NBA Preview - 2008-2009 Season

[JohnBM01]

Summer League action is taking place, but it's time to think about what the future will hold for the next season of NBA basketball. Feel free to speculate at will. I'll offer my comments about my Rockets. Maybe even the other two teams that comprise the "Texas Triangle."

This is the preview thread for the upcoming season. Feel free to speculate. This even includes Oklahoma City's forthcoming team.

 

[Viscerous]

The Lakers have to be the team to beat this year as long as Bynum comes back healthy. I still think the Celtics will be the team to beat in the East as well. I can't wait to see Richard Hendrix play for Golden State who was drated 49th by Golden State as he was a neighbor of mine when I was younger. The 76ers can also make a run if Elton Brand ends up working well for them.

 

[Giancarlo]

Philly just got a whole lot more interesting since they just signed Elton Brand.

Looks like Baron Davis is pretty much screwed.

Also, the Magic signed Mickael Pietrus and the Heat signed James Jones (sorry a6m5.. ).

 

[McLaren]

I'm just hoping the new Mavs coach can kick everyone in to gear and repair (imo) the damage done by trading 3 guys for Kidd.

 

[JohnBM01]

Who would have imagined it? The Boston Celtics went from a piece of crap the previous season to NBA Champs (I hate using "World Champs" when a sport isn't played internationally against international competition). Question is, can the boys in green do it again?

Yesterday (today is Thursday at 12:44 AM CDT as of this post) was the start of free agency. The Rockets may either look into getting Brent Barry from the San Antonio Spurs or re-sign Carl Landry. If you ask me, I think the Rockets should re-sign Carl Landry. I loved watching this kid perform wearing Rockets Red. He kind of has a hustle like Kentucky graduate, Chuck Hayes. I'm not sure if Hayes is still with us. I think my Rockets pretty much fell apart as Yao Ming was done for the season. We rode a 22-game winning streak and still fail at taking down the Jazz in Round 1. The Rockets are a great team, but (and I'm starting to admit) we've been a playoff disappointment since first not making it past the First Round. Getting out of the First Round is still the dark cloud hanging over Tracy McGrady. Lord knows if he'll be staying with us. He says he is. T-Mac been wanting to team up with Yao. As an old slogan for my Rockets went: "United We Win." Let's hope they'll be winners in another swing of 82 or so games starting this November.

 

[superberkut]

Though I don't know much about the draft, I agree with you, John: the use of, 'World Champions' in a national league is a bit out of place, but wait till CSKA...

If the Rockets were a disappointment, the Mavs and the Suns are by far the worst letdowns. Landry should be re-signed, despite Barry being considered, if the Rockets want a team for the future, though Barry would likely fare better with a less defensive team [than the Spurs].

I'd say the Lakers are likely the team to beat; Boston's players are mostly retiring (though that can just be speculation about Kendrick Perkins and Sam Cassell) or are older, though the Big Three offer more consistency than Kobe alone.

 

[JohnBM01]

Well too late. We now get the services of 36-year old B. Barry. Something I always fear is that trading away good players ends up making them stars in other places rather than performing duty for my beloved teams. That's always been my fear with professional sports teams. Never fails. It's a great deal for great players, but I just feel bad when one player goes to antoher and becomes a bigger star than with any team I like.

I hear Joey Dorsey's getting better with my Rockets in Summer League action. He was part of that [University of] Memphis crew that had terrible foul shooting as Kansas won (much to the delight of my GTP friend, High-Test). I'm sure the Texas Triangle will consistently be in the Top 8 in Western Conference standings. It's SO competitive in the West. But I'm sure Boston will love nothing more than to be the kings of the East. Unless Detroit or Cleveland or somebody has something else to say...

 

[superberkut]

The trade may have set that about...

I don't think Baron Davis will fit in with the Clippers, but the players will likely build around him.

My little brother's opinion, being more informed:

"However, L.A. needs a point guard. Dan Dickau simply does not cut it, and the Clippers need a go-to guy, so Baron should be well-received into the lineup."

