Episode 5 is in the books, and the technical difficulties were minor compared to last week!
PredictaBULL (when Kmart and I predict the Bulls' record for the upcoming week) ...
Monday – OKC
Wednesday - @CLE
Friday – Lakers
Saturday – Twolves
Kmart: 2-2
Jim: 3-1
Listen here:
or download from iTunes
Showing posts with label Kevin Durant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kevin Durant. Show all posts
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Monday, October 26, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
NBA Fantasy - Auction Keeper League
All 3 BBS writers got into the same Fantasy NBA league, so our lucky readers will be getting random updates throughout the season.
To give you some background: It is an auction league with a $60 salary cap. Each owner could spend up to $65, but then had to pay a luxury tax penalty ($1 for each dollar spent over $60 – so if you spent $63, you had to pay $66). There are 9 owners, and each team had to leave the draft with 10 players. We start G, G, F, F, C and Utility, with 4 bench spots. We can keep 2 players next season with an escalating price (so cheap players add $1, expensive adds up to $4 depending on how much you paid for the player being kept).
As a side note, if you’ve never done a live-auction draft before, you should do it. This was my first time (and the first time for all of us in the league) and it was awesome. Way more fun and exciting than a standard fantasy draft.
With that said, here’s a breakdown of how each of us constructed our teams ...
2J - Team name: "Riding KD's MVP" (based on my NBA Predictions)
My goal heading into the draft was to land Kevin Durant and Joe Johnson, and I hoped to do it for less than $40, leaving me with $25 to fill out the rest of my team. A later-round guy I really wanted was Kevin Love, who I hoped would fill up the rebounding category for me.
I got KD early on for $23, and even before Joe Johnson came up for auction I spent $14 on Amare. I wasn’t 100% in love with him, but that seemed like a great price. Thought it was a good value at the time, and then realized he is eligible at the center position, so I love that pickup even more now. I then managed to grab Joe Johnson for only $10. So I was $47 deep and had a solid 3 players to build around.
I decided to wait a bit until the values starting dropping because I only had $18 left for my final 7 roster spots. I grabbed Emeka Okafor on the cheap ($3) because if CP3 can turn Tyson Chandler into a borderline all-star, he should be able to cause Okafor’s offensive stats to jump.
I also grabbed LaMarcus Aldridge ($2) and Kevin Love ($3), so I am pretty deep at PF and C. I then grabbed John Salmons ($2) (of course I needed Bull on my team), who can play both G/F, like KD and Joe Johnson.
My weakest position is PG, so I will be hurting for assists. I got Russell Westbrook ($3) as my primary PG, and went with Jonny Flynn ($2) as my backup. I am hoping other players like Joe Johnson can get me assists from my other positions.
I used my last “pick” on Danilo Gallinari ($2) – so we’ll see how that works out. D’Antoni loves him and supposedly he has been shooting lights out, so it could be a good value for $2 at the end of the draft.
(UPDATE: With K-Love breaking his finger the other night, I could not afford to have him and Danilo taking up roster spots. I was forced to drop Danilo, and since I am stacked at the F spot, I picked up an extra PG – Mario Chalmer’s – great for steals and 3s, and I’m hoping his dimes jump in his second season.)
I ended up spending $64 on my roster, so I had to pay $68 because of the luxury tax. I am very F/C heavy, and weak in the PG stats, but I love very player on my team and I’m really excited to see what happens.
Projected lineup after the draft:
G – Westbrook
G – Joe Johnson
F – Kevin Durant
F – Aldridge
C – Amare
U – Kevin Love
B – Okafor
B – Salmons
B – Jonny Flynn
B – Danilo Gallinari
--------------------------------------
Kmart - Team name: “Gators Wade-ing in the Velvet Sea” (What… you don’t like Phish? Then stop reading.)
Unlike Jim I had no “goal” heading into this draft. I really didn’t know what I was doing. Not only have I never done an auction draft before, but I’ve never even played Fantasy Basketball. There’s never been a reason really. I follow basketball much more than the average casual fan, and I feel that I know enough about basketball to seemingly decide who is “good” and who is “not good”.
Either way being invited to play in this league I decided to give it a go. (Not sure why I waited to pop my fantasy bball cherry in a $60 keeper league, but what the hell?) I felt nervous and unprepared for the draft, but once it started I quickly got into the flow.
My thought process was to find value across the board, pick players I enjoy watching, and don’t overspend or fall in love with any one pick. There were no real players that I “wanted”, only players I know I didn’t want (LeBaby James, the entire C’s roster, etc. etc.) Once DC took CP3 at $26 the market was set.
I knew I needed a top 7-8 player in the NBA in order to be somewhat relevant. The drop off from the Super-stars to stars is much greater than from stars to productive players. After very little resistance, I wound up getting Dewayne Wade at $21.
