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warriors better than sonics/suns?
We're woozy, not crazy: Warriors to surpass Sonics, Suns - By Tony Meija, cbs.sportsline.com
[font=Arial, Helvetica]For the sake of fairness, being that we're all about journalistic integrity here, we'll preface the following statement by admitting that we're indeed hopped up on antibiotics and cough syrup.
Baron Davis had 17 points, 11 assists, six rebounds and three steals vs. the Suns on Wednesday. (AP) That admitted, in continuing to count down our preseason Power Rankings, it would appear that based on the three teams released Thursday and Friday, the Golden State Warriors are headed to the playoffs, and the Seattle Supersonics and Phoenix Suns are not.
Sorry, little woozy.
Anyway, the team with the longest postseason drought of any team in the NBA -- we're talking Bill Clinton's first term in office -- is going to be active in mid-April, while defending divisional champs Phoenix (Pacific) and Seattle (Northwest) will sit and ponder where it all went wrong.
We'll tell you now, months in advance, that they will be beaten at their own game. The Suns lost Amare Stoudemire, severely hampering what they'll be able to do in their high-flying offense. Seattle, as insane as it sounds, lost Jerome James, who could have honestly helped get them to that elite level if he finally got his head on straight.
Oh goodness, who's writing this, the 'tussin?
In fairness, everyone knows James slacked throughout most of his tenure in Seattle, then came up big and got the big contract offer he coveted from New York. But if he had stayed put, even half the amount of effort he'd have given them would have drastically surpassed what they figure to get out of Vitaly Potapenko, the human skyscraper (we say this because he's tall, built out of concrete and moves as well as you'd expect a building to).
Actually, it seems that Potapenko has pulled a hamstring and might not be at full strength to start the season, so 19-year-olds Robert Swift or Johan Petro could end up in the lineup on opening night, jumping at the center circle.
C'mon now, you can envision either doing that for D-league affiliate Albuquerque, but the parent club? To make matters worse, Vladimir Radmanovic really, really wants to start, and it sounds like there will be some pouting if he doesn't. After all, he passed on a long-term deal to sign for a single season in which he plans on proving himself to really earn the big bucks. Right now, his plan is off to a rocky start.
Peep this from last week's Seattle Times: "When it comes to signing a contract, the team that you're going to sign with is going to pull out all of those little details of what you've been doing in the past year. You can't say it doesn't matter if you're starting or not.
"I guess starting is going to give you a little bit more money. But if you're starting and you're not playing 30 minutes or more, then it doesn't mean anything."
Nice to see where his head is at, but considering the glaring lack of a center, our advice to coach Bob Weiss would be to appease Radmanovic and throw him out there with Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis and Luke Ridnour, throw in one of the bigger guys, be it Reggie Evans, Nick Collison and or Danny Fortson, and see what develops. Sure, you'll be at the mercy of teams with established post games, but at least you'd get the tempo you crave. Fast-paced, breakneck basketball can win, if only in the regular season.
But the Warriors are still going to beat you playing it. Just ask Phoenix.
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We're woozy, not crazy: Warriors to surpass Sonics, Suns - By Tony Meija, cbs.sportsline.com
[font=Arial, Helvetica]For the sake of fairness, being that we're all about journalistic integrity here, we'll preface the following statement by admitting that we're indeed hopped up on antibiotics and cough syrup.
Sorry, little woozy.
Anyway, the team with the longest postseason drought of any team in the NBA -- we're talking Bill Clinton's first term in office -- is going to be active in mid-April, while defending divisional champs Phoenix (Pacific) and Seattle (Northwest) will sit and ponder where it all went wrong.
We'll tell you now, months in advance, that they will be beaten at their own game. The Suns lost Amare Stoudemire, severely hampering what they'll be able to do in their high-flying offense. Seattle, as insane as it sounds, lost Jerome James, who could have honestly helped get them to that elite level if he finally got his head on straight.
Oh goodness, who's writing this, the 'tussin?
In fairness, everyone knows James slacked throughout most of his tenure in Seattle, then came up big and got the big contract offer he coveted from New York. But if he had stayed put, even half the amount of effort he'd have given them would have drastically surpassed what they figure to get out of Vitaly Potapenko, the human skyscraper (we say this because he's tall, built out of concrete and moves as well as you'd expect a building to).
Actually, it seems that Potapenko has pulled a hamstring and might not be at full strength to start the season, so 19-year-olds Robert Swift or Johan Petro could end up in the lineup on opening night, jumping at the center circle.
C'mon now, you can envision either doing that for D-league affiliate Albuquerque, but the parent club? To make matters worse, Vladimir Radmanovic really, really wants to start, and it sounds like there will be some pouting if he doesn't. After all, he passed on a long-term deal to sign for a single season in which he plans on proving himself to really earn the big bucks. Right now, his plan is off to a rocky start.
Peep this from last week's Seattle Times: "When it comes to signing a contract, the team that you're going to sign with is going to pull out all of those little details of what you've been doing in the past year. You can't say it doesn't matter if you're starting or not.
"I guess starting is going to give you a little bit more money. But if you're starting and you're not playing 30 minutes or more, then it doesn't mean anything."
Nice to see where his head is at, but considering the glaring lack of a center, our advice to coach Bob Weiss would be to appease Radmanovic and throw him out there with Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis and Luke Ridnour, throw in one of the bigger guys, be it Reggie Evans, Nick Collison and or Danny Fortson, and see what develops. Sure, you'll be at the mercy of teams with established post games, but at least you'd get the tempo you crave. Fast-paced, breakneck basketball can win, if only in the regular season.
But the Warriors are still going to beat you playing it. Just ask Phoenix.
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