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2012 NBA Offseason |OT2| Lakers Fans Despise Freedom.

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G

Gully State

Member
ph33nix said:
Cuban treats his employees very well while they are his....then he becomes Red Sox lite. Let's not forget the whole Don Nelson fiasco, not sure whose fault that was, and the number of players he has talked shit about after they have left (but to be fair some of them deserved it---just not typically an owner's place to speak publicly on such things)

But I am done hating on Cubes, I've used up my hate for the rest of this year already. Gotta save some for the New York Jets

http://espn.go.com/dallas/nba/story/_/id/8291090/not-buying-dallas-mavericks-mark-cuban-selling



I cannot copy and paste this article from my ipad, but VINDICATED
Click to expand...

When has Don Nelson ever exited a franchise on good terms?
 
T

thekad

Banned
ESPN said:
The transactions are still trickling in, but barring an unforeseen blockbuster, we can just about put a wrap on our offseason transactions. Using NBAPET, my system for projecting, evaluating and tracking the league, I've entered all transactions through the weekend and created a wins forecast for every team.

I've also compared the wins forecast to last season's total of Pythagorean wins per 82 games for each team, which is the record each team should have had based on its point differential. This gives us an idea how teams have moved up and down the NBA ladder since the Heat wrapped up the championship a couple of months ago.

1. Oklahoma City Thunder: 57.9 wins, 0.3 games worse
Oklahoma City's projected age (weighted by game minutes) for this season is 25.8 years, which ranks 22nd in the league. To give some context, the teams just behind the Thunder are Sacramento, Toronto and Washington. In other words, OKC sports a collective age typical of a franchise in rebuilding mode, yet the Thunder are coming off a Finals appearance.

The sky is the limit, especially considering the growth potential Oklahoma City still has on the defensive end, where it is projected to rank 11th. This is a squad that could win 60-65 games this season if healthy and focused.

2. Los Angeles Lakers: 54.8 wins, 9.6 games better
The Lakers' projection keeps nudging forward with every signing Mitch Kupchak makes to round out the league's oldest roster. Most of that optimism can be traced to the acquisitions of Dwight Howard and Steve Nash. The Lakers project to jump from 10th to seventh on offense and 12th to fifth on defense.

3. Denver Nuggets: 51.1 wins, 2.2 games better
The Nuggets will be one of the league's most interesting teams to follow. Already fielding one of the NBA's deepest rotations, Denver bolstered its upside by upgrading from Arron Afflalo to Andre Iguodala. Iggy gives Denver one of the top five defenders in the league and a guy who should flourish in George Karl's frenetic system.

4. Minnesota Timberwolves: 51.0 wins, 16.3 games better
Only Brooklyn projects to make a bigger jump than the young, talented and suddenly deep Timberwolves. For all the abuse that general manager David Kahn has taken in the past, he had as good an offseason as any executive in the league. Minnesota has 12 legitimate NBA talents on its roster, giving Rick Adelman the versatility to play any style that suits him at any given time. And, yes, this projection takes into account the fact that Ricky Rubio will miss anywhere from 30-40 games while recovering from his knee injury.

5. San Antonio Spurs: 50.7 wins, 9.3 games worse
The league's most consistent franchise is once again displaying an amazing amount of continuity by bringing back about 98 percent of its minutes from last season, although DeJuan Blair has been rumored to be on the trade market. Still, the Spurs overachieved a bit last season based on their point differential, and their aging core is one year older, which means wilting playing time projections for Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili.

6. Los Angeles Clippers: 49.1 wins, 0.6 games worse
This whole super-team fad is fairly new, so we're still not sure about the best method for filling out the roster for such a model. The Clippers have as much foundation talent as anyone, but the rest of the roster looks like a bunch of names. Jamal Crawford may or may not be an upgrade from Mo Williams, while recognizable but tepid players like Ronny Turiaf, Caron Butler, Willie Green, Ryan Hollins and Grant Hill -- the league's oldest player -- round out the bench to no real effect. A return to form by Lamar Odom would be a huge boost for the Clips.

7. Utah Jazz: 42.9 wins, 0.1 games worse
Utah has a lot of really nice, young pieces, but as the franchise continues to evolve, it remains to be seen how it's all going to fit together. With so many efficient interior scorers and a growing collection of 3-point shooters, the offense projects to be top-five in the league. However, the defense lags, and it will as long as the Jazz count on Al Jefferson to anchor the middle.