After that, I was kind of along for the ride. I didn’t want to spend too much money early and be out for the remainder of the draft. I was able to jump in again about 10-12 picks later and snag Chauncy Billups for $10. A few picks later, I grabbed Kevin Martin of the Kings for $8. Perhaps I over-paid a little here, but I couldn’t in my right mind stand for letting someone else get Kmart, at least not in the inaugural year of the draft.
After the first 40 picks, with three players and $21 left I was the money leader in the clubhouse. This meant that if I spent wisely I would likely be able to control the back end of the draft.
With three guards in my first three picks I shifted my focus to picking up the best center available and then picking up my starting forwards. I eyed Brook Lopez and nabbed him for $6. A few picks later I got Vinsanity for $5.
With $10 left under the salary cap for my last 5 picks and another $5 in potential luxury tax, I figured I could be able to outbid anyone for the remainder of players I truly wanted. I eyed two Florida Gators in Al Horford and Joakim Noah. This is ironic because I absolutely hated both those Florida national championship teams. I’ve always admired Horford’s game though, and he was the most physical PF left on the board – and safest bet to be a solid contributor this year so I picked him up for $X. Noah on the other hand has secretly become my second favorite player on the Bulls after I absolutely despised him up until and through draft night. I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but sometime around the Amare trade rumors last year I fell in love with him. I figure at worst this year he’ll be a productive backup C. At best he’s a double-double machine who shoots well from the free-throw stripe and hustles for a block per game. Not a bad pick for $2
After that I had one more player on my board I was hoping to land – Blake Griffin. This is a keeper league so I figured even if he sits on my bench all year; he would be a potential pick that I could likely hold onto for the next two seasons. Needing three more players I nominated Jeff Green and was able to get him for $1. This left me with $7 to spend on Griffin and $1 on my last roster spot – he cost me $6. I rounded out my roster with Trevor Ariza at a buck for a total of $64.
Since I’ve never played fantasy basketball, I have no real idea if my team is good, great, average, or terrible – but I like who I have and I think as long as D-Wade stays healthy I’ll be right in the thick of it at the end. What do you think? Feel free to tell me how great I am, or how much I suck in the comments. (Just remember to click the title of this post, and then login and post your comment in the top box. ALSO – Copy and paste your comment as sometimes it glitches)
Kmart’s projected lineup after the draft:
G – D. Wade
G – C. Billups
F – V. Carter
F – A. Horford
C – B. Lopez
U – K. Martin
B – J. Noah
B – B. Griffin
B – J. Green
B – T. Ariza
DC – Team name (for now, I tend to change them throughout the season): Jannero’s Boneros
First of all, Phish blows. Hard.
Second, this is my first auction league…I’ve played fantasy basketball before, so I have a decent idea of what I’m doing. My handicap was that I had not prepared at all for this draft and I was nursing a sizeable hangover from the previous night’s shenanigans. Owing to both my lack of preparedness and lack of prep, I did not bring anything with me to the bar to write down how much I spent on everyone, so my recap will be a little bit different.
I had a couple goals in the draft: 1) get CP3 or Durant 2) get value after that. As Kmart stated, I set the market at $26 for Chris Paul. At this point, I could have auto drafted the rest of the day and been happy with my team. I think that was a decent value, especially considering Danny Granger went for $24 a few picks later (LeBron went for $23 before Granger…yeah, that’s not a typo. Danny Granger was more sought after than LeBron).
My next two picks were Chris Bosh ($15) and Carlos Boozer ($6). Let me say, I wasn’t in love with either player…I really like Bosh and felt $15 was a good price. Boozer was another story. The bid was at $5 and I just felt no one should get Boozer for only $5 so I bid $6 expecting to get outbid for $7…didn’t happen, so I got him. Not bad, not great. So into our first break, I had spent $47 on 3 players. The most of anyone…but at that time I also feel I had the best top 3 of anyone in the draft. I knew at this point I would be spending the full $65 to fill out my roster and was resigned to that fact.
My next three picks were Monta Ellis, Hedo Turkoglu and Andrew Bynum. I don’t remember how much I had spent on each. All I remember was that the Hedo pick was like the Boozer pick, good value…but I’m concerned about his production in Orlando. We’ll see how the season goes. I love Bynum this year and hope he stays healthy enough to stay in my lineup all season. Ellis should be solid as my other starting guard. I’m still feeling good at this point.
My last four picks were Boris Diaw, Mo Williams, Thaddeus Young, and Courtney Lee. Love Mo Williams as a backup guard/utility option. Diaw was a player I actually didn’t want that much, but felt he’d be a good bench option. Young and Lee were the last two $1 pickups of the draft, because I was the only team with money left and spots available. I have already dropped Lee for Lou Williams on the waiver wire because I think he’ll be solid and he has G/F eligibility (so add another $1 for the free agent pickup). $71 spent so far.
