NBA 2003/04

[Scott]

Whew...Go To Jail! Go To Jail!


Congrats to the Pistons, I didn't you had a chance but I'm glad you showed most of the Country what we all knew...the Lakers were the most overrated "team" in history!!!!

Vrrrrrrrrrrrrrrooooooooooooooooooom

[Diddly]

w00t!

I love it when the underdogs win. Just seeing the Lakers and their Star Power fall to the team of lesser knowns was great.

Hope you have fun in prison, Mr. Bryant! (Even though I think he's innocent, I'd like for him to get a few months just to se what would happen to the Lakers early next season).

[Brian]

Wow....just, wow.  A big congrats to the Detroit Pistons.  I sure as heck hated your teams in the 80s and 90s, but their style of play (and personnel) is definitely inspiring now.  As much as I was going for them (gotta go for the underdog), I really didn't think they had much of a chance against LA when the series started.  And, even after a couple of wins, I kept thinking that the Lakers would turn it on at some point too and even things up.  Detroit just had their number, and must have figured out how to beat them...and beat them badly.  This could have very easily been a sweep, and that is even more shocking.  Although I would have of course rather see Minny make it all the way, Detroit is definitely a deserving champion with their work ethic, style of play, and overall pretty classy behavior.  I saw this morning that right after the buzzer sounded, the players all went around hugging and talking to each of the Lakers players, instead of beginning their championship "jigs" right away.  A reserved jubilation, that typifies what a true champion is about.  I was very impressed with this team in this series.  It is funny how sports have been lately, the underdogs have really been getting their due it seems the last few years in baseball (Angels, Diamondbacks, Marlins), football (Rams first, then once they were good, the Patriots took it over), NCAA hoops (Syracuse last year), Hockey (Lightning), and now NBA with the Pistons.  I guess you can't ever count anyone out.

Now we can move on to all the offseason news, and looking forward to next season.  Draft is next week, then the free agent frenzy will begin once again (also the Olympic team thrown in there as well, and Kobe's court case).  As I've said before, I'm really curious what is going to happen to this Lakers team now....many of them seemed pretty noncommittal in the postgame interviews, not saying "i'm staying, we can still win together".  Sounds like Phil is a goner for sure, basically saying so himself.  I have my doubts about Payton staying in LA, and after losing this year, some doubts about Kobe as well if he is found innocent.  Shaq is under contract, but doesn't seem overly happy either...and Karl Malone says he'll only play if he is 100%.  It should be an interesting summer.  Congratulations again to the Detroit Pistons.

Oh...and Sammy C. is undergoing hip surgery and should be all ready to go by training camp.  Go Wolves  

[Scott]

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division: Boston Celtics, New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, Toronto Raptors

Central Division: Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks

Southeast Division: Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Bobcats, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, Washington Wizards

Western Conference

Southwest Division: Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Hornets, San Antonio Spurs

Northwest Division: Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Portland Trail Blazers, Seattle SuperSonics, Utah Jazz

Pacific Division: Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings


Next years Conferences...sure glad the TPups got stuck with West Coast teams  They lobbied hard to get into the Central and switch to the East so they could have those regional rivalries with Chicago and Milwaukee and Detroit (like MLB and NFL) but they didn't and they got stuck in an NHLesque Wildesque crap Division where games will start at 9:00 PM local a lot of nights  

Looking at it though I can't find a team to shift West from the East besides Charlotte...put them in the SW and the GRizz in the Northwest

[Jeff]

Forgive my ignorance, but how does the re-arrangement affect the schedule?

Do we get less games against Duncan, Yao, and Nash in favor of more games against the Blazers and Sonics?  Ick.

At least we have a good change to own our division for a while... so does Denver.

Jeff

ps.
It's good to have ya back OCB  and Mario too...

[Scott]

Under the new plan, teams will play divisional opponents four times each (two home games/two road games), conference opponents outside the division three or four times each and opponents outside the conference two times each (one home game/one road game).

[Scott]

Coming up next week is my chance to defend my title in the Scott E. Roth Memorial Cup For Excellence in Mock NBA Drafting

The best part about the Cup is that we have been doing it for about 10 years now (since the Webber/Penny draft) and my Brother has yet to win it...its been great

[Brian]

The new alignment should be interesting, thanks for posting all the divisions Scott.  Poor New Orleans, what a division to move into...first of all going to the West, and then in the same division as Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Memphis?  Ouch.  This could really be an interesting off-season (and season) now, with some of the Laker mystique broken, San Antonio getting knocked out earlier than expected, and more parity than maybe people thought in the league.  The Pistons win at least shows that the East has a chance, and maybe isn't quite as far behind the West as it once was (although I think the Pistons are MUCH better than the majority of the Eastern Conference).  The Draft should be interesting as well, tougher to pick this year, not very many "sure things".

[Scott]

Waaaah

"Karl was really our energy around the court," Jackson said. "He was a guy that could get rebounds for us and do a lot of the things that we had to have done on screen-roll defense and we missed him tonight, a lot, and we missed him through this series."

