Where do the Kings Rank?

[nbrans]

Oh, what the hell, I'm bored...

30. New Orleans - setting the standard for crappiness.
29. Atlanta - still time for them to sign some free agents
28. Charlotte - saving up cap room for next year
27. Portland - young, exciting, and craptastic.
26. Utah - can't believe they wanted Ostertag back
25. Toronto - Babcock went to the Isiah Thomas school of general managers
24. Orlando - poor Stevie Franchise...
23. Clippers - still mired in mediocrity
22. New York - gotta love Isiah Thomas, screwing up yet another franchise
21. Lakers - I don't think Kwame is the answer.
20. Golden State - Baron and JRich make them promising, but Mike Dunleavy means they can't be higher than 20
19. Memphis - not that great and not getting better
18. Boston - hard to place at this point because you don't know what's going to happen in the rest of the offseason
17. Philadelphia - AI and CWebb will carry them, but how much do they really have left?
16. Milwaukee - people are excited about them, but they weren't so great last year and they didn't get THAT much better in the offseason
15. Minnesota - KG will take them as far as he can, but they haven't improved much this offseason
14. Washington - losing Hughes really hurt.
13. Seattle - lost/will lose too many players in free agency to be higher
12. Chicago - they're young and talented, but young teams only go so far
11. Denver - they're like an imitation of a good team. They have almost All-Stars at several positions, but they're not contenders
10. Houston - they'd be higher if they had a point guard
9. Dallas - they never really put it all together, and they won't until they learn how to play defense
8. Sacramento - when everyone's healthy they're going to be better than everyone below them.
7. Phoenix - I don't like the Q for Kurt Thomas move as much as most people, and it's looking like they might lose Joe Johnson to boot...
6. New Jersey - contingent on Kidd being healthy
5. Cleveland - if they get Jaric they're going to be extremely tough. And now LeBron actually has a good supporting cast
4. Miami - only 4 because I don't trust Shaq to have gas in the tank in the postseason
3. Indiana - back with Artest and now they have Jaciwviajskdus
2. Detroit - defense wins championships. Well, almost.
1. San Antonio - duh.

 

[captain bill]

I've got time to kill.

30-Atlanta-signing JJ deal=no room to actually improve. Johnson isn't the type you like to build around
29-New Orleans-nothin' doin, still
28-Portland-youth movement is sportspeak for white flag, and it looks like they still haven't lowered it
27-Toronto-losing a lot of talent and doing nothing to replace it
26-Charlotte-still an expansion team, but has youth and potential to start moving up
25-Orlando-can't understand why this team did the Christie deal. Had lots of potential, now nothing
24-New York-maybe Jerome James can bring the franchise back to respectability. Seriously though, Larry Brown might get them to win some games
23-Utah-a healthy AK47, Boozer and Tag have the makings of a decent team. I'd put them closer to 17 if I had faith in AK's health, I think he'll be healthy but it's still wait and see
22-Memphis-should have some potential, but will have a tough season
21-Clippers-tearing down all the advances they made last year
20-Lakers-if I didn't hate them I'd rank them higher. PJ can make Kobe-Odom-Kwame a very scary threesome, but this is another wait and see situation
19-Boston-I get the feeling they are going to implode before the offseason is over
18-Washington-Hughes is gone, so is all their progress. Is almost making the 2nd round in the east really that impressive anyway?
17-Philadelphia-CWebb may not be as good as old, but they've still got AI and a good young core. Outside shot at 2nd round
16-Golden State-not sold on this team. We'll find out next season
15-Seattle-will lose some talent and have a new coach. Might start looking like 04 Sonics instead of 05 Sonics
14-Milwaukee-much improved team. Will be suprising next year
13-Minnesota-KG warrants a spot this high. I'm confident better pieces will fall into place.
12-New Jersey-Kidd isn't getting any younger. Will Carter turn in an entire quality season? Can Reef fit well? They should be a good team but might fall apart as well
11-Denver-the Karl magic will wear off. Not sure how much is left underneath. Nene can continue improving. Could be as high as 8, maybe 7, if everything goes right.
10-Sacramento-one more move left. Maybe get a PF? Could be a lot lower if we don't make the right moves
9-Chicago-baby Bulls can begin to grow up and start being truly scary
8-Cleveland-Lots of good moves this offseason. James grows, Cavs compete
7-Pheonix-risky moves, and they were a paper team last year anyway. With some defense they might be better than last year, but I still don't think they'll be that good
6-Dallas-one more year left in them, and then they fall apart and need to retool.
5-Houston-how will Yao improve? TMac is top 5 player, and Swift is a solid addition. This team can challenge the Spurs in the west
4-Miami-Shaq won't hold up for the entire year, but he only needs to be in the playoffs anyway. What's the coaching situation? Haslem returning is good, but they have other FAs and need to fill roleplaying roles. This team might not return to the form of last year, and I don't think they make ECF
3-Detroit-still one of the best team, and would tie them for number one with SA if it weren't for Brown leaving
2-Indiana-great team only getting better. Obviously have to be worried about Artest, not for behavior but for massive amount of rust. Although I think this team might end with league-best record, they could easily be a regular season team and fall apart in the playoffs. I'm calling a Pacers-Pistons ECF. Think Indy will lose, but they could contend for the title, too.
1-San Antonio-champs will come back with Oberto and maybe Mo, or someone else to add more punch to their roster. 2 of 3 rings speaks for itself.

