Well... pre-season has kicked off and the season opens on October 30th with the Spurs vs. Portland, which would have been an AWESOME game had Greg Oden not been out. Spurs are one of the most boring teams to watch play.

Anyhow... lets talk about the new changes. Where do you see Celtics being at? Who is coming out of the East? Who is coming out of the West? Will Dallas be as good as they were last season, record-wise? What about the Suns? Spurs? Lakers?

How about them Celtics? 6-0 so far. What a start. Beats the hell out of the 20-62 season they had last year or whatever. They're already won nearly 1/3rd of the games they had last year.

The Suns are shaping up decently... 6-2. They've had a TON of problems so far this season...

1) Amare had an arthoscopic surgery Oct 2nd, I believe. Kept him out most of the preseason. He missed 3 straight games this season (yes, it's worrisome) and has only played in 5 others and 1 was a real stinker (4 pts, 2rbs)
2) During a game he was playing, he was ejected in the 3rd quarter after receiving 2 technical fouls. The one that got him ejected was simply for saying "What?" -- the league later rescinded it. He was also bloodied up by a couple of brutal Shaq elbows against the Heat. totally uncalled for.
3) Raja Bell was also injured by Shaq, when Shaq undercut him when he came down from a shot. He has been out for 2 straight games now.

Good things...

1) Leandro Barbosa had a career high 39 points off of 8/12 3-point shooting and nailed a lot of layups through the forest of players. He's a really great player.
2) Nash is playing as solid as ever, averaging 9 assists and 23 points per game. His assists would be higher if our team was shooting better. For a couple games we shot under 38%, and that's bad considering the last few years we've been the #1 offensive shooting team with like 52% or something.
3) Record is great despite all the troubles we've faced and the hellish schedule. We played 7 games in 10 days, and 4 games in 5 nights. That's pretty friggin brutal. 4 of those were on the road.

So, how are your teams doing?

I am trying to decide who my team is really. I have been player focused since the Jordan era and have been a KG fan since I first saw him play.

The thing about the Celtics is, not only can they score, but theycan play fierce D. Hell, 80% of their team can just play D for the whole game because its not like they need to score.

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They're one of my top picks in the east to win it all...

Rockets (probably Spurs) and the Celtics in the finals.

spurs beat the mavs in conference final, game 7 double OT, spurs beat the celtics in 5

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knicks lose 70 games, allege refs fixing games citing "well it happened last year"

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Pssh...

Suns vs. Celtics in the finals. Rematch of '76.

I seriously think the Suns have what it takes to beat the Spurs and Mavericks. They proven that they can beat the Mavericks and last year against the Spurs was fucked w/ because of shitty reffing and improperly applied suspensions. The Suns almost had that game 5, as well -- even without Diaw or Stoudemire. What could have been will always be in my mind.

We'll see though. I'd always like to think the Suns have a shot (and they do, a lot of people are picking them to win it all) but I know they have their problems, but I think they will overcome them this year.

The Best team in Texas will win the NBA (Spurs, Rockets, or Mavs)

I'm having so much fun in the football fantasy league that I started up a NBA fantasy team. I know next to nothing about the NBA these days, so it's an uphill battle, but I'm enjoying it!

I'll go against the grain and say that there is no way a Texas team can win the Championship this year. Not with the talent that lies elsewhere.

D'Antoni is calling out the Phoenix public, calling them lackadaisakal (sp) and poor fans. He not only stated after last night's Knicks game that they "did not bring it tonight" (referring to the fans making noise and cheering/booing), but also stood by those statements today at practice. Great public relations move coach!

Suns have what, one guy above 6'10"? And that player is often injured, commits idiotic fouls, whines and cries to referees who (it seems) don't respect him and won't give him the calls he wants, and cannot play defense outside of a couple blocked shots a game. They chose to get rid of Kurt Thomas who, even with his age, still brought 20-25 minutes of solid post defense a game. They chose to go small, and turn Grant Hill into a three point shooter (yeah, how is that working out so far? 38% FG for the year, 22% 3-PT for the year so far- approx numbers), and D'Antoni still has no frickin clue how to utilize a bench. He is playing his starters a lot of minutes, and with the kind of offense that they play... he is going to wear them out in the playoffs (like they usually look).

