bigbadred00
Starter
The same site that said Webber was the 2nd most over-rated player in the NBA praises the Kings again?
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/3412500
In the five years after Michael Jordan left the Bulls for retirement and ill-fated Wizardry, the Eastern Conference won a total of six games in the NBA Finals.
The league became so tilted to the West that the championship series was a mere formality, a leisurely ride down the Champs-Elysees for the Spurs or Lakers.
Thankfully, that has changed. Though everyone assumed form would hold last June, the Pistons ended the West's reign by pounding the Lakers. The arrival of Shaquille O'Neal in Miami has further balanced the conferences. So picking a Western Conference champion is once again just that and not a presumptive title pick as well.
That said, six of the eight teams in the league playing over .600 ball reside in the West. If the Eastern Conference champ wins it all again, it may well be because the Western champ simply has nothing left after dispatching its conference foes.
As the season moves into its final third, let's separate the pretenders and contenders in the wild West.
First-round fodder
Memphis Grizzlies
Give Mike Fratello the Coach of the Year Award if the Grizz make the playoffs, but don't be surprised when they get swept in the first round.
Memphis has ridiculous depth and plays great D, but the Grizzlies lack those go-to types that are critical in the playoffs when so many possessions come down to the final five seconds on the shot clock.
Los Angeles Lakers
While the Lakers may have the best player in the NBA with the shot clock winding down in Kobe Bryant, they have little else that would indicate anything but a quick exit should they hang onto the No. 8 spot, which I doubt they will.
Pretenders
Minnesota Timberwolves
Expect the T-wolves to make a successful push to the playoffs under Kevin McHale and expect tongues to start wagging about how last year's conference runners-up could easily pull an upset in the first round. And then watch as Minnesota gets pounded by San Antonio and begins a new streak of getting bounced in the first round.
Kevin Garnett is still the best player in the game, but the members of his supporting cast have gotten old, hurt or downright ineffective in a hurry.
This whole lost season may be karmic payback for Latrell Sprewell's ridiculous comments about feeding his family.
Seattle SuperSonics
How can a team playing .700 ball at the All-Star break be a pretender, you ask? Easy. They have no post presence.
Jump-shooting teams like the Sonics have the greatest disparity between regular-season success and playoff failure. The reason is simple: open shots are just harder to come by in the postseason. And when Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis and Vladimir Radmanovic find everything contested on the perimeter, the down-low options of Danny Fortson, Jerome James, Reggie Evans and Nick Collison just won't be enough to avoid a first-round flameout.
If the season ended today, the Sonics would draw the Rockets in the opening round and probably be underdogs.
Phoenix Suns
Cheer up, Suns fans. Of the pretenders, your team is the best.
Though Amare Stoudemire gives Phoenix a more complete inside-outside attack than Seattle, the Suns are also overly reliant on long jump shots from Quentin Richardson, Steve Nash, Joe Johnson and corner sniper Shawn Marion to seriously challenge a team like San Antonio.
The Suns are also just a little too small. They've got a power forward playing center, a small forward playing power forward and a wee Canadian playing point guard. I know those three players — Stoudemire, Marion and Nash — are All-Stars, but size does matter in the NBA playoffs and Phoenix just doesn't have enough beef.
I'd love to be wrong about this and see the Suns playing in June because no team is more fun to watch.
Contenders
Houston Rockets
Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady are finally getting things figured out in Houston. And that make the Rockets extremely dangerous. (Pat Sullivan / AP)
If there's one team San Antonio would like to avoid in the Western Conference playoffs, it's Houston. After stumbling out of the gate to a 6-11 start, the Rockets have gone 26-10, including two wins over the Spurs, and are riding high on an eight-game winning streak.
While All-Stars Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming are now becoming the dominant inside-outside combo coach Jeff Van Gundy has been dreaming of, the key to the Rockets resurgence has been do-everything grinder Bob Sura.
Sura is averaging 10.8 points per game, 6.2 rebounds and 5.3 assists. In the last five wins of the Rockets' current streak, Sura has pulled down 50 rebounds. In the first win of the streak, he dished out 10 assists in a win over the Celtics, two off his season high. In mid-January, he poured in 35 points in a 94-85 victory over the Nets. Sura is in his 10th NBA season, and he has appeared in just six postseason games. He deserves another shot at the playoffs.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/3412500
In the five years after Michael Jordan left the Bulls for retirement and ill-fated Wizardry, the Eastern Conference won a total of six games in the NBA Finals.