 

[JohnBM01]

The Houston Rockets rolled the dice. We're trading two of our b-ballers to Sacromento in exchange for... Ron Artest. They will get our Bobby Jackson and someone else as well as next year's draft pick and $1,000,000 in cash. It's being called a gamble. If Terrell Owens for the Dallas Cowboys is somewhat a gamble, then Ron Artest to our team will mean a big gamble for our cause. We don't really have a history of well-known troublemakers playing for our teams. That is, unless you count Shawn Chacon formerly of my Astros. Houston isn't known as a character team like most programs in Boston and New York. However, I'm sure Artest can still deliver where it matters most- making and staying in the playoffs. We haven't made it past the first round of the playoffs in a while. I'm more than wanting to see Houston return to Clutch City status after years of not making it back to the NBA Finals. And if it means T-Mac and Yao being added with Artest, then we may just have our team that could take us beyond the first round.

But again, will he be any kind of troublemaker? Or will he provide his services professionally in his tour of duty with my Rockets? These deals won't be official until about August 14th.

 

[nd 4 holden spd]

I wish I had Foxtel (Pay TV) to see and hear about all the NBA action. When I was young, I decided I liked the Toronto Raptors, and still do to this day. How are they going? They had some alright players, it was fun playing as Toronto in NBA Live '07 on PS2. (Especially as the coach, where you trained players, and recruited new guys, and did scouting on amateurs.) I also liked Grant Hill, does he still play? Is he any good any more? Go Toronto!

 

[JohnBM01]

I'm not sure if Grant Hill plays anymore...

So we get Brent Barry and Ron Artest for my Rockets. That to be teamed up with Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. I think Houston's drought of an NBA Championship has reached severe levels and is looking for any opporunity to make Houston Title Town to shut up the biased East Coast people (not hating if you're an East Coast person that DOESN'T hate). It seems like this would be a disappointment to have a deeply stacked team that still can't go far into the playoffs. Making it to the playoffs isn't a real problem for us. It's going FAR into the playoffs for us. We have a chance at least this season. But we'll never know until we start the season this October or November.



Any other NBA previews and thoughts?

 

[Joey D]

Grant Hill plays for the Phoenix Suns, although I don't know how much play time he gets.

 

[a6m5]

Celtics does look good for this upcoming season. Lakers, I don't know. I felt that they overachieved last year, and at the same time, other Western powerhouses either slumped, or just plain crumbled, leaving the door wide open for the Lakers. While most elite Western teams still suck, Rockets can be really scary if Artest can keep his head on straight......... yeah. Artest is a real piece of crap, but he can play.

My Blazers might experience a slow start, but if they can mesh at a decent pace, they should make the Playoffs this year. My only concern is the addition of Greg Oden, Rudy Fernandez and Jerryd Bayless. Three "new" players, all "rookies", and they are all expected to play some minutes on what was already the youngest team in the league(third youngest, all time). One thing that Blazers have going for them is the personnel. From the GM to the coach to the players, they have some serious character. They are smart, they are mature. I'm really impressed, especially by the kids(players). Well spoken, very focused, considering their age.

I wish I had Foxtel (Pay TV) to see and hear about all the NBA action. When I was young, I decided I liked the Toronto Raptors, and still do to this day. How are they going? They had some alright players, it was fun playing as Toronto in NBA Live '07 on PS2. (Especially as the coach, where you trained players, and recruited new guys, and did scouting on amateurs.) I also liked Grant Hill, does he still play? Is he any good any more? Go Toronto!

I think Hill was planning on coming back for another year with the Suns. It was a option year in his contract, but I don't remember if it was the team's or player option. I'd imagine it's pretty much up to G Hill.

Raptors are doing awesome. I like the Raps, too. They just completed a trade for Jermaine O'Neal(former Blazer/Pacer) this summer, and I hope they do some real damage this season. They still need at least couple more pieces to advance deep in the Playoff though, I feel.

Also, the Magic signed Mickael Pietrus and the Heat signed James Jones (sorry a6m5.. ).