D'Antoni is a highly overrated NBA coach, in my honest opinion. And his inability to manage minutes and his bench is going to cost them (once again) in the playoffs.

Celtics look good, was surprised as to how many role players they were able to add (Posey, House, etc) to the big three. Chicago looks awful, and that is kinda surprising. The Clippers are playing good basketball, which is also surprising considering Brand is not there. Only other surprise so far is New Orleans, and that is cause Chris Paul is the bleepin win. Other than that, way too early to be making season long projections.

I am from Detroit, so I am obviously going to want them to go to the Finals. Would love to see the Suns there too, and then have the Pistons physically man handle them... if only so that I have a year of bragging rights here in Phoenix with friends and work colleagues

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can't wait til someone totally blows out the celtics. i still stand by my estimation they'll end around 50-32

and the pistons haven't ever been tough for the suns. they're losing their edge on defense -- they're not really considered a defensive powerhouse this year, nor last year.

suns are playing great defense this year. check out the box score for the past few games.

The Suns don't got the strongminded playoff mentality that it takes to win a championship. They are a joke, basically the Philadelphia Eagles of NBA except they never even made it to the big game.

How about them Utah Jazz, though. Underrated again, no one gives them respect since they play in small market mormon town and don't have a big name flashy player. Kirilenko is dumb and useless still, but Sloan actually playing Ronnie Brewer has made a huge difference. They're the highest scoring team in the league so far and they've got the ability to clamp down and play a physical defense when they need to. Pretty much no one can stop them, the only team that even matches up against them well are the Rockets and they are a joke. 70 wins isn't a stretch.

I think you're underrating the Suns right now. They play the defense it takes to win. =)

I don't have to argue that fact as it's proven itself the past few years. Suns have just faced some hard knocks

04-05, losing Joe Johnson in the Spurs series
05-06, No Amare, losing Raja Bell
06-07, Fixed games w/ the Spurs, as well as bum suspensions

This will take'em all the way to the Finals. Mark my words. I don't know if they'll win, but they are fully equipped and locked and loaded, ready to win. Just have to see if they produce.

Now that I am in Phx i am following suns pretty close and love to watch there games....they are a damn good team so I wouldn't call them a joke but they aren't going to be winning a NBA championship any time soon because as the spurs and detriot have proven offense output is alot more variable then defense. Plus the whole marion thing puts a bad taste in players mouths.

I've been an avid spur fan since D. Rob's first game in the NBA and while it might not "excite' you as much as other teams (do you freaking even watch them....Manu is one of the funnest players to watch in the NBA and you have a 6 ft guy who drives into the middle of a lane of 7 footers like a mad man) but they have unself attitudes, great TEAM defense and a very well oiled offense. Just because their players are mature enough to act like they have been there and leave all the "flair" for the street ballers doesn't mean they aren't fun to watch. Best of all....talent wise the team probably doesn't crack the top 15 in the NBA yet still manages to handle most teams.

Houston is looking great some days...bad others so I doubt they have the consistancy to put up to much of a fight even though I would love to see Yao Ming in a spur uniform

So Spurs from the WEST (mav's have a good chance too if Spurs had a key injury or something)

East....I'd like to say who cares but so far boston has been pretty impressive...if all the star power can remember the team game and keep ego's out (yes i hate you kevin garnet) I would say they have to be a strong favorite more so because most east teams just don't seem to have much of a team. Orlando would actually be my number 2 guess if they can ride Howards shoulders....guy is a stud and getting better every game.

