sauce-26
Starter
http://http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2006/columns/story?columnist=stein_marc&id=2406847
15. Sacramento Kings
With Artest in town, one thing's for sure: No one's calling them Queens anymore. Sacramento has an enforcer now. Famous tough guy from Queensbridge, as it happens.
Yet even with Artest and the unquestionable boost he has given the Kings defensively after years of softness, it's still a stretch to call them the Team No One Wants To See in the first round. It's tough to bill the Kings that way when they couldn't finisher higher than No. 8 in the West, condemning them to a first-round matchup with mighty San Antonio.
Artest will play his linebacker brand of defense against Manu Ginobili, say outrageous things about Tony Parker's girlfriend and how much better his D is than Bruce Bowen's and force us to pay an abnormal amount of attention to a 1 vs. 8 matchup just because he'll be there.
But let's face it. The Kings can't win more than two games against the Spurs.
Two is pushing it, actually. Impressive as it was to see Artest guarantee a playoff berth upon arrival in Sacto and spark a 27-14 turnaround in which the opposition reached 100 points just nine times in the 40 games he played, Artest's new team doesn't have the depth or the front-line quality to seriously trouble the reigning champs.
We might not win the series, but being 15th is absurd!
15. Sacramento Kings

With Artest in town, one thing's for sure: No one's calling them Queens anymore. Sacramento has an enforcer now. Famous tough guy from Queensbridge, as it happens.
Yet even with Artest and the unquestionable boost he has given the Kings defensively after years of softness, it's still a stretch to call them the Team No One Wants To See in the first round. It's tough to bill the Kings that way when they couldn't finisher higher than No. 8 in the West, condemning them to a first-round matchup with mighty San Antonio.
Artest will play his linebacker brand of defense against Manu Ginobili, say outrageous things about Tony Parker's girlfriend and how much better his D is than Bruce Bowen's and force us to pay an abnormal amount of attention to a 1 vs. 8 matchup just because he'll be there.
But let's face it. The Kings can't win more than two games against the Spurs.
Two is pushing it, actually. Impressive as it was to see Artest guarantee a playoff berth upon arrival in Sacto and spark a 27-14 turnaround in which the opposition reached 100 points just nine times in the 40 games he played, Artest's new team doesn't have the depth or the front-line quality to seriously trouble the reigning champs.

We might not win the series, but being 15th is absurd!