8. Memphis Grizzlies: 42.2 wins, 4.9 games worse
Small-market teams have to make hard decisions as they age and their core pieces become more expensive, and so it was for Memphis, which had no choice but to allow O.J. Mayo to walk. Jerryd Bayless will be asked to fill his role as a bench scorer and may be well-suited for the role. Memphis is woefully short of outside shooters, however, and projects to make the fewest 3-pointers in the league.

9. Dallas Mavericks: 38.2 wins, 5.7 games worse
The Mavericks' placeholder roster screams average, but with Rick Carlisle at the helm, you certainly can't rule out a run at a playoff berth. Despite the turnover in personnel, the Mavericks managed to remain long in the tooth, with a projection as the fourth-oldest team in the league.

10. Golden State Warriors: 34.7 wins, 3.3 games better
The Warriors fancy themselves as a playoff contender. We do not. Golden State has questionable depth despite the presence of veterans such as Richard Jefferson, Carl Landry and Brandon Rush on the roster. Harrison Barnes projects to be one of the worst players in the league. Indeed, his ability to outperform that forecast is the key to Golden State taking that longed-for step toward the postseason.

11. Sacramento Kings: 34.1 wins, 8.4 games better
The Kings seem to be headed in the right direction, but it has seemed like that for a few years now, and the results never quite measure up to the expectations. To say that this is a pivotal season for Tyreke Evans is an understatement.

12. New Orleans Hornets: 33.2 wins, 3.6 games better
There is no doubt that the Hornets are on the upswing and the long-term picture is bright. While New Orleans has a really exciting core, it remains very young and raw. Austin Rivers could help matters by exceeding a horrific forecast, but even if he does, chances are that Ryan Anderson is going to fall short of his projection now that he's no longer joined at the hip with Howard.

13. Portland Trail Blazers: 33.1 wins, 6.1 games worse
The last epoch of Blazers basketball was utterly ruined by injuries, so Portland has effectively hit the reset button and projects to have a younger roster than all but four other teams in the league. Right now, this is just a franchise searching for an identity.

14. Houston Rockets: 29.4 wins, 12.2 games worse
The Rockets cleared the decks for a run at Howard, and once that didn't work out, they were left with the next-best thing for a team trying to escape the middle: flexibility. Houston projects as the league's worst offensive team, one that will get an inordinate amount of its scoring from a starting backcourt of Jeremy Lin and Kevin Martin. In that sense, this Rockets squad harkens to some of the lesser Rudy Tomjanovich teams that were led by the duo of Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley.

15. Phoenix Suns: 27.8 wins, 12.5 games worse
We're not exactly sure what the plan is in Phoenix, but the Suns are moving forward with a roster devoid of core players. They won't just be bad. They'll be boring. We'll have to see what the future brings.
Click to expand...

Some weird projections. I don't see how the Kings aren't the worst team in the West or how the Wolves are 16 games better without Rubio...
 
R

Rodeo Clown

All aboard! The Love train!
The Wolves are replacing putrid production with good production. They should be a lot better.

And that's not even thinking that Roy can contribute at all.
 
R

reilo

learning some important life lessons from magical Negroes
51 wins with Rubio missing half the season and coming off of that ACL injury? No way.

.500+ with him healthy for a full season? For sure.
 
B

Black Mamba

Member
thekad said:
Some weird projections. I don't see how the Kings aren't the worst team in the West or how the Wolves are 16 games better without Rubio...
Click to expand...

I agree on the Kings.

I think the Wolves thing is replacing terrible with servicable to good (AK47, Buddinger and possibly Roy being huge improvements). However, his model might be overestimating Roy and Rubio. He probably figures 2nd year improvement for Rubio but in reality it's probably delayed because of the ACL injury. I've still yet to see anyone in the NFL or NBA get better within a year of ACL injury.
 
L

LegendofJoe

Member
I hate that Rubio and Rose are both going to miss a good chunk of the season, the league isn't as entertaining without them. I hope Rubio at least will play most of the season. A Thunder/Wolves or Lakers/Wolves matchup in the 1st round would be awesome to watch.

Also, that dude's analysis is complete bunk. I doubt the Spurs will be as good as they were last year, but 10 games worse? GTFO. The same goes with Memphis and Dallas. And Barnes the worst player in the NBA? LOL this guy is either trolling or he has never seen an NBA game in his life.
 