Tell me what you think, but I have Chris Paul so I don’t really care what anyone says.
Overall I’m happy with my starting lineup…especially Bosh, Boozer and Paul. We’ll see where the rest of the pieces fall. Here’s my projected starting lineup:
G- Chris Paul
G- Monta Ellis
F- Hedo
F- Boozer
C- Bosh
Util- Bynum/Mo Williams
Bench- Bynum/Mo Williams
Bench- Boris Diaw
Bench- Thaddeus Young
Bench- Lou Williams
To give you some background: It is an auction league with a $60 salary cap. Each owner could spend up to $65, but then had to pay a luxury tax penalty ($1 for each dollar spent over $60 – so if you spent $63, you had to pay $66). There are 9 owners, and each team had to leave the draft with 10 players. We start G, G, F, F, C and Utility, with 4 bench spots. We can keep 2 players next season with an escalating price (so cheap players add $1, expensive adds up to $4 depending on how much you paid for the player being kept).
As a side note, if you’ve never done a live-auction draft before, you should do it. This was my first time (and the first time for all of us in the league) and it was awesome. Way more fun and exciting than a standard fantasy draft.
With that said, here’s a breakdown of how each of us constructed our teams ...
2J - Team name: "Riding KD's MVP" (based on my NBA Predictions)
My goal heading into the draft was to land Kevin Durant and Joe Johnson, and I hoped to do it for less than $40, leaving me with $25 to fill out the rest of my team. A later-round guy I really wanted was Kevin Love, who I hoped would fill up the rebounding category for me.
I got KD early on for $23, and even before Joe Johnson came up for auction I spent $14 on Amare. I wasn’t 100% in love with him, but that seemed like a great price. Thought it was a good value at the time, and then realized he is eligible at the center position, so I love that pickup even more now. I then managed to grab Joe Johnson for only $10. So I was $47 deep and had a solid 3 players to build around.
I decided to wait a bit until the values starting dropping because I only had $18 left for my final 7 roster spots. I grabbed Emeka Okafor on the cheap ($3) because if CP3 can turn Tyson Chandler into a borderline all-star, he should be able to cause Okafor’s offensive stats to jump.
I also grabbed LaMarcus Aldridge ($2) and Kevin Love ($3), so I am pretty deep at PF and C. I then grabbed John Salmons ($2) (of course I needed Bull on my team), who can play both G/F, like KD and Joe Johnson.
My weakest position is PG, so I will be hurting for assists. I got Russell Westbrook ($3) as my primary PG, and went with Jonny Flynn ($2) as my backup. I am hoping other players like Joe Johnson can get me assists from my other positions.
I used my last “pick” on Danilo Gallinari ($2) – so we’ll see how that works out. D’Antoni loves him and supposedly he has been shooting lights out, so it could be a good value for $2 at the end of the draft.
(UPDATE: With K-Love breaking his finger the other night, I could not afford to have him and Danilo taking up roster spots. I was forced to drop Danilo, and since I am stacked at the F spot, I picked up an extra PG – Mario Chalmer’s – great for steals and 3s, and I’m hoping his dimes jump in his second season.)
I ended up spending $64 on my roster, so I had to pay $68 because of the luxury tax. I am very F/C heavy, and weak in the PG stats, but I love very player on my team and I’m really excited to see what happens.
Projected lineup after the draft:
G – Westbrook
G – Joe Johnson
F – Kevin Durant
F – Aldridge
C – Amare
U – Kevin Love
B – Okafor
B – Salmons
B – Jonny Flynn
B – Danilo Gallinari
--------------------------------------
Kmart - Team name: “Gators Wade-ing in the Velvet Sea” (What… you don’t like Phish? Then stop reading.)
Unlike Jim I had no “goal” heading into this draft. I really didn’t know what I was doing. Not only have I never done an auction draft before, but I’ve never even played Fantasy Basketball. There’s never been a reason really. I follow basketball much more than the average casual fan, and I feel that I know enough about basketball to seemingly decide who is “good” and who is “not good”.
Either way being invited to play in this league I decided to give it a go. (Not sure why I waited to pop my fantasy bball cherry in a $60 keeper league, but what the hell?) I felt nervous and unprepared for the draft, but once it started I quickly got into the flow.
My thought process was to find value across the board, pick players I enjoy watching, and don’t overspend or fall in love with any one pick. There were no real players that I “wanted”, only players I know I didn’t want (LeBaby James, the entire C’s roster, etc. etc.) Once DC took CP3 at $26 the market was set.
I knew I needed a top 7-8 player in the NBA in order to be somewhat relevant. The drop off from the Super-stars to stars is much greater than from stars to productive players. After very little resistance, I wound up getting Dewayne Wade at $21.
