Originally posted by koolruningz
Pip was a great defender, i'd maybe rate him higher than MJ on that end of the floor. MJ had trouble with bigger more physical players like Magic and in that case Pip would guard them and do a great job. They made each other better, MJ said that himself many times.
Good point. MJ was a great all-arounder, but Pip was more of a specialist.
quote: (post)
Originally posted by RZA
My picks
Eastern Conference Champs:
Pacers beat Pistons
Western Conference Champs:
Spurs beat Dallas
Finals Champs:
Spurs
MVP:
Kobe
Defensive player of the year:
Ron Artest
Most Improved Player:
Dwight howard
Sixth Man:
Findog(I hope) but it might be Walker
Most improved team:
The Clippers
Coach of the Year:
Rick Carlyle
Originally posted by RZA
Time to update my predictions:Obviously with Ron Artest gone from the Pacers, I'm not predicting them to win anything anymore. I think that entitles me to change my picks for Eastern conference champs and coach of the year...
Pistons will definitely win the East now. Only teams in the East I see that can challenge them right now are the Heat and the Nets and I don't see either of them beating Detroit in a 7 game series.
Could coach of the year then go to Flip Saunders? He took over for the legendary Larry Brown who brought them a championship and they're actually playing better under him than Brown or Perhaps Popovich for re-peating with the Spurs? Seems like both of these teams are too good for the coaches to get votes but who else could get it, maybe if Amare comes back and the Suns go to the finals this year then I guess Dantoni should get it. I don't know can't decide on COTY right now so I'll just leave it open. All my other picks still stand. Any thoughts?
Well, the seasons winding down now. Perhaps it's a good time to start revisiting some of these topics again. Maybe we should have like an informal poll or something every week on everything from MVP to coach of the year.
The most heated and competitive debate right now is MVP. I'll weigh in with my opinion, my pick for Kobe still stands. Despite the seasons that Nowitzki and Nash are having, I still think the Lakers would be no where without Kobe even if it is just a 7th or 8th spot it's still better than being out of the playoffs completely and if they match up with the Suns in the first round, with Amare being out for the playoffs, I honestly think they have a legitimate shot of winning this match up or at least making it competitive.
Here are a few things that I said early on:
Well, Lebron will play like he deserves MVP but without getting one of the top 2 seeds in the East, he will not get it. If Miami can pull through without Shaq and then the new guys re-adjust to playing with Shaq and the Heat is #1 in the east (maybe #2), then Wade will probably get MVP. In the west, I see the Spurs running away with most wins which will put Duncan in the running. There is still the chance of the Suns doing well and if they stay good without Amare for 4 months and end up tops in the west anyway, they may give it back to Nash. I don't really see anybody on Detroit getting it even if they have the top record, but with Indy it is possible for Jermaine or Artest to receive it. So pretty much it all comes down to predicting who will have the best team record. Although, I believe Lebron and KG will play the best.
Lets see, the LeBron stuff is still pretty true (and he's getting some consideration but not likely to get it).
Wade still has a chance and Heat is #2 in the East.
My Duncan prediction was way off, but who could have predicted such constant foot problems?
I'm surprised that Nash is getting so much consideration even though they are only 3rd in the West. They are still doing good, which I expected, but without Amare they are nothing compared to last years 62 win season. I do believe Nash is playing more MVP-like this year than last year, but I still see people more deserving (Dirk then Wade).
Pacers are no where near where they were and Artest missed much of the season so that prediction was way way off.
And finally, Kobe and LeBron were the 2 best individual players, rather than KG and LeBron.
And wow, my predictions on the Nets and Cavs looked pretty solid. I even seemed to speak more positively of the Nets back then (this was before tanjot annoyed us of them):
Don't forget NJ. They're off to a pretty good start and they got the players to back it up the whole season so I wouldn't call the Cavs a shoo in just yet for spot #4.
Yeah, they definitely have flaws. However, I still think their record will be good.
And finally my predictions as of Nov 19 (new comments in bold:
A list of predictions:Champions:
1. Spurs
2. Pistons
3. HeatFinals Loser:
1. Pistons
2. Spurs
3. HeatMVP:
1. Tim Duncan
2. Lebron James
3. Dwayne WadeDuncan was way off. Many sources around the league are saying Nash again although my pick would be Dirk (Wade 2nd choice). I'd like to see LeBron get it though even though it is a slim chance.
