Originally posted by Myth
I'm going with the Spurs as well. Heat just doesn't look like a team that will click as much. Although, I hear that Payton's agent was talking with Riley.
but imagine if they did click. Wade, Shaq, Walker, Posey, and Williams. That is a great team. Williams is great at assists,(from what i know) Posey is really good at 3's(from what i know again) Walker is really good, and Shaq and Wade are Shaq and Wade.
I like what they've done.
I wasn't totally for the Welles trade but he has one year left on his contract so if you starts acting up, he won't last long. The Rahim signing was a steal, only 5 million a year for a guy going into his prime.
Looking into the season, it's still the same old Kings. They can score lots especially when Bibby, Welles, Peja, Rahim, Miller is your starting lineup. I also like the bench, Jason Hart is supposed to be a pretty good defender while Skinner is a banger with decent shot blocking. Thomas should contend for 6th man of the year with his scoring ability and Corliss is still a good post presence.
It still comes down to whether they can play defense. They're more athletic than in years past, but still 8 out of 10 players are offensive minded with Peja the only great defender on the team. They're probably a top 5 western conference team, but unless they play great defense (which I doubt can happen) they have no shot at beating the Spurs.
Thats what it always comes down to isnt it? Defense wins the championships, it may be ugly but its essential to winning. Sounds like the Kings have filled the hole left by Webber with Rahim, which has maybe more upside. Webber is a class PF but he is getting on and his knees are shot, Rahim is a durable PF with some nice skills. You guys have Bibby and Miller to chalk up the assists anyway.
Im getting more and more worried that my beloved Lakers are actually going into the season with their current roster. They still have a stack of SF and a painfully soft front line with Medvedenko and Cook backing up Kwame. I am not a religious man but i am praying anyway that we dont start the season with this unbalanced roster.
i think the miami situation is a bit different to the 2004 lakers. the miami team is a lot younger than the lakers were. malone was getting on a bit, and had trouble with the triangle offence. payton the same really, they just were'nt as effective. miami are gonna be a bit different, whether they click or not they'll be dangerous.
Unlike the Lakers, this will obviously be Shaq AND Wade's team, not Shaq OR Kobe's.
This Gary thing is kind of interesting. A 2nd go around with Shaq but even stranger is that Gary was traded to the Hawks for Walker, signed to come back to Celtics to play along side Walker, and Walker was traded to Heat, and now Payton has signed to play along side Walker one more time and this was all within one year.
Originally posted by koolruningz
So you're hopeful about their chances this season then Smasandian?
.
Hell no.
But I have faith that they will turn out good sometime in the next hundred years.
I just hope the critics are wrong and that Villneuve guy is good because bye bye Bosh if not.
But thats always the story in Raptor land.
i think the raptors have a bit to do in regards to rebuilding. lets see how the new centre and joey graham fairs, and you never know... maybe a couple of years, if bosh stays we'll have a playoff team. hopefully, if we have a bad season then next year we'll be high on draft day, so we can get a good player.
It does seem like all the Raptors players that develop into marque names seem to pack their bags as soon as the big names come calling. If Bosh does the same it will be a shame, there's no chance of the Raptors pulling themselves up if their star players are not loyal. Do any of you Raptor fans know why these players run for the hills as soon as they can?