After that, I was kind of along for the ride. I didn’t want to spend too much money early and be out for the remainder of the draft. I was able to jump in again about 10-12 picks later and snag Chauncy Billups for $10. A few picks later, I grabbed Kevin Martin of the Kings for $8. Perhaps I over-paid a little here, but I couldn’t in my right mind stand for letting someone else get Kmart, at least not in the inaugural year of the draft.
After the first 40 picks, with three players and $21 left I was the money leader in the clubhouse. This meant that if I spent wisely I would likely be able to control the back end of the draft.
With three guards in my first three picks I shifted my focus to picking up the best center available and then picking up my starting forwards. I eyed Brook Lopez and nabbed him for $6. A few picks later I got Vinsanity for $5.
With $10 left under the salary cap for my last 5 picks and another $5 in potential luxury tax, I figured I could be able to outbid anyone for the remainder of players I truly wanted. I eyed two Florida Gators in Al Horford and Joakim Noah. This is ironic because I absolutely hated both those Florida national championship teams. I’ve always admired Horford’s game though, and he was the most physical PF left on the board – and safest bet to be a solid contributor this year so I picked him up for $X. Noah on the other hand has secretly become my second favorite player on the Bulls after I absolutely despised him up until and through draft night. I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but sometime around the Amare trade rumors last year I fell in love with him. I figure at worst this year he’ll be a productive backup C. At best he’s a double-double machine who shoots well from the free-throw stripe and hustles for a block per game. Not a bad pick for $2
After that I had one more player on my board I was hoping to land – Blake Griffin. This is a keeper league so I figured even if he sits on my bench all year; he would be a potential pick that I could likely hold onto for the next two seasons. Needing three more players I nominated Jeff Green and was able to get him for $1. This left me with $7 to spend on Griffin and $1 on my last roster spot – he cost me $6. I rounded out my roster with Trevor Ariza at a buck for a total of $64.
Since I’ve never played fantasy basketball, I have no real idea if my team is good, great, average, or terrible – but I like who I have and I think as long as D-Wade stays healthy I’ll be right in the thick of it at the end. What do you think? Feel free to tell me how great I am, or how much I suck in the comments. (Just remember to click the title of this post, and then login and post your comment in the top box. ALSO – Copy and paste your comment as sometimes it glitches)
Kmart’s projected lineup after the draft:
G – D. Wade
G – C. Billups
F – V. Carter
F – A. Horford
C – B. Lopez
U – K. Martin
B – J. Noah
B – B. Griffin
B – J. Green
B – T. Ariza
DC – Team name (for now, I tend to change them throughout the season): Jannero’s Boneros
First of all, Phish blows. Hard.
Second, this is my first auction league…I’ve played fantasy basketball before, so I have a decent idea of what I’m doing. My handicap was that I had not prepared at all for this draft and I was nursing a sizeable hangover from the previous night’s shenanigans. Owing to both my lack of preparedness and lack of prep, I did not bring anything with me to the bar to write down how much I spent on everyone, so my recap will be a little bit different.
I had a couple goals in the draft: 1) get CP3 or Durant 2) get value after that. As Kmart stated, I set the market at $26 for Chris Paul. At this point, I could have auto drafted the rest of the day and been happy with my team. I think that was a decent value, especially considering Danny Granger went for $24 a few picks later (LeBron went for $23 before Granger…yeah, that’s not a typo. Danny Granger was more sought after than LeBron).
My next two picks were Chris Bosh ($15) and Carlos Boozer ($6). Let me say, I wasn’t in love with either player…I really like Bosh and felt $15 was a good price. Boozer was another story. The bid was at $5 and I just felt no one should get Boozer for only $5 so I bid $6 expecting to get outbid for $7…didn’t happen, so I got him. Not bad, not great. So into our first break, I had spent $47 on 3 players. The most of anyone…but at that time I also feel I had the best top 3 of anyone in the draft. I knew at this point I would be spending the full $65 to fill out my roster and was resigned to that fact.
My next three picks were Monta Ellis, Hedo Turkoglu and Andrew Bynum. I don’t remember how much I had spent on each. All I remember was that the Hedo pick was like the Boozer pick, good value…but I’m concerned about his production in Orlando. We’ll see how the season goes. I love Bynum this year and hope he stays healthy enough to stay in my lineup all season. Ellis should be solid as my other starting guard. I’m still feeling good at this point.
My last four picks were Boris Diaw, Mo Williams, Thaddeus Young, and Courtney Lee. Love Mo Williams as a backup guard/utility option. Diaw was a player I actually didn’t want that much, but felt he’d be a good bench option. Young and Lee were the last two $1 pickups of the draft, because I was the only team with money left and spots available. I have already dropped Lee for Lou Williams on the waiver wire because I think he’ll be solid and he has G/F eligibility (so add another $1 for the free agent pickup). $71 spent so far.
Tell me what you think, but I have Chris Paul so I don’t really care what anyone says.