Also I bet lakers suprise people this year at the end....and I really do not like them but when Koby plays team ball they actually play pretty good. As much as it pains me to say this....Luke Walton is one of those guys that just knows basketball and adds so much to a team that people don't realize....to bad he has the gayest eyes in the NBA

Utah is an extremely underrated team, with an outstanding coach and some All-Star caliber players that are surrounded by some very solid role players. Players like Millsap and Harpring and Brewer are unknown to the public, yet can play with anyone in this league. Deron Williams is rapidly becoming one of the top 5 point guards in the game, and Sloan has proven to be a great playoff coach. I saw them the other night against the Lakers, and (without Okur and Boozer) they manhandled the Lakers.

And Boston just looks unstoppable. I guess three All-Star players are enough to get you through the regular season! But what impresses me more is the surrounding pieces they added to the trio. Players like House and Posey don't need to be special players; just 10-20 minutes a game of solid play is all. And that, they can do.

Those two teams are looking extremely good right now. I know the Spurs, Suns, Mavs, and Pistons will all be there in the end as well... but right now, I really really like how the Jazz and Celtics are playing NBA basketball.

And the Knicks look like a complete and utter embarassment. How in the world Isiah still has a job is beyond my comprehension as a basketball fan. His players have already quit on the season and on him. What a sorry excuse of a team.

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People tend to discount Utah alot due the poor performance in the conference championship last year, which I can't fault them for. Kirilenko gave up before he even stepped on the court in game one, Okur couldn't hit a shot to save his life, and Derek Fisher was just old and not very good. Utah had no chance to win against a team as good as the Spurs with only two offensive players, no matter how well they played. I really wished Sloan had let Ronnie Brewer on the court last year, he looked great whenever he did play but got no meaningful minutes. This year, with him playing, I think the Jazz have joined the ranks of the elite teams.

It also helps that Kirilenko has his head in the game, but he is just a completely wacky player. The Houston series absolutely broke him last year. For whatever reason, his true desire is to be some kind of pseudo point guard and handle/distribute the ball. He isn't bad at it either, it's just when you have a truly elite player like Deron Williams, you let him run the show. In the regular season, there's no trouble letting him take over some when Deron sits, and as a result he plays well. After Deron got serious and took over completely in the playoffs, Kirilenko turned into a whiny, useless crybaby. Hopefully he can handle himself better this year, but I think we have a good enough team to compete either way.

By the way "Turbo", Manu is terrible to watch 95% of the time. I lived in San Antonio until this summer and I've been to/seen tons of Spurs games. Manu takes alot of terrible shots and frequently gives up ridiculous, unforced turnovers. He does have some great games, but the ratio of bad to good is like 3:1 with him. He's always looking to make opportunistic plays defensively, which is good, but he's a complete joke on any team besides the Spurs. Tony Parker can be the same way, there are games where he can't get his jumper working and can't find persistent penetration. He was amazing last year in the playoffs though, playing surprisingly well. Horry and Bowen are nothing but dirty players and flop artists. That stuff is part of the game, and I'm not strictly against it, but it's retarded when a player's entire skill set is discretely mugging the other team and flopping convincingly.

The two players I really like on the Spurs are Duncan and Brent Barry. Duncan has been the best player in the league for a long time now. It's unbelievable how little acclaim he gets. He's one of the best front court players ever, contributes hugely on both sides of floor and is committed 100% to helping his team win. I'd take Duncan on his own over having any combination of Kobe, Dirk, and Nash. Barry is just a cool guy and a great roleplayer, plus he is the only Spurs player that can do a decent commercial.

The way I see the west playing out is this:
1. Suns - They are a great team that can't keep their heads straight in the playoffs, so they won't go too far.
2. Spurs - The odds on favotire to win, although they'll face some tough challenges.
3. Jazz - They'll make some noise and have a good shot to make it to the Finals.
4. Mavericks - Won't look quite as tough as last year, but will be a strong contender.
5. Nuggets - They've got some good players, but I don't think they can go the distance vs. the top 4.
6. New Orleans - They're pretty good when healthy, but their homecourt is terrible and they match up poorly vs. other west teams. I don't fully buy the Chris Paul hype either. A serious injury could knock them out of the playoffs.
7. Lakers - They play decent agaisnt the Suns, but the rest of the west can roll over them easily.
8. Rockets - This is a team with no strong dynamic, they have OK talent but no toughness.