C

CoffeeJanitor

Member
reilo said:
51 wins with Rubio missing half the season and coming off of that ACL injury? No way.

.500+ with him healthy for a full season? For sure.
Click to expand...
They basically got rid of all of their trash and replaced it with good to great production

The team fell apart without Rubio because he was one of the few good players on the team...not the case anymore...
 
R

reilo

learning some important life lessons from magical Negroes
CoffeeJanitor said:
They basically got rid of all of their trash and replaced it with good to great production

The team fell apart without Rubio because he was one of the few good players on the team...not the case anymore...
Click to expand...

Good to great production? You shouldn't throw out words you don't mean.
 
D

darkside31337

Tomodachi wa Mahou
SUPREME1 said:
Aside for your team, what are the 5 teams you are most interested in watching this coming season?
Click to expand...

My 5 team league pass in no real order

1. Nuggets - Should be a lot of fun to watch. Iggy has been freed.
2. Hornets - Anthony Davis, Eric Gordon, Ryan Anderson. Yep!
3. Rockets - Gonna watch Jeremy Lin carry the Rockets to the 8 seed.
4. TWolves - Rubio whenever he gets back, no more Wes Johnson, and the 15 games Brandon Roy actually plays this year.
5. 76ers - I have no idea how this team ends up. But I'm curious to see what Bynum ends up doing this year as the man.
 
R

Rodeo Clown

All aboard! The Love train!
You guys missed out if you didn't catch Milwaukee post-trade last year. They became a total run and gun team. Seriously.

I'm excited to watch the Bucks put up like 105 a game this year.
 
K

Knux-Future

Banned
Rodeo Clown said:
You guys missed out if you didn't catch Milwaukee post-trade last year. They became a total run and gun team. Seriously.

I'm excited to watch the Bucks put up like 105 a game this year.
Click to expand...

and give up even more.


Monta and Jennings make fuckball look cool tho.

All those bad/swag shots, yo.
 
L

LegendofJoe

Member
Coming into college Barnes was probably the most overrated prospect in recent memory. That said he's the perfect size for his position, he has a 40 inch vertical, and he has a decent shot. Even if he only plays with effort half the game he won't be anywhere close to the worst player in the league.
 
N

Nelo Ice

Banned
So with all this Cuban talk, apparently he's claiming he nearly traded for Kobe.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/laker...n-dallas-kobe-bryant-20120822,0,2943285.story

Cuban contends that he nearly landed a fairly important Laker. You may know him. He goes by the name of Kobe Bryant.

“When I was doing 'Dancing With the Stars,' I was taking breaks because I was talking to Kobe’s agent because Kobe wanted to get traded,” Cuban said on the "Ben and Skin Show" on KESN-FM in Dallas. “Literally, between 'Dancing With the Stars' practices I had thought we traded for Kobe Bryant. I even talked to their owner and thought we were going to have done deal, and [Lakers GM] Mitch Kupchak changed [Kobe’s] mind and brought him back.”
Click to expand...
 
T

thekad

Banned
Syphon: It's what they did at last year's trading deadline. Monta + Jennings + Gooden = no defense.

My 5:
Nuggets
Warriors
Lakers
Hornets
Nets
 
L

LegendofJoe

Member
SUPREME1 said:
Aside for your team, what are the 5 teams you are most interested in watching this coming season?
Click to expand...

1) Wizards (should be a heck of a lot better, want to see how much better)
2) Wolves (same as above)
3) Nuggets (I love their style of play, Iggy will beast with them)
4) Hornets (want to see the on court drama when the Gordon/Rivers experiment blows up in their faces)
5) Magic (likely our top rival for the foreseable future)
 
M

Mothman91

Member
Syphon Filter said:
wizards
nuggets
lakers
warriors
hornets
Click to expand...

LegendofJoe said:
1) Wizards (should be a heck of a lot better, want to see how much better)
2) Wolves (same as above)
3) Nuggets (I love their style of play, Iggy will beast with them)
4) Hornets (want to see the on court drama when the Gordon/Rivers experiment blows up in their faces)
5) Magic (likely our top rival for the foreseable future)
Click to expand...

dIEHARD said:
no
Click to expand...

Don't see no jazz yet, lulz.
 
Dominican Power

Dominican Power

Member
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