NBA 09-10: The Roundball Rock - Page 2

On October 11 2009 02:35 Servolisk wrote:
Hm, looking forward to this Pistons team, even though they aren't contenders, yet... Plz get Amare when Rip expires in 2010!

So how come no one talks much about Amare in 2010? His dominance was unreal he just had some injuries. 37 ppg against Duncan in 2005 WCF O_o (compare to Lebron's 38 ppg vs Howard, or his 22 ppg vs the Spurs in 2007). I would rather build a team around Amare than anyone but Lebron.

Anyway it won't happen this year. This year is very competetive, hard to see which of the top teams will be best.

1. Cavs 2. Magic 3. Lakers

On October 11 2009 02:52 Servolisk wrote:
Hm, no way Celtics beat Cavs IMO. Adding Rasheed who has been terrible lately won't help vs the Cavs who have improved a lot. Lebron almost beat the Celts by himself last time.

Lebron + Shaq vs Kobe in finals would be so interesting.

On October 11 2009 02:59 city42 wrote:

Just to make sure I understood properly, you're saying you'd want to build a team around a guy who:

-Had a catastrophic injury and will never get back the pre-surgery explosiveness he showed in the early 2000s. Moreover, his eyes are a huge concern for the rest of his career.
-Plays the power forward position, but has no upper body strength and gets easily muscled out for rebounding position (his rebounding numbers were inflated significantly due to the recklessly fast-paced suns offense which resulted in more rebounding opportunities).
-Plays the power forward position, but offers absolutely no effort on defense. In the same series you referenced, TD put up 30+ on him nearly every game, and Duncan is not a scoring-minded kind of player. There has never been a franchise player (at least on a winning franchise) who only played one side of the ball, except maybe King, who was a far better offensive weapon than Amare will ever be.
-Despite the lackluster defense, amasses a ton of fouls....he's in Carlos Boozer territory.
-Has a history of behavioral issues and is frequently among the league leaders in Ts.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I guess, but don't expect Joe D to court someone who only plays offense.

On October 11 2009 02:35 Servolisk wrote:
I would rather build a team around Amare than anyone but Lebron.

On October 11 2009 03:21 XaI)CyRiC wrote:
I think the Lakers remain the team to beat simply because the roster is largely the same with the addition of Artest who, if he stays in the system, will make the team better. Toss in potentially better seasons from Farmar (contract year), Brown (more than a few months on the team), Sasha (finally cut off that hair!), and Bynum (health and continued improvement), and there's no reason to not put them up top as favorites.

A lot of people are really high on the Spurs right now, but so much is dependent on an aging, less-durable Duncan, and a continuously less-durable Manu. Sure, the Spurs will be careful and make sure both players are rested and healthy for the postseason, but that doesn't mean that they'll be able to perform as well as they did during their championship years. There's mileage there that reduced minutes can only do so much to counter. RJ and McDyess were great pickups (loved them personally), but I think they just put the Spurs on par with the Lakers, and that's, again, assuming Duncan and Manu can pull out the magic again.

I think people are underestimating the effect of adding Rasheed to the Celtics. People look at last season and conclude that Sheed doesn't have it anymore, but I think they're ignoring the large impact of poor chemistry and a lack of motivation can have on a player as volatile and emotional as Sheed. Put him back on a strong, motivated team that will be very driven to win a championship, and put him in a position where he only has to be the 4th or 5th best player on the team, and I think he's going to make a huge positive impact in Boston. Marquis Daniels has the potential to also be a huge pickup for them if he can stay healthy. He's always been talented and versatile, and his defense and playmaking will fill some needs.

The Cavs are a bit hard to measure because no one knows how Shaq is going to change things, but I don't think expectations can be any lower than 2nd in the East. The roster is largely the same as the one that dominated the regular season (and much of the playoffs) last season, so I don't see much of a dropoff, if any. The playoffs will be a different story, and it remains to be seen whether the Cavs have done enough to put them over the top. I think they'll face stiff competition from two very talented and deep teams in BOS and ORL, with little room for error. I think their best lineup may end up being Mo, AP, Moon, Lebron, and Shaq/Big Z/Varejao.

ORL is an interesting case because Turk was such a big part of what they did. Carter is overall a clear improvement over Turk as an individual player, but that doesn't necessarily mean he'll make the Magic better or even the same. Jameer staying all the way through to the postseason will be a significant boost, and the addition of Bass will be good for them.

Overall, I just really like that there are so many strong and contending teams this season (i.e. LAL, SAS, CLE, BOS, ORL, DEN), combined with some very exciting young, developing teams (i.e. POR, OKC, LAC, CHI). A great balance that should produce a very entertaining and fulfilling season.

On October 13 2009 11:57 BalliSLife wrote:
And for rookie of the year i'm gonna go with my boy brandon jennings!