That sucked..... At least he went to a good team. Now that Glove and Shaq's gone, I can root for the Heat again. I've always liked Wade & Matrix. With the addition of Beasley(& Jones, too), they should be fun to watch!

 

[nd 4 holden spd]

Celtics does look good for this upcoming season. Lakers, I don't know. I felt that they overachieved last year, and at the same time, other Western powerhouses either slumped, or just plain crumbled, leaving the door wide open for the Lakers. While most elite Western teams still suck, Rockets can be really scary if Artest can keep his head on straight......... yeah. Artest is a real piece of crap, but he can play.

My Blazers might experience a slow start, but if they can mesh at a decent pace, they should make the Playoffs this year. My only concern is the addition of Greg Oden, Rudy Fernandez and Jerryd Bayless. Three "new" players, all "rookies", and they are all expected to play some minutes on what was already the youngest team in the league(third youngest, all time). One thing that Blazers have going for them is the personnel. From the GM to the coach to the players, they have some serious character. They are smart, they are mature. I'm really impressed, especially by the kids(players). Well spoken, very focused, considering their age.

I think Hill was planning on coming back for another year with the Suns. It was a option year in his contract, but I don't remember if it was the team's or player option. I'd imagine it's pretty much up to G Hill.

Raptors are doing awesome. I like the Raps, too. They just completed a trade for Jermaine O'Neal(former Blazer/Pacer) this summer, and I hope they do some real damage this season. They still need at least couple more pieces to advance deep in the Playoff though, I feel.


That sucked..... At least he went to a good team. Now that Glove and Shaq's gone, I can root for the Heat again. I've always liked Wade & Matrix. With the addition of Beasley(& Jones, too), they should be fun to watch!

I wish I could watch it, especially as my home team in the NBL (Aussie league) lost financial backing and is no more. What about Chris Bosh? He seemed pretty damn good in the sony game at least, and he was pretty young, how's he doing? Jermaine O'Neal? Isn't he really good? Go the Raptors, yay!

 

[Giancarlo]

Chris Bosh has played pretty consistently over the years from one of the best draft classes ever (Wade, LeBron, Melo, etc.), and is on the U.S. Olympic team right now.

He and Wade have been playing well when on the court together. Oh, hi, 2010 off-season...

 

[a6m5]

Bosh is one of the elite F/C in the league right now. I really like that guy.

I had to watch this again:

 

[nd 4 holden spd]

And Bosh is still on the Raptors right?

 

[a6m5]

And Bosh is still on the Raptors right?

No, he got traded to the Portland Trail Blazers during the offseason, along with their #1 pick in 2009 for Raef LaFrentz, and Darius Miles contract.

Just kidding. Yes, he is the "franchise" for the Raptors.

 

[JohnBM01]

Do you think any teams may become surprise teams this season? If so, name them and tell us how far you think they could go in the playoffs. (Surprise teams can also mean playoff disappointments that go much further)

 

[nd 4 holden spd]

I guess no one thinks there will be suprise teams.

 

[a6m5]

Well, like last year, the Hornets surprised the heck out of everybody(except the Hornets fans, I guess ). I can study the roster, team's record the previous season, and the offseason moves, go from there. I am pretty good at forecasting upcoming seasons that way. Surprise teams, they surprise me. Everytime.

Another thing is that I don't even worry about the Playoffs this early. If you see me making Playoff predictions before late January or something, I'm just talking out of my you-know-what, so just ignore me.

 

[JohnBM01]

Oklahoma City is trying to build up their team from the Seattle Supersonics. You know, it's really a shame that basketball will leave the lovely city of Seattle. This will make Portland the lone representative of the Pacific Northwest.

Locals are still upset over Rafer Alston being arraigned on drunk and reckless driving. We can't lose Rafer Alston because he's a solid performer for my Rockets. We'll be having the star power of T-Mac, Yao, and Artest. We DON'T need to see any of our big-name players get into any trouble with the law. Of course, it's not like we're the NBA version of the Cincinnati Bengals.