Overall I’m happy with my starting lineup…especially Bosh, Boozer and Paul. We’ll see where the rest of the pieces fall. Here’s my projected starting lineup:
G- Chris Paul
G- Monta Ellis
F- Hedo
F- Boozer
C- Bosh
Util- Bynum/Mo Williams
Bench- Bynum/Mo Williams
Bench- Boris Diaw
Bench- Thaddeus Young
Bench- Lou Williams
Thursday, October 8, 2009
NBA Player Rankings – Small Forward
Last week I posted “NBA Player Rankings – Shooting Guard”, now we move to ranking the small forward position.
These are subjective rankings, meaning that although I considered statistics, the final rankings are based on my personal thoughts and feelings on each player. I ranked each player based on the position they actually play for their team, and considered each players’ impact this year and going forward. The things I considered in developing my rankings are: skills/accomplishments, age, stage of career, future potential.
1. Lebron James
2. Kevin Durant
3. Carmelo Anthony
4. Paul Pierce
5. Danny Granger
6. Andre Igoudala
7. Caron Butler
8. Hedo Turkoglu
9. Trevor Ariza
10. Rashard Lewis
11. Shawn Marion
12. Tayshaun Prince
13. Andre Kirilenko
14. Rudy Gay
15. Ron Artest
Just missed the list: Michael Beasley, Richard Jefferson, Luol Deng, Gerald Wallace, Josh Howard, James Posey, Marvin Williams
It was tough for me to put KD in the #2 spot after picking him to win the scoring title and MVP this year, but I hope it’s not long before everyone ranks KD ahead of Lebron.
The next one I had trouble with was The Matrix, who I think is up too high on this list. He hasn’t done much in the past couple years, but he might have a resurgence playing with J-Kidd in Dallas this year.
I always think of small forward as the best position as far as athleticism and scoring, and it is stacked up in the top 8-9 of this list, but the lower players on this list are much less impressive. I don’t think anyone ranked 9-15 could be the second best player on a championship team, but could be third fiddle.
Really tough to leave Beasley out of the top 15, and I see him quickly jumping back in. But with the tough off-season, I’m not sure what to expect this season. This position is very deep as far as good players, so there are a bunch of “just missed the list guys.” I could easily see Beasley, Deng or Marvin Williams jumping up this list with a good season. Obviously I’m really hoping that Deng comes back to his form of 3 years ago, when he was widely considered a lock to be a future all-star.
Click here for "NBA Player Rankings – Power Forward"
These are subjective rankings, meaning that although I considered statistics, the final rankings are based on my personal thoughts and feelings on each player. I ranked each player based on the position they actually play for their team, and considered each players’ impact this year and going forward. The things I considered in developing my rankings are: skills/accomplishments, age, stage of career, future potential.
1. Lebron James
2. Kevin Durant
3. Carmelo Anthony
4. Paul Pierce
5. Danny Granger
6. Andre Igoudala
7. Caron Butler
8. Hedo Turkoglu
9. Trevor Ariza
10. Rashard Lewis
11. Shawn Marion
12. Tayshaun Prince
13. Andre Kirilenko
14. Rudy Gay
15. Ron Artest
Just missed the list: Michael Beasley, Richard Jefferson, Luol Deng, Gerald Wallace, Josh Howard, James Posey, Marvin Williams
It was tough for me to put KD in the #2 spot after picking him to win the scoring title and MVP this year, but I hope it’s not long before everyone ranks KD ahead of Lebron.
The next one I had trouble with was The Matrix, who I think is up too high on this list. He hasn’t done much in the past couple years, but he might have a resurgence playing with J-Kidd in Dallas this year.
I always think of small forward as the best position as far as athleticism and scoring, and it is stacked up in the top 8-9 of this list, but the lower players on this list are much less impressive. I don’t think anyone ranked 9-15 could be the second best player on a championship team, but could be third fiddle.
Really tough to leave Beasley out of the top 15, and I see him quickly jumping back in. But with the tough off-season, I’m not sure what to expect this season. This position is very deep as far as good players, so there are a bunch of “just missed the list guys.” I could easily see Beasley, Deng or Marvin Williams jumping up this list with a good season. Obviously I’m really hoping that Deng comes back to his form of 3 years ago, when he was widely considered a lock to be a future all-star.
Click here for "NBA Player Rankings – Power Forward"
Monday, September 28, 2009
NBA Pre- Pre-Season Playoffs & Awards Predictions
With October just around the corner, the NBA is about to begin another pre-season. I could not be more excited (unless we actually had real NBA referees for pre-season ... then I would be slightly more excited). Either way, I am glad D-Rose, TT and Joa-Noah will be back in my life on a more consistent bases.
The greatest sport on earth begins the 2009-10 season in just a few weeks. Here are my predictions for The Association (*since pre-season is just getting under-way, I reserve the right to change these picks after I have seen some of these teams in action) ...