The east is still a toss up, with Boston and Orlando leading the pack. It will be interesting to see where Washington, Toronto, and Chicago end up at the end. This next offseason could have some huge trades and signings depending on how the season plays out.

You play much basketball? Do you realize what a player like Manu brings to the table....even if he doesn't make every shot ,he completely changes the game both offensively and defensively when he is in the game. He has one of the best basketball IQ's in the game (yes he makes a few poor shot selections but not that many players don't). He has been and is the X factor for the spurs and hate to break it to you but Spurs are probably the most winning basketball team in the last 10 years and haven't exactly had the most talented overall roster so all the players you are talking poorly about are the very same players that play very critical parts of arguably the best team in the last decade of basketball....I think I will let the facts stand for themselves.

Horry...aside from the clutch shooting of years gone by I have never been a huge fan of because he just doesn't seem to give a shit most the time but he definitely has his shining moments. Bowen...yes your right one of the best defenders in the game has no skills other then mugging....you do realize there are refs right? He also hardly ever fouls out so whether you view him as dirty or not (its called hardnose basketball) apparently the people who are there day in and day out to enforce the rules don't agree with you. I just hate when people have such hard on's for people they completely look past all there positive abilities. The guy can fucking guard people...if you don't concede to that then I just don't know what to tell you.

Utah has had some impressive games this year, boozer is just a bad ass. Be interesting to see how far they go.

The refs in the NBA are a complete and utter joke. They have been forever. They refuse to call fouls on certain players based on their popularity and reputation and have no accountability whatsoever. Generally, they make enough bad calls on both sides to keep things even, but there are plenty of occasions where they've managed to completely ruin games. Bowen doesn't pick up fouls because he has a reputation as a good defender, but really he just physcially bullies guys while the refs turn a blind eye. Karl Malone got the same treatment, and you can't deny the ref's bias regarding players like Shaq, Michael Jordan, and Kobe. On top of all this you have the betting scandal, which just shows how completely broken the NBA officiating system truly is.

I don't know what you're talking about with Manu's basketball IQ (what does that even mean?). He relies solely on his high energy play and getting under other players' skin with his cheap tactics. Offensively, he occasionally gets hot but he's a poor ball handler and isn't a reliable scoring option. He can penetrate, but he relies on drawing fouls more than his ability to actually make the shot. Defensively, he makes some opportunistic steals and loose ball grabs, but isn't great at matching up with someone one-on-one. He gets away with this due to the Spurs style of play, which is a great system and is responsible for their success (along with a lack of truly good teams after the Kobe/Shaq lakers meltdown.)

I'm a Utah Jazz fan, I like physical play. I still think there's a difference between physical, hard-nosed basketball and physical, hard-nosed mugging. Bowen is barely even a basketball player, he can reliably make one shot and even then he only gets it because the other team never guards him. I don't get upset about flopping, either. It is a tactic that should be risky, but has become overly effective in an era of poor officiating. Manu plays good basketball occasionally, but most of the time he just relies on running all over the place and using every dirty trick he can get away with.

I actually like the Spurs in general, I just think that Manu, Bowen, and Horry are terrible, overrated players. Parker is inconsistant, but he is easily the best point guard the Spurs have ever had and works very well with Duncan. Actually, R.C. Buford has done an excellent job supplying Duncan with a supporting cast in general. You probably won't ever hear his name, but he has been a major factor in the Spurs' success since he took over at GM.

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Robert Horry is clutch, plain and simple. He's underrated, in my opinion, not overrated.

Robert Horry is clutch, but he's also a hothead, and intentionally tries to hurt other players. That's dirty shit, not hardnosed basketball.

Bruce Bowen is a dirty defender, and that's a bad thing. He just doesn't play tough, physical basketball, he tries to manhandle his person and hurt others. He's undercut people many times.

Manu, well, Manu is King of Floppers. I know Raja flops, but Manu takes the cake.

The Suns / Spurs series last year was the most physical series in the most recent memory of the playoffs. And people say the Suns are soft...