I have no idea on who may surprise this season. I guess if you go on a little logic, look at Boston. Terrible the season before, picks up a few names, they win the championship the next year (remember- NBA Championship, not WORLD Championship like most sports writers want to say). So could the Miami Heat catch fire and go all the way this season? The west is tough to decide on who will come alive. I guess I've considered teams like Denver and the L.A. Clippers as far as teams that COULD improve in the Western Conference. It's still anyone's game.

Another question for discussion now... the Charlotte Bobcats are usually looked on as laughing stocks. They are treated more like the Houston Texans by most sports writers. So... any chance they even make the playoffs in the East, or are they still just too weak to even make some playoff noise?

 

[TopHat]

So. The Oklahoma team is called the Thunder.

Crappy logo IMO.

 

[a6m5]

I'm not sure why KFC commercial song comes on in my mind, when I see that logo.......

 

[Giancarlo]

Pretty dull on all fronts.

 

[JohnBM01]

I hear the NBA Preseason starts October 7th. It will be the first look at these new stars as well as the returning stars.

For my Rockets, I hope Joey Dorsey doesn't end up like Shaq at the free throw line. If he doesn't improve his free throw shooting (which was the downfall of the University of Memphis this past season), the other team will know EXACTLY who to foul to get back into the game.

 

[a6m5]

October 7th, my Blazers will open the preseason against the Kings. If everybody plays(blazer players), I'd be very excited about the game. But with Oden already getting injured in what actually was his first full team practice, Brandon Roy coming off knee surgery, I'm not holding my breath for our preseason games. Channing Frye, our backup PF is out(surgery) as well.

Having said that, Oden's injury was just a rolled ankle(still, the kid nearly weighs 300lbs!), and we still got Rudy Fernandez, who were considered one of the best players outside the NBA(if not the best) last year. And we have Jerryd Bayless, who finished the Vegas Summer League as the MVP. Just Summer League, but still......

 

[JohnBM01]

Portland could be a dangerous team when Oden takes the floor. And in a conference as stacked as the Western Conference, they'll need to take on teams like the Lakers, the Texas Triangle (Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio), Utah, maybe even Denver, Phoenix... we're just stacked top to bottom in the Western Conference. If the Trailblazers are going to be a threat in the Western Conference, Oden will need to put up at least an MVP effort. Then, the rest of the Trailblazers will need to perform on both sides of the ball.

Meanwhile, I still hope my Rockets can go further into the playoffs than the disappointing performances we've put up in many times. Anything like the 1993-1994 and 1994-1995 Houston Rockets would be PERFECTLY fine with me as far as being a Rockets fan. We're good. We just need to be better so that we can establish ourselves as a power. Perhaps keeping Yao and T-Mac healthy will be our best bet to go further into the playoffs. To me, my concern is making the playoffs and going further into the playoffs.

The difference in thought for me is that I assume we make the playoffs in pro sports. I NEVER say "we WILL make the playoffs." If point after touchdowns can be blocked or shanked, if free throws aren't as automatic as people think they are, then ANYTHING is possible. All of what I said in the previous paragraph is granted we make the postseason. What I mentioned earlier will be negated if we don't make it into the postseason. For my sake as a Rockets fan, I hope we make it and make it much further than all of our past performances with the exception of our two NBA titles in the mid-1990s.



Any other fans of other teams want to share their views? Like... Detroit, Indiana, Oklahoma City, Charlotte, Atlanta, L.A. Clippers,... anyone?

 

[Giancarlo]

Looks like the Heat are going to sign Shaun Livingston.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/sfl-livingston1002,0,6028239.story

 

[cb8673]

I'm hoping the Suns can do something this year. Shaq could potentially play until he's forty five, since he's not exactly required to fly up and down the floor.

Nash, however, can't run point for much longer. He'll still throw everything he's got at it.

The rest of their roster looks intriguing. Barbosa and Bell can generally get things done. If Diaw shows up each game, they'll be a solid team. Their draft pick, Lopez, might get some minutes to back up Shaq. Grant Hill is always a good guy to keep in the game. Hopefully he can stay healthy.

I'm not expecting much from the Hawks, or the Bobcats, but I'll pull for the 'Cats to do decently. Gotta support the home state.