Western Conference Playoffs:
1. Lakers
2. Spurs
3. Blazers
4. Hornets
5. Nuggets
6. Mavs
7. Jazz
8. Thunder
Just miss playoffs: Clippers, Rockets, Suns
The Lakers basically swapping Artest for Ariza hurts them, but the Kobe/Pau combo should be enough to take them back to the #1 seed in the West. Jefferson and a healthy Manu really help the Spurs. The Blazers are ready to make a jump if B-Roy continues to produce and they can get anything out of Oden. The Hornets-Nuggets-Mavs-Jazz seem fairly interchangeable at this point, though I have to say Matrix makes the Mavs very interesting. I am going out on a limb with both the OKC Thunder in the playoffs and the Clippers just missing. It could be the other way around, but I love OKC (especially KD, as you will soon see). The Clippers have a good young core (Gordon and Griffin) and if the Mad Baron is healthy, they could compete or even sneak in.
Eastern Conference Playoffs:
1. Cavs
2. Magic
3. Celtics
4. Hawks
5. Wizards
6. Bulls
7. 76ers
8. Heat
Just miss playoffs: Pistons, Raps
Cavs should have a great regular season, but I predict we will Witness another choke in the playoffs. Not convinced the Magic will be the 2 seed because I don't think they create the same matchup problems with VC as they did with Hedo ... but who else can I put there? I don't think KG is healthy (plus I hate (HATE!) the Celtics!!) Hawks and Wizards are somewhat of a guess and I really wanted to peg the Bulls a bit higher, but the East has a bunch of really good teams ... and we are still coached by VDN. I could see the Hawks and Wizards slipping and the Bulls fighting for home-court in the first round. I could also see the Heat struggling and the Pistons in the playoffs, but haven't seen their new core together yet.
Conference Finals:
West: Lakers over Spurs
East: Magic over Hawks
No idea how the East will shake down in the playoffs, but I don't see both of last year's Finals teams making it back. I'll make that the pick for now, but I think that my pick will change after I see the pre-season.
NBA Champ:
Lakers
Artest put this on his shoulders, but I think it's Kobe and Pau leading the way back to the title.
------------------------------
League leaders:
PPG: Kevin Durant (33.2)
I think this is a breakout year for KD - he's going to show everyone just what a special scorer he is. And he's going to do it in a humble, lovable manner! (Take that Lebron!)
APG: Chris Paul (12.1)
Best PG in the NBA.
RPG: Dwight Howard (12.9)
Nothing changes from last year.
BPG: Dwight Howard (2.75)
See previous comment.
Awards:
ROY: Johnny Flynn
I have him edging out Blake Griffin because he will have the ball in his hands a lot, and Minny might not be terrible with their young core. Putting up points on a decent team usually does the trick, so it's either Flynn or Griffin.
6th man: AI
Hard to pick this award at this point.
Most improved: Devin Harris
Has to shoulder a lot more of the offensive load with VC gone, so his numbers will jump.
DPOY: Dwight Howard
Blocks and rebounds should do it again, especially if the Magic are a dominant defensive team. Someone like D-Wade could sneak in with a lot of blocks and steals, but Superman did enough last year, so this award will remain his for another season.
MVP: Kevin Durant
That's right I said it. I think OKC sneaks into the playoffs behind Durantula's breakout season and he wins his first MVP award in the feel-good story of the year.
-------------------------
Marc Stein's Pre-season power rankings -
The greatest sport on earth begins the 2009-10 season in just a few weeks. Here are my predictions for The Association (*since pre-season is just getting under-way, I reserve the right to change these picks after I have seen some of these teams in action) ...
Western Conference Playoffs:
1. Lakers
2. Spurs
3. Blazers
4. Hornets
5. Nuggets
6. Mavs
7. Jazz
8. Thunder
Just miss playoffs: Clippers, Rockets, Suns
The Lakers basically swapping Artest for Ariza hurts them, but the Kobe/Pau combo should be enough to take them back to the #1 seed in the West. Jefferson and a healthy Manu really help the Spurs. The Blazers are ready to make a jump if B-Roy continues to produce and they can get anything out of Oden. The Hornets-Nuggets-Mavs-Jazz seem fairly interchangeable at this point, though I have to say Matrix makes the Mavs very interesting. I am going out on a limb with both the OKC Thunder in the playoffs and the Clippers just missing. It could be the other way around, but I love OKC (especially KD, as you will soon see). The Clippers have a good young core (Gordon and Griffin) and if the Mad Baron is healthy, they could compete or even sneak in.