I see a lot of people saying that the Suns play no defense, they're soft, etc. The fact is though, they play actually decent defense. It's actually a great combination of offense/defense, because any team who is known for being lock-down on defense, if they tried to play the same offense as Suns, would drop to ZERO defensive skills. Suns work very hard on both ends. To deny that is just ignorance or blind hatred...

They've got one the top stealers in the league, they get a good chunk of blocks and deflections each game, and they can score on forced turnovers, while having few turnovers themselves. People say that they allow their opposing team to score a lot, but that's just because of the style they play. Each team gets more opportunities and turns with the ball. Take a look at the amount of shots a low-offensive powered team takes and wins vs. what the Suns take and win. The Suns have the #1 offense in the league (and have since 04-05, where before that, the Mavericks had it -- and guess why? Steve Nash.)

I like the Spurs / Suns rivalry. I like the Suns / Mavs rivalry. I think this year is going to be exciting, and no one can say for certain who will walk away with it all. Each team honestly had a legitimate shot. Dallas doesn't have the best record right now, but they'll come around sooner or later.

He gave Steve Nash a hard foul last year. Other than that, you can't name one time when he was dirty, hotheaded, or tried to hurt anyone. Don't let being a Suns fan cloud your judgement.

You are so completely wrong Neesha. How about when he threw a punch at Jeff Hornacek or when he tried to bite Jerry Stackhouse? a good article on horry.



If he actually played worth a crap during games his teams wouldn't need him to throw up prayers at the last second.

No team in the history of the NBA has flopped more than Hornacek, Stockton, and Malone did for Utah. Now the flop count is 284734737234 for the Jazz and 1 for their opponents.

And I don't need an article to give me my opinion of a player. I make my own opinions, for better or worse.

So punching people, throwing towels and cussing at his coach, and trying to bite someone don't count for this?

Sure the Jazz flopped, just like every other team did and continues to do. Everyone flops because the refs suck and don't care. They rarely did it in as amusing of a fashion as Horry did in that clip though. which is why I posted it. Horry was a pretty good player at one point, then he decided to coast along and ride the coattails of better players.

Neesha... what he did to Nash wasn't just a "hard foul" -- he intentionally tried to hurt him. What on earth makes you think shoulder checking someone into a scorer's table (where he could have hit his head, eyes, nose, mouth, etc) is just a "hard foul"?

Can't wait til the Celtics play more teams with winning records... lol (think they've only played 3 so far? And 2 of them won?) Suns play them soon I believe.

What is going on with Dallas??

Suns up 15-4... not bad... not bad.

dirk usually makes that wide-open shot at the buzzer.

the despicable spurs :argh:

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The Mavs seem to have a bad case of "It really doesn't matter until the Playoffs" attitude. They are not playing good right now. They are not playing Defense - I don't see how The Little General puts up with that! They are just standing around waiting for a jump shot. The Mavs are Jekyll and Hyde (or could be Chunk it and Hide) The Good Mavs are a team that drives the paint, plays D, and takes advantages of mis-matches. The Bad Mavs are a team that just stands around waiting for an open jumper, plays matador D, and lets the mis-matches get the better of them.

Either they will get out of this funk or they will go into the playoffs as a lower seed, either way they still will not get out of the second round.

I think they lost their confidence in themselves. It actually does matter right now.

They don't have a leader, Dirk doesn't have what it takes -- and there is no one to delegate that position to. I'm thinking they'll probably end up with a 50-32 record, maybe even 48-34.

How they have fallen... wow. I don't see them getting past the 2nd round either.

Suns hittin' the skids! What the hell is going on? Definitely some funk... Still 15-6 but very tough road trip coming up. (Spurs, Mavs, Hornets)

Took out the Spurs last night.. 18-7 now. Spurs are 18-6 IIRC. First time they were beaten on their home court this season. Not exactly revenge for last season, but hey, we got'em taken care of this year I think. Skinner and Stoudemire stepped up on Duncan and we played great D against them.