I feel real sorry for ya Phil, losing a washed up 40 year old PF cost you a Ring....Puuuhleeease

[Morgbug]

Sure is quiet in here.  Wonder where dat Colman feller got to

[Brian]

Well, with the champions now crowned and the season months away, the news now is offseason changes.  We have the drafts (expansion and regular) coming up in the next week or so, as well as free agency period on the horizon.

To start things off, I read some rumors over at ESPN in their chats (David Aldridge and Chad Ford today), that there are very strong rumors that Tracy McGrady is going to be traded.  A couple of scenarios mentioned included Phoenix (for Marion, Jacobsen and/or Johnson, #7 pick) as well as Indiana (Harrington, Bender, and someone else...Walsh has said anyone is available other than J O'Neal).  There was also talk that the Sonics will most likely trade Ray Allen at some point too.  This, coupled with the Lakers that might be on the open market again, could make for one wild offseason.  There was also rumor that the Spurs might let Malik Rose walk to another team to free up enough space to make Kobe a max offer.  The landscape of the league could once again be shaken up big time by the start of the season.  Any rumors, news, suggestions of what you'd like to see happen....feel free to post!  Although the player movement is exciting, it does make me long for the days when players stayed with the same team a little more often.  I remember one of the biggest trades of the NBA when I was growing up was Barkley going from the Sixers to the Suns....that was fairly rare, it seems to happen a bit more often now (as well as free agency movement).  Ah well, it should make for an exciting offseason at least...and a good shakeup might make things interesting.  As long as KG stays on the Wolves, I'll be ok .

[Scott]

KG is staying...so is Sammy C...Spree has an opt out but like Payton would make a lot less on the Open Market than playing out his contract

I'd like to see the Wolves go after a Center and a PF to try and spell KG a little bit and make some good matchup difficulty at SF

Wally is again the subject of much trade talk as he has been almost every offseason.  Rumor in today's paper was that he was going to Chicago for the #3 pick and Antonio Davis

Also read a few days ago at ESPN that the Lakers might/should consider trading Shaq and keeping Kobe since he's younger, more motivated and has a lot more upside.  I tend to agree with that but there aren't too many teams around that can take on Shaq's bloated contract

The Spurs/Kobe thing would be interesting...I'd rather see him go to the East so we don't have to play that At Best Adulterer any more than we have too

[Jeff]

[snip]
I'd like to see the Wolves go after a Center and a PF to try and spell KG a little bit and make some good matchup difficulty at SF

[snip]
Also read a few days ago at ESPN that the Lakers might/should consider trading Shaq and keeping Kobe since he's younger, more motivated and has a lot more upside.  I tend to agree with that but there aren't too many teams around that can take on Shaq's bloated contract

My brother seems to think the Wolves should go after Rasheed Wallace, but why would he leave Detroit?!?  Another name he keeps throwing at me is Eric Dampier from Golden State.  I'm not sure how easy it would be to get either though...

I'm not worried about it, I'm hoping to steal a PF in the draft... what do we have, like the #29 pick for best record in the West, right?   (Thanks again Joe Smith )
Oh well, there's always Ndudi Ebi, right

And I'd love to see Kobe head to NY too so we don't see as much of him as well...

Jeff

[Brian]

Yeah, I'm glad KG is under contract for awhile yet, and he seems to be "at home" in Minnesota now too.  I would think Spree would stick around too, he's in a good situation and things nearly worked out to get to the Finals this year.  I actually posted the question to David Aldridge in chat today who would be the favorites, and he named Minny out West (and maybe San Antonio), as well as Detroit and Indiana in the East (obviously).

I have also ready what you have been hearing, that the Wolves should be after Erick Dampier.  He might be looking for too much $, since the Warriors can pay him more, so that might not happen.  Wally World seems to always be on the block...but if they got the #3 and Antonio Davis might not be too bad...could bring some decent young talent in.  I don't mind Wally though, sometimes it seems like he wants to shoot too much, but he sure did well every so often in the playoffs and is still fairly young (Spree and Sammy aren't getting any younger).

I'm with the Kobe to the east scenarios too, although I'd just like to see him and Shaq on different teams regardless of where it is.  I'm not sure what Kobe wants...he could obviously have a great chance at a championship right away in San Antonio, but he'd be a 1-2 combo again, and from what we consistently hear he wants to have "his team".  In that scenario he'd be better off going somewhere like the Clips or Phoenix, where he would be the main man with other supporting cast.  It will be interesting to see what he decides....and if he is able to play next year at all.  They said on ESPN this morning that the trial could be until November so he could miss the first month of the season at least the way it is.

[Scott]

I think right now Phoenix has the most potential, I said earlier in the year I could not believe how bad they are/were for as much talent as the have: Marion, Stoudemire, Joe Johnson and they had Marbury and Penny...not sure what happened there

Obviously they would have to dump Marion to pick up either Kobe or McGrady

I'd sort of like to see what Kobe could do with the Clippers...wouldn't have to change residences or arenas....its intriguing