Defensive player of the year:
1. Marcus Camby
2. Shawn Marion
3. Ben WallaceI don't even know who this should be. Camby kind of faded away. I kind of want to lean towards Marion or Artest. Artest sat out a lot, but he has been right on since joining the Kings.
Rookie of the Year:
1. Chris Paul
2. Charlie Villanueva
3. Andrew BogutThis has been pretty much the same throughout the year. By mid-November everybody was already choosing Paul.
Most Improved Player:
1. Dwight Howard
2. Smush Parker
3. Zaza Pachulia (TJ Ford and James Jones have a chance too)
Dwight definitely improved a lot. However, he won't get it. It will most likely be Diaw.Sixth Man:
1. Antoine Walker
2. Ben Gordon
3. Earl BoykinsShit I don't know on this one. Haven't paid enough attention to all the 6th man choices since MVP is heated up this year. All I know is I don't think any of the 3 I listed deserve it.
Coach of the Year:
1. Flip Saunders
2. Mike Dunleavy
3. Mike Montgomery (Greg Pop isn't on this list because I think he doesn't get enough credit in the voting because his team has been so constant. Flip is an exception because he is a new coach to the Pistons and that gives a voters bias)Top two are still strong candidates. However, I don't think Dunleavy will get it because the Clippers declined after their fast start. I'd say Byron Scott is the top choice with Flip in second and Larry Brown in 3rd........ lol.
😱 Showtime was back in LA last night! Ok we were playing the Warriors who had lost 8 straight but still, so much highlight material. Anyone see Odom's bounce pass between Murphy's legs to Kobe for the 180 jam (while Odom was on his back hustling for the rock). It was a carbon copy of the famous Magic pass to Rambis in the 80's, except Kobe put a little more funk on the finish. Other highlight included a sweet no looker by Kobe to Kwame on the break and a Odom swooping reverse layup. Most entertaining Laker game i've seen all season.
^^^yea he did, even i want to brag about that, and i'm not even a sixer fan.........pistons dominated cleveland, and i'm suprised how well rasheed kept cool when sideshow bob tackled him, 8x outta 10 sheed is gonna blowup in that situation, love how the pistons are looking going into the playoffs, the starting 5 look better than they did in 04, and the're bench has really improved with the addition of delk, he's been playing unbelievable since we picked him up
Originally posted by darth_royke
yeah the highlights i saw were pretty smooth.... odom showed why a lot of people think he has a lot of potential... triple double he had yeah? smooth as.my raps are sucking🙁 they aint playing too bad but we're missing chris bosh so bad
It's okay, they need an good draft pick.
Originally posted by koolruningz
I must say Dan you showed remarkable restraint in not throwing that Sixers win in tanjot's face. Well done man.
😇
the reason i think they lost was because the nets supporting cast to vince, rj, j-kidd, and nenad krstic did not do anything to help. at halftime, the big "four" were shooting 15-42fg...while the rest of the nets players shot only 1-11... iverson had a great game, and vince did not have a great game but his 20+ point game streak is still alive at 23 games.
Damn the magic have been on a tear lately. Just goes to show what can happen when you get Steve Francis out of the picture. They could be a real nice team next year, they are building a solid core with Howard, Nelson and Darko and they are way under the cap for next year now Francis is gone. Howard was just crazy today, 28pts and 26 boards - that dude is the goods. If they can add some complimentary free agents in the off season coupled with a high draft pick they could surprise a few next season.
I cant sign off without giving props to Lamar Odom (who has felt my wrath on more than one occasion this season). Dude had his first career triple double the other night against the Warriors and backed it up with another against the Blazers. He seems so much more comfortable in the triangle offence and knows where to go to get his shots and its paying off big time. Kwame has also been a revelation this last couple of months. I like our core of Kobe, Lamar and Kwame, hopefully we can make some moves to balance our roster in the off season (still too many SF's) and build on what has been a really solid season for us.
How have you evaluated your teams regular season performance? Have they over or under achieved, given you hope for the future or made you feel like you might switch to baseball?