattle will be any good again, and Dallas doesn't seem to be much better, if at all. Three interesting teams that could contend or take a step forward are Sacramento, Houston, and Denver, but I wouldn't take any of them over any of the best three Eastern teams. Of the next-best in the East, New Jersey, Cleveland, and Washington seem to be decently comparable to the second-tier Western teams, if maybe a slight notch below.

 

[Haggai]

Hey, something I didn't know about until I just saw it on an e-mail list with daily news and notes from around the league:



So the long-standing tradition of keeping guys on the injured list with fake injuries is no more. Good riddance to all the reported cases of "back spasms" and "tendinitis" that didn't really exist.

 

[Robert_Z]

If the Spurs stay healthy, it should be a very enjoyable season around these parts.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Agreed, they are the model NBA franchise at this point.

Their are only a few other things I know this year, and 1 of those things is that the Hornets are gonna suck.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I am really looking forward to the season. The East, as has already been mentioned, looks to be very competitive. Indy, Miami and Detroit are all legitimate title contenders.

It will be interesting to see how things work out in Detroit. On paper, they have a better team than last year, but the coaching change leaves a lot of question marks. The bench should be much better this season, with Maurice Evans, Dale Davis, Carlos Delfino, Carlos Arroyo and Darko (yes, Darko) all expected to contribute.

Speaking of Darko, I watched parts of a couple preseason games, and for the first time he actually looks like a basketball player. He will see more playing time this season and will get an opportunity to overcome the "bust" label.

Flip Saunders will help develop the younger players and will go deeper on the bench than Larry Brown. The question marks, though, will be (1) can Flip provide the in-game coaching at nearly the same level as Brown, (2) can Flip keep Rasheed motivated, and (3) will the defense be as intense with Saunders as coach?

Detroit's starting five is all back and is still, along with the Spurs, the best in the league. With a better bench, the team will be tough to beat in the East if the coaching questions are answered positively.

 

[Brook K]

Houston could be dominating but I don't think Yao is receiving proper coaching and they sure don't utilize him correctly.

What's the over/under on Hawks wins - 20? Get ready for the Zaza Pachulia era! I'm hearing Tremendous Upside Potential

What's Bill Simmons going to do if Darko turns into a player?

 

[Haggai]

Still not much doubt about that, but I sure wasn't expecting them to start the season by destroying Sacramento 93-67!

 

[Andy Sheets]

I think Yao will do fine but I'm a bit less convinced that the Rockets are as ready as a lot of people are saying. They were kind of ragged in the preseason and Stromile Swift's conditioning isn't quite there yet (thankfully, it looks like Juwan Howard has made a full recovery). Also, Bob Sura's not coming back for a long while and it's possible he might not even come back at all, and David Wesley not only played himself out of his starting spot, he might lose minutes to the rookie if he doesn't get it together. They'll do okay but it's going to be hard for them in the early part of the season.

 

[Shane Martin]

After last night, we can answer that question with a Yes.

The East is going to be tough. Indiana looks like a different team with Artest. We'll see if he returns to form(like we all know him) or if he actually changed.

 

[Haggai]

Pistons certainly looked good last night, although you can never tell from just one game. Pretty lame of Denver to lose at home to the Lakers, but somehow I don't think Smush Parker is going to average 20 PPG.

It does appear that the Detroit players seem genuinely happy with Flip Saunders, so that's a good sign for me and my fellow Pistons fans.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I don't think last night's Pistons - 76ers game tells us very much. Yes, Detroit dominated the game at both ends of the court. However, considering the opponent, that is exactly what should have happened. Philly is not a very good team -- they have Iverson and not much else (Webber is a shadow of the player he used to be).

Maurice Evans and Carlos Delfino do look to be strong additions to the bench, though. Also, Carlos Arroyo looks more confident shooting the ball than he did last season (when he couldn't hit an ocean).

 

[Haggai]

It'll be interesting to see how the Pistons rotation shakes out. I liked how Evans looked, and Delfino was good too, but his minutes were mostly in gar-bahj time.

Yeah, the Sixers aren't so hot. But Dalembert's out for now with an injury, and he played really well against Detroit in the playoffs last season. I definitely like his game.

 

[Haggai]

Shaq is expected to miss two to four weeks with a sprained ankle from last night. Right when it happened, Reggie Miller on TNT's broadcast said that it looked like "a monther." Shaq landed on Artest's foot and rolled his ankle over.

 

[Chu Gai]

And that'll keep happening all season long with Shaq. He just won't hold up.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

...and if Shaq breaks down, the Heat don't stand a chance in the East against Detroit or Indy.

 

[Brian Perry]

Geez, it's getting harder and harder to watch some of these guys play. It's a sorry state of affairs when someone like Tyson Chandler can get a $60 million contract for averaging 7 and 7 over his first four years. Allen Iverson continues to show how NOT to play the game (sub-.400 FG %). How long is Isiah Thomas going to last in NY, where he signed stiffs like Jamal Crawford and Eddy Curry? And what a shock -- Shaq is hurt (you think he's got too much weight on those ankles?)

This may sound crazy, but I think Charlotte is going to surprise some people (despite the inexcusable meltdown in the first game).

As for the title, I predict San Antonio-Phoenix in the West, and Detroit-Indiana in the East, with Indiana winning it all.

 

[Haggai]

Great comeback win for Detroit in Phoenix last night. After it was tied at halftime, the Pistons were utter crap at the beginning of the third quarter, and immediately found themselves in a big hole. It was largely back and forth after that until the middle of the fourth, and then the Pistons really caught fire, mainly Rip, but also with big shots from Rasheed and Chauncey. Even Ben hit a couple of free throws. I must say that they were helped by Phoenix choking down the stretch. After getting good shots with great ball movement for most of the game, they collapsed in the last few minutes. Suddenly their spacing was terrible, they were getting in each other's way, and nobody was there for Nash to create good looks for off penetration. Not that I wanna jinx anything, but if they win as expected in Portland tonight, they'll be 3-0 on their first west coast swing. They definitely look like they're going to contend for the best record in the league, which was not the case in either of the last two seasons.

 

[Raasean Asaad]

Contend for the best record in the league? After playing what, 3 games? Way too early for that kind of talk I think but I love your enthusiasm...