Previous NBA Previews:
Central Division
Northwest Division
1. Miami Heat (1st in East, 1st in NBA)
Who is new: Shane Battier, Norris Cole
Why are they here: Came within a couple games of a championship despite the fact that Mike Bibby, Juwan Howard and Zydrunas Ilgauskus all played roles on the team.
Most important player: LeBron James. Not sure this needs much of an explanation.
Outlook: I think the Heat win the first of two straight titles this season. Last year, they literally didn’t have one above average player on their team besides the big-3. This year, they have a healthy Udonis Haslem, Shane Battier and a-year-older Mario Chalmers. I really think that that is all they need.
2. Orlando Magic (5th in East, 11th in NBA)
Who is new: Glen Davis, Von Wafer, Justin Harper, DeAndre Liggins
Why are they here: Because they still have Dwight Howard. For now. The rest of the team is pretty mediocre.
Most important player: Dwight Howard. For two reasons, he either needs to flat out carry this team, or play so well that they can get an insane haul for him at the trade deadline.
Outlook: Take Howard off this team and they are the worst in the NBA. Jameer Nelson is the only other player on this team I like. They only made their situation worse in the off-season by spending money on Glen Davis and Jason Richardson. They still have Hedo Turkoglu’s horrible deal. They still have Chris Duhon and Quentin Richardson. They are a ton of past their prime veterans with really no player who could possibly step up to help out Howard.
3. Atlanta Hawks (6th in East, 14th in NBA)
Who is new: Tracy McGrady, Vladimir Ramanovic, Keith Benson
Why are they here: They are what they are. They have a solid, unspectacular core of Joe Johnson, Josh Smith and Al Horford. They will win a decent amount of regular season games and then be unproductive in the playoffs.
Most important player: Dare I say Tracy McGrady? This team is so predictable, it’s tough to pick anyone to really step up and McGrady actually has big shoes to fill with Jamal Crawford the biggest piece leaving Atlanta.
Outlook: The Hawks are stuck in 5th-6th seed “hell.” It’s not a horrible place to be, you get to play some playoff basketball, but they don’t have the cap flexibility or high drafts picks to ever really get considerably better.
4. Washington Wizards (11th in East, 26th in NBA)
Who is new: Jan Vesely, Chris Singleton, Shelvin Mack, Ronny Turiaf, Roger Mason Jr.
Why are they here: If you watched any of the pre-season games against the Sixers, you are probably wondering why they aren’t lower. The assumption is someone will tell John Wall the season has started.
Most important player: Wall. He had a good rookie season, somewhat overrated because of his knack for the amazing play. I’m not sold on him as a player who will truly get better each year. If he does though, he will transform this team.
Outlook: Wall doesn’t have a whole lot to work with, but I did like their draft haul of Vesely, Singleton and Mack. Another bad year, some more good pieces, drop the dead weight (Blatche, Lewis, pretty much everyone but McGee) and 2012-13 could be an interesting year. But not this year.
5. Charlotte Bobcats (15th in East, 30th in NBA)
Who is new: Kemba Walker, Bismack Biyombo, Corey Maggette, Reggie Williams
Why are they here: They have the worst roster in the league. On the ESPN 500, their highest ranked player was DJ Augustin, at 119. There are 118 players in the league better than the best player on the Bobcats.
Most important player: Kemba Walker. They need a face of the franchise and a leader. He’s their best bet.
Outlook: It could be very, very ugly for the Bobcats. Their best hope is to collect as many ping pong balls as possible and get the #1 pick in the 2012 draft.
118 players than Charlotte’s best player + Charlotte as terrible basketball market + NBA was just locked out since the owners can’t figure out how to make money = Contraction
I don’t think fans in Charlotte will ever give a shit unless MJ suits up again.
Vucevic sucks. He’s the smallest 7-footer I’ve ever seen. Shoulda drafted Chris Singleton if we were trying to win, the Donatas guy if we weren’t. Collins needs to stay out of personnel decisions.
Wizards should’ve drafted Klay Thompson, woulda been perfect next to Wall.
I must own that the Jason Smith comparisons are far from far-fetched.
Best case scenario, he won’t be a starter. I like his attitude on defense but it seems he does nothing very well. That’s pretty hard to build on. At least it seems that way. Withhold opinion for now.
Agree more than 100%. He is horrendous. He couldn’t even grab a rebound at the end the game with no one but his own teammate going after the ball.
Optimism sapped. Keeping the team the same except for adding one first round pick is their strategy. Yet they draft the worst possible player for this team they can.
Am I the only one thinking that Harris and Aron have a little crazy-new-owner latitude here. They’ve got us all paying attention – the ticket prices, axing Hip Hop and Matt Cord, getting rid of Stefanski – we all think they’re ready to move this team in a new and prosperous direction. BUT, they left Rod Thorn in place. They can totally circumvent him, make some absolutely-bat-shit-crazy-as-fuck moves, put the Sixers in the headlines, lock up a four seed and a home playoff series and then, when those moves blow up in their faces (which they will) they can blame Thorn, fire him and get everybody excited that Thorn is gone. It would be brilliant.