Eastern Conference Playoffs:
1. Cavs
2. Magic
3. Celtics
4. Hawks
5. Wizards
6. Bulls
7. 76ers
8. Heat
Just miss playoffs: Pistons, Raps
Cavs should have a great regular season, but I predict we will Witness another choke in the playoffs. Not convinced the Magic will be the 2 seed because I don't think they create the same matchup problems with VC as they did with Hedo ... but who else can I put there? I don't think KG is healthy (plus I hate (HATE!) the Celtics!!) Hawks and Wizards are somewhat of a guess and I really wanted to peg the Bulls a bit higher, but the East has a bunch of really good teams ... and we are still coached by VDN. I could see the Hawks and Wizards slipping and the Bulls fighting for home-court in the first round. I could also see the Heat struggling and the Pistons in the playoffs, but haven't seen their new core together yet.
Conference Finals:
West: Lakers over Spurs
East: Magic over Hawks
No idea how the East will shake down in the playoffs, but I don't see both of last year's Finals teams making it back. I'll make that the pick for now, but I think that my pick will change after I see the pre-season.
NBA Champ:
Lakers
Artest put this on his shoulders, but I think it's Kobe and Pau leading the way back to the title.
------------------------------
League leaders:
PPG: Kevin Durant (33.2)
I think this is a breakout year for KD - he's going to show everyone just what a special scorer he is. And he's going to do it in a humble, lovable manner! (Take that Lebron!)
APG: Chris Paul (12.1)
Best PG in the NBA.
RPG: Dwight Howard (12.9)
Nothing changes from last year.
BPG: Dwight Howard (2.75)
See previous comment.
Awards:
ROY: Johnny Flynn
I have him edging out Blake Griffin because he will have the ball in his hands a lot, and Minny might not be terrible with their young core. Putting up points on a decent team usually does the trick, so it's either Flynn or Griffin.
6th man: AI
Hard to pick this award at this point.
Most improved: Devin Harris
Has to shoulder a lot more of the offensive load with VC gone, so his numbers will jump.
DPOY: Dwight Howard
Blocks and rebounds should do it again, especially if the Magic are a dominant defensive team. Someone like D-Wade could sneak in with a lot of blocks and steals, but Superman did enough last year, so this award will remain his for another season.
MVP: Kevin Durant
That's right I said it. I think OKC sneaks into the playoffs behind Durantula's breakout season and he wins his first MVP award in the feel-good story of the year.
-------------------------
Marc Stein's Pre-season power rankings -
13 (11) Bulls 41-41
With D-Rose no longer a rook, Deng back from injury, and Brad Miller and Salmons in training camp, Chicago will weather Ben Gordon's departure. Especially since the Bulls are a likely 2010 free-agent player, too.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Bears Pre-season Reactions
I wish we could have seen the entire first-unit on offense (read: Greg Olsen and Matt Forte), but it was fun to see Cutler out there in a Bears uni. He didn't look great, but who cares? It's the pre-season. He did show off his laser-rcoket arm on the interception he threw in the 1Q - when he jumped off his back foot and threw a bomb. (Like I said, I don't care that it was a pick because it was the first pre-season game). The D looked pretty good too, even the 2nd unit guys (granted playing against the Bills 2nd unit). Either way, happy to see football season is getting started, and happy to see a real QB in a Bears uniform.
Cutler has room to improve -
Cutler human -
10 Observations -
Some quick links ...
Top 10 PGs -
Other than CP3, everyone on that list should move down 1 spot when Derrick Rose makes the leap to #2 early next season.
Who will be better: D-Rose or B-Roy? -
Colangelo wants the Olympics in Chicago -
Kevin Durant to replace Redd on Team USA? -
Cutler has room to improve -
Jay Cutler looked best when ... on second-and-6 at the Bears' 16, he took a deep drop, set his feet and fired a strike to Devin Hester on a deep comeback route. The connection covered 20 yards and displayed the best of Cutler: sturdy base, strong arm, rare velocity and accuracy. We didn't see it often on Day 1 of the Cutler Era.
Looked worst when ... he threw a near interception that Reggie Corner dropped after he had thrown an interception to Leodis McKelvin. On that Corner play, it appeared there could have been a miscommunication between Cutler and Earl Bennett that resulted in the quarterback hesitating. Tentative, Cutler pumped, pulled back and eventually threw a pass he immediately wanted back. Like most quarterbacks, when Cutler hesitates, the play is easy to lose.
COverall grade: He only made two decent throws and should have had two interceptions, but he also was playing without two weapons: Matt Forte and Greg Olsen.
Cutler human -
Unwelcome but necessary, a late arrival to the Jay Cutler Bandwagon dampened the enthusiasm surrounding the debut of the Bears quarterback Saturday night at Ralph Wilson Stadium.
Reality.
Turns out Jay Cutler can make mistakes. He will disappoint. He needs a transition period.
He might even raise an eyebrow as he holds his wide receivers publicly accountable for an interception he threw, as Cutler did when beginning an answer about his interception with an explanation of Devin Hester's role in it.