The league became so tilted to the West that the championship series was a mere formality, a leisurely ride down the Champs-Elysees for the Spurs or Lakers.
Thankfully, that has changed. Though everyone assumed form would hold last June, the Pistons ended the West's reign by pounding the Lakers. The arrival of Shaquille O'Neal in Miami has further balanced the conferences. So picking a Western Conference champion is once again just that and not a presumptive title pick as well.
That said, six of the eight teams in the league playing over .600 ball reside in the West. If the Eastern Conference champ wins it all again, it may well be because the Western champ simply has nothing left after dispatching its conference foes.
As the season moves into its final third, let's separate the pretenders and contenders in the wild West.
First-round fodder
Memphis Grizzlies
Give Mike Fratello the Coach of the Year Award if the Grizz make the playoffs, but don't be surprised when they get swept in the first round.
Memphis has ridiculous depth and plays great D, but the Grizzlies lack those go-to types that are critical in the playoffs when so many possessions come down to the final five seconds on the shot clock.
Los Angeles Lakers
While the Lakers may have the best player in the NBA with the shot clock winding down in Kobe Bryant, they have little else that would indicate anything but a quick exit should they hang onto the No. 8 spot, which I doubt they will.
Pretenders
Minnesota Timberwolves
Expect the T-wolves to make a successful push to the playoffs under Kevin McHale and expect tongues to start wagging about how last year's conference runners-up could easily pull an upset in the first round. And then watch as Minnesota gets pounded by San Antonio and begins a new streak of getting bounced in the first round.
Kevin Garnett is still the best player in the game, but the members of his supporting cast have gotten old, hurt or downright ineffective in a hurry.
This whole lost season may be karmic payback for Latrell Sprewell's ridiculous comments about feeding his family.
Seattle SuperSonics
How can a team playing .700 ball at the All-Star break be a pretender, you ask? Easy. They have no post presence.
Jump-shooting teams like the Sonics have the greatest disparity between regular-season success and playoff failure. The reason is simple: open shots are just harder to come by in the postseason. And when Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis and Vladimir Radmanovic find everything contested on the perimeter, the down-low options of Danny Fortson, Jerome James, Reggie Evans and Nick Collison just won't be enough to avoid a first-round flameout.
If the season ended today, the Sonics would draw the Rockets in the opening round and probably be underdogs.
Phoenix Suns
Cheer up, Suns fans. Of the pretenders, your team is the best.
Though Amare Stoudemire gives Phoenix a more complete inside-outside attack than Seattle, the Suns are also overly reliant on long jump shots from Quentin Richardson, Steve Nash, Joe Johnson and corner sniper Shawn Marion to seriously challenge a team like San Antonio.
The Suns are also just a little too small. They've got a power forward playing center, a small forward playing power forward and a wee Canadian playing point guard. I know those three players — Stoudemire, Marion and Nash — are All-Stars, but size does matter in the NBA playoffs and Phoenix just doesn't have enough beef.
I'd love to be wrong about this and see the Suns playing in June because no team is more fun to watch.
Contenders
Houston Rockets
Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady are finally getting things figured out in Houston. And that make the Rockets extremely dangerous. (Pat Sullivan / AP)
If there's one team San Antonio would like to avoid in the Western Conference playoffs, it's Houston. After stumbling out of the gate to a 6-11 start, the Rockets have gone 26-10, including two wins over the Spurs, and are riding high on an eight-game winning streak.
While All-Stars Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming are now becoming the dominant inside-outside combo coach Jeff Van Gundy has been dreaming of, the key to the Rockets resurgence has been do-everything grinder Bob Sura.
Sura is averaging 10.8 points per game, 6.2 rebounds and 5.3 assists. In the last five wins of the Rockets' current streak, Sura has pulled down 50 rebounds. In the first win of the streak, he dished out 10 assists in a win over the Celtics, two off his season high. In mid-January, he poured in 35 points in a 94-85 victory over the Nets. Sura is in his 10th NBA season, and he has appeared in just six postseason games. He deserves another shot at the playoffs.