 

[AriesMar27]

im not sold on the mavs..... they look too beatable.... i would have rather the kings go up against them than the sonics last year.... peja could have guarded dirk and we would have been fine, like josh howard would have done any damage to thomas.... i dont think so.... i think thats why the kings-mavs match up was so great for us... dirk is the only pf in the west that peja can guard....

 

[Kings113]

im not sold on the mavs..... they look too beatable.... i would have rather the kings go up against them than the sonics last year.... peja could have guarded dirk and we would have been fine, like josh howard would have done any damage to thomas.... i dont think so.... i think thats why the kings-mavs match up was so great for us... dirk is the only pf in the west that peja can guard....

Darius could of guarded Dirk too, he frustrated him in regular season games, and even shut him out of the 4th in that last game in March, where we won, Peja went off for 38.

 

[quick dog]

http://www.dimemag.com/feature.asp?id=1825

30. New Orleans Hornets -

29. Atlanta Hawks -

28. Charlotte Bobcats -

27. Toronto Raptors -

26. Los Angeles Clippers -

25. Los Angeles Lakers -

24. New York Knicks -

23. Utah Jazz -

22. Golden State Warriors -

21. Orlando Magic -

20. Philadelphia 76ers -

19. Portland Trail Blazers -

18. Washington Wizards -

17. Seattle Supersonics - (9)

16. Milwaukee Bucks -

15. Boston Celtics -

14. Memphis Grizzlies - (8)

13. Sacramento Kings - (7)

12. Minnesota Timberwolves - (6)

11. New Jersey Nets -

10. Chicago Bulls -

9. Denver Nuggets - (5)

8. Houston Rockets - (4)

7. Cleveland Cavaliers -

6. Dallas Mavericks - (3)

5. Miami Heat -

4. Detroit Pistons -

3. Indiana Pacers -

2. Phoenix Suns - (2)

1. San Antonio Spurs - (1)

Hmmm. Seventh in the West. Assuming that the Grizzlies don't beat us out of the 7th seed in the Western Conference, I suppose the boys need to start preparing to play the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Playoffs. Does anyone really believe that the Kings will keep Seattle out of the Playoffs?

 

[VF21]

You might want to actually wait until ... oh I don't know ... August? ... before you have us worrying about keeping Seattle out of the 2006 playoffs.

 

[captain bill]

What else do we have to do? It's TDOS. Pointless predictions are what it's all about.

 

[Kings113]

Yeah Quick Dog, you're jumping the gun like we have a full roster and training camp is coming, and then pre-season.

Not even close to them yet.

 

[BobbyJ_for3!]

If Chandler, Duhon and Curry come back to Chicago, they will be awsome next year.

PG - Kirk Hinrich/Chris Duhon/Gordon
SG - Ben Gordon/Eric Piatkowski/Duhon
SF - Luol Deng/Andres Nocioni/Piatkowski
PF - Tyson Chandler/Antonio Davis/Curry
C - Eddy Curry/Davis/Chandler

I would also assume they would resign another one of their guards and one or possibly two PF/Cs or sign a free agent for that. Plus, they still have 3 roster spots after 1 G and 2 F/Cs.

Still up in the air if they will resign who I said they would, and who else they would get, but that depth chart looks pretty damn good to me....not quite enough big me, but the East is more of a guard league, still.

I see them as a top 6 team in the East. They sure are in a tough division tho. Cleveland, Detroit, Indiana, Milwaukee. At least one, probably two, of these 5 teams will collapse. Maybe Chicago's youth won't be as good as I think it is but, Gordon (and Deng) sure are extra special building blocks.

 

[quick dog]

Geeze! I was being facetious. I thought that the concept of discussing the NBA Playoffs in July was moderately funny.

 

[starks]

cle, chi, dall, den and njn are not better than kings....

 

[iheartBrad]

I don't have a problem with most of the list...

I don't buy however the Lakers being as high up in the list as they are or the GSWs...I think at this point the Hornets are better than the Hawks...I don't buy the Suns at #2...and I kinda think we should be above the TWolves...if anything flipflopped and I also think the Cavs could be lower maybe in front of the Mavs who IMO are sitting idle-what have they done this offseason?...I mean if they are gonna put the Suns at #2 before teams like Detroit, Indy and Miami than you could flip flop the Cavs and the Mavs IMO...

other than that everything seems to be okay...I thought the short and sweet analysis were "real" aside from the fact that the author did miss some of the current dealings while at the same time indeed having some of the current dealings mentioned for other teams...

I like to read lists like this though...the entire list could look different at the start of next week so you know come training camp or the start of the season some stuff is gonna look completely different

 

[captain bill]

cle, chi, dall, den and njn are not better than kings....

Yes, they are. Cleveland is very improved and could crush us as our roster stand now. Dallas will continue to have our number. We got beat soundly by Denver down the stretch, and they will only be better next year, built around some good young players. Chicago will continue to improve, but I don't know for sure that they'll be better. The Nets are a good team, but they may not do anything for it. But right now, looking at history and the rosters and how these teams have played, there is no way to say that the Kings are better than these teams other than just being a homer.