The Bobcats – I think they surprise. Biyombo will win games for them with his rebounding. Kemba will be a scoring machine. I think the GM Rich Cho knew what he was doing in creating this team. Their mix of players fit nicely into roles. They won’t play good defense, though. I think they compete for the final playoff spot. They’ll give the Sixers trouble with their rebounding.
Washington – Cool new unis, but they’ll be terrible and will be in the running for the #1 pick. Wall plays too out of control and for all that talent he doesn’t know how to lead, he’s too laid back. Watching him play, he makes me feel that what he cares about most is entertainment, not winning. They should hire Larry Brown as a coach. The Sixers are too disciplined and have too much chemistry to lose to the Wizards at all this year.
I totally agree with your take on Washington – especially the LB move, that would be great entertainment. Totally disagree with you on Charlotte, I think they win 12 games this year. They do have decent size and some of those guys will rebound but Diow is their center. Kemba and Biyombo will both be very good NBA players but they’re two years away and their veteran leader is Corey Maggette. 12 years, almost $70M and he’s been on exactly one playoff team (05-06 Clippers). His teams have averaged 33 wins a year and this Bobcats team might be the worst squad he’s ever played for. This season in Charlotte will be measured in ping-pong balls not wins.
The Bobcats roster, and the roles of their players:
D.J. Augustin- starting point, distributor
Bismack Biyombo – primary rebounder, will be awesome as center in small lineups
Will Blalock – who is this guy
Derrick Brown – who is this guy
Matt Carroll – the Steve Kerr shooter
Dante Cunningham – I know this guy but he’s done crap so far in NBA
Boris Diaw – the fat French guy who does Iggy-like stuff to help you win
DeSagana Diop – 2nd unit rebounding
Ronald Dupree – again, who the f*ck, I thnk he scored a lot of points once but I think I’m thinking about Flip Murray
Melvin Ely – turd big man, can do spot minutes
Taylor Griffin – who?
Gerald Henderson – This is where I think the unexpected boost will come from – they’ll get decent defense from him and he’ll be a serviceable shooting guard
Corey Maggette – you don’t win with all young guys, there has to be a vet with significant talent who plays a significant role on your team. He’s your go-to guy. He can create for himself and can get to the line.
Isma’il Muhammad – who…
Byron Mullens – turd big man, go to Europe already before the Sixers trade Speights for you
Eduardo Najera – 2nd unit hustle guy
Joel Przybilla – very serviceable center
Durrell Summers – who?
Garrett Temple – who?
Tyrus Thomas – along with Henderson, an athlete who can get out and run.
Ben Uzoh – who
Kemba Walker – I buy the Allen Iverson comparisons, maybe others don’t. The Raptors should’ve taken him. I think he challenges for rookie of the year but Rubio will have too much flash or Irving has the Cavs overachieving.
D.J. White – I know him a little, but not worth talking about
Reggie Williams – Again, I think their GM knows what he’s doing and there’s a reason he signed Reggie. Ability to score is there, the Warriors seemed to play well when he was on the floor.
So here’s the rotation: Reggie Williams, Kemba Walker, T. Thomas, Joel Pzbilla, Diop, Biyombo, Augustin, Henderson, Maggette, Diaw. There’s enough offense, talent and flexibility there to compete almost every night. OK rebounding. OK scoring. Good coach. Fast-break ability. Ability to block shots. Will take care of the ball. They’re a solid team.
“Corey Maggette – you don’t win with all young guys, there has to be a vet with significant talent who plays a significant role on your team. He’s your go-to guy.”
I rest my case. Well, not quite. I’ll grant that they have some decent “athletes” but you used the words “turd” and “who?” far too many times to convince me this team has any shot at the playoffs. They’ve got some pieces to look forward to but are potentially the worst team in the NBA this year.
They’re going to run Diaw out there at Center for 30 mins a night! How do you compete with him anchoring your front line? Pryzbilla has played 66 games the last two years combined.
Walker and Biyombo are 20 and 19 years old respectively. I’ll like them in 18 months. I like Tyrus Thomas, I like Gerald Henderson (although I can’t really articulate why), I think Reggie Williams is who you back Gerald Henderson and Corey Maggette up with.
But thanks for breaking down their roster like that, I see now that my 12 win projection was ambitious. There might be a couple teams winning 8 or 9 games in this shortened season. Good chance Charlotte is one of them.
I must say, I like that we’ve found this much to say about the Bobcats. Going to be a fun season.
I fail to see where the scoring will come from. IMO If Kemba does not light it up this season, they will average below 90ppg. They looked like total crap after Gerald Wallace was traded last season. Jackson is no longer there. For a team that has always (last 5-6 yrs) struggled with scoring and finding guys who can score, they got an uphill battle now. I’m curious to see how it happens that they are not high in the lottery this season.
Charlotte is blowing it up and doing what people want done here. The price is ugly basketball. Let’s see in 3 years who is closer to a title, them or us. Zack, I like D. Brown, a good defensive player from a school, Xavier, that has produced a lot of quality forwards.