Asked what happened on the underthrown first-quarter pass Cutler heaved off his back foot that cornerback Leodis McKelvin intercepted, the Bears quarterback introduced Hester into the equation.
"Devin is more of a go-get-it guy," Cutler said. "He's not really a back-shoulder, jump-up-and-get-it [guy] and ... you learn from it. You make some mistakes. It's a preseason game."
10 Observations -
1. I thought my colleague Mike Mulligan said it best when he pointed out Tony Dungy and Mike Ditka have questioned the leadership ability of Jay Cutler, and the quarterback made the point worth pondering again in post-game remarks. Cutler was asked an innocuous question about what happened on the interception by Leodis McKelvin on an underthrown. Cutler appeared to throw off his back foot, and he pretty much implicated wide receiver Devin Hester.
"Devin is more of a go-get it guy, he is not really a back shoulder or jump up and get it [guy],'' Cutler said. "You learn from it. We made some mistakes. It's the first preseason game. Luckily enough, we have some time to correct them and keep going."
Say what you want about the quarterbacks that came before Cutler, and Kyle Orton's three-pick stinker Friday night in San Francisco said a lot on its own, but those guys never placed their receivers in front of the bus.
2. Great move by Lovie Smith to rest running back Matt Forte. There is no need for a running back to play in four exhibition games. Smith informed Forte at breakfast Saturday that he would not be playing. Forte hoped to get some action but LaDainian Tomlinson has gone entire preseasons without touching the ball.
3. If you're not worried about the Bears' secondary, you must not have watched the game. Trent Edwards was 10-for-10 and his replacement Ryan Fitzpatrick was 13-for-16. No, they didn't hit the Bears for much deep stuff, but nobody did last year and the Bears still finished 30th in the league in pass defense. Keep in mind, the Bills were without Terrell Owens. Buffalo systematically picked the secondary apart. Alex Brown did pick up a coverage sack, and Corey Graham looked smooth blitzing off the edge as the nickel back to get another sack. Here's what is scary about the defensive backfield right now, the Bears are counting on injured guys to come to the rescue. They're also counting on Nathan Vasher to bounce back. If they're playing blackjack here, it doesn't look like they're holding any face cards at this point.
4. Strong safety Al Afalava moved around pretty well. Looks like he is on the inside track for a starting job but that means Kevin Payne will be at free safety.
Some quick links ...
Top 10 PGs -
1) Chris Paul, 2) Deron Williams, 3) Steve Nash, 4) Chauncey Billups, 5) Tony Parker, 6) Derrick Rose, 7) Devin Harris, 8) Jason Kidd, 9) Rajon Rondo, 10) Russell Westbrook
Other than CP3, everyone on that list should move down 1 spot when Derrick Rose makes the leap to #2 early next season.
Who will be better: D-Rose or B-Roy? -
The Great Poohdini was amazing in the playoffs this year and Brandon Roy was simply a top 10 baller throughout the season.
D-Rose is four years younger than Roy and not only won the rookie of the year award but could have easily been an All-Star during the second half of the season.
I know they don't play the same position so it's hard to compare but they are two of the youngest and most talented kids in the game.
Rose is a straight-up baller and Brandon Roy's jumper is second to very few (Kobe & Monta Ellis maybe).
Let me know what you think. I haven't heard this question before and I think it's a fun one to discuss.
As for me, I would say they will both be all-stars for the next 10 years. If it comes down to championships, I got D-Rose, just because he is younger which helps his case.
Colangelo wants the Olympics in Chicago -
Jerry Colangelo has a World Series trophy and a gold medal. He has earned the respect of everyone who remembers Phoenix as a dusty desert pit stop on the road to somewhere else.
And now the countdown has begun.
In less than 50 days, the International Olympic Committee will announce its host city for the 2016 Olympics. Colangelo is deeply vested in the outcome, currently serving on the bid committee for his hometown. If Chicago wins, his own personal finish line comes into view.
"The vote takes place in Copenhagen on October 2nd, and I plan to be there, representing Chicago, doing whatever I can to help," Colangelo said. "It's all about the delegates. It's all about the votes."
Kevin Durant to replace Redd on Team USA? -
Just one year ago, Redd was in Beijing with the U.S. "Redeem Team" as it made its unbeaten run to an Olympic gold medal.
Redd said he has not talked to anybody about a future role with the U.S. team, although he indicated U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski has contacted him several times to wish him well in returning from his injury.
"It's really not been on my mind, especially with the injury," Redd said. "Right now my focus is on getting healthy."
It has been speculated that Oklahoma City guard Kevin Durant, who played well in national team auditions this summer in Las Vegas, could fill Redd's role as a designated shooter on the U.S. team that will compete in the 2010 World Championships in Turkey. Krzyzewski has agreed to return for the four-year cycle ending with the 2012 London Olympics.
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