The 2005-2006 NBA Season Discussion Thread

All-Defense teams tend to lag a couple years based on reputation (Payton got it a few years ago and then was murdered by Billups in the Finals a few years later). Kidd has been a great defender over the years, but he's lost a step (he got his ass torched by Anthony Johnson ). I also have my misgivings on Artest, since he only really played half a season.

Lots of people wanted Bruce Bowen winning DPOTY as well. It'd be fairly impressive, since most of the winners have been shot blocking big men (Artest won it a few years ago, and I think Payton is one of the few guards within the last decade to win it). Bowen's lock-down defense is impressive, but I dunno. The fact that Wallace is always around to block shots and work the glass, is able to step out against guards, and generally scare the bejeezus out of anyone who comes near the basket seems more valuable to me.

Oh well. When do the All-NBA teams get announced?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Whew (Pistons fan here).

I knew they'd pull it off, but sometimes I think they stop trying in the middle of important games in order to give me heart attacks. They've dug holes like this before, but they always seem to get out of them. I really hate it when they stop trying, since I think they probably could've gotten closer to 66-68 games this season if they hadn't flipped the switch to off, but that doesn't matter as much as a championship in the end.

Yeah, the Pistons-Cavs game 7 wasn't too exciting, but they had to show that their trademark defense still existed (hey guys, .31 field goal percentage). It's not what makes for legendary playoff basketball, but it was a statement to the rest of the teams still in the playoffs.

I can't feel too bad for LeBron here, though. What he's done at 21 (won a playoff series, made the best team in the league sweat out a game 7) is just amazing. And you know that bastard's going to run off with championships and MVPs down the line, so sorry if I can't sympathize here. But damn, that team is going to be a nightmare if they get shooters that aren't so streaky and some defenders.

The game 7s in the Western semis should be pretty exciting. I'm looking forward to a great day of basketball tomorrow. Hoping that the Spurs and Clippers (c'mon, the franchise deserves a damn break) win tomorrow. That'll bring it one step closer to the grudge Finals rematch I've been waiting for. I'll grant that the first four games in last year's finals kinda sucked, but games 5 and 7 were just great (even though the Pistons lost both. Grah).

If the Spurs and the Suns win, the teams in the conference finals will be the exact same as last year, which is kinda weird. Has that happened before?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

They were down 3-2 against the Nets on route to their championship as well. And they recovered last year after going down 2-1 to the Pacers and 3-2 to the Heat. They're just incredibly resilient.

And I remember that series against Orlando. McGrady was an absolute beast the first few games.

Speaking of McGrady, here's hoping that he makes a recovery from his injuries (same with Amare). I always hate to see great players have their careers cut short by injuries (Grant Hill was one of my favorites for a long time. He'd probably be a Hall of Famer if not for injuries. Same probably goes for Penny Hardaway).

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Barkley is awesome and the whole crew has good chemistry and a lot of inside jokes (Kenny Smith gloating over having rings, stuff like that). I don't think any of them are particularly insightful (especially Magic, who likes to spout cliches left and right), but they're definitely entertaining.

For in game commentating, I like former coaches a lot, especially ones that will explain to you the sets that teams are running. Hubie Brown is especially good at this. Doug Collins usually knows what he's talking about as well.

On the flip side, I also think Bill Walton is really funny. Sure, he's a dumbass, but he's mostly around for entertainment value. His use of exaggeration is great. "That was the worst pass in the history of Western civilization!"
"That was the best dunk in the history of this franchise!", etc

How ya doing, buddy?

Okay, the Mavs are just torching the Spurs (shooting 85% as of this post). This is ridiculous, no one shoots that high on the Spurs for an extended period of time. It can't really keep up. I think.

In spite of that, the Spurs are only down 14 because they've been to the line so often. This hot shooting is probably a fluke, but I'm not so sure now.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Daaaaaaaaaamn. Watching the Spurs come back from that deficit was highly entertaining. Great basketball here. God damn it, this should be the conference finals. The current playoff seeding is ridiculous.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Dallas can take down the Clippers fairly easily. Phoenix might make them sweat, but Dallas can definitely win that if it comes down to it. I'm thinking it'll come to Dallas and Detroit in the Finals, and I'm not really sure who would win that one (my confidence in the Pistons is shaken after that Cavs series). If it comes to Miami and Dallas, I'd favor Dallas.

I can't really see hating the Mavs too much outside of Mark Cuban (who is a total ass). Nowitzki took lumps for critisizing his teammates after last year, and I could see disliking him for that. The team itself is impressive for its depth, and any one guy can be crazy hot. I just hope they don't play so well that they end up beating my Pistons, but one step at a time...

EDIT: And Phoenix is up 15 right now, so it looks more and more like a Mavs/Suns WCF. That'll be a pretty fun shootout, methinks.

FELIPE NO

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The gap between how good the Western Conference was and how bad the Eastern Conference was several years back is long gone now. Of the 4 teams remaining, I don't see either of the two West teams remaining being able to beat either of the teams from the East. Basically, I'm saying that whoever comes out of the East will win the championship.

I dunno about that. It may apply to the top of the leagues, when whoever came out of the West would become clear favorites to stomp on the jokers of the East, but the middle and bottom of the East on average is still much worse than the Western conference (remember, many of the playoff qualifiers this year were below .500 for much of the playoff race). The last couple years, the winners of the Eastern conference were pretty much written off (Detroit, New Jersey, Philly), but Detroit has emerged as at least one of the big dogs.

I've never figured out why there's such a big disparity between the conferences, but it's been the case for a while now. Maybe it's just a reversal of the dominance of the Jordan Bulls. My guess is that the situation will reverse again as the East accumulates star draft picks.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I didn't like Terry much from the interviews I saw yesterday, but a lot of NBA players end up spouting cliches or come off as overly arrogant in interviews. Though, I guess there are the guys who always downplay themselves. I'm struggling to think of a player who gives interesting interviews right now.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Van Horn's first few years in New Jersey were pretty promising, so they gave him like a 73 million dollar contract extension. Naturally, he hasn't come close to being worth that much, but I'm guessing they thought he would evolve into a superstar instead of just a decent player.

There are probably worse contracts out there.

EDIT: Not surprisingly, many of the worst are/have been Knicks. Brian Grant is getting 16 mil, Anfernee Hardaway is getting 15.75 mil, Jalen Rose is getting 15.7 mil, Eddie Jones is making 14.56 mil, Tim Thomas is making 14.36 mil (he's been great in the playoffs though), Antonio Davis is getting 13.86 mil.

This doesn't include those cut by the amnesty thing. Most of the rest making top dollar are the real deal, though some are probably overrated by their salaries.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Those are rookie contracts, to be fair. Those contracts vary by the position in the draft (so first pick would earn more than the second pick and so on) and I think the amounts are set, so naturally there'd be bargains (and stinkers, conversely). Off the top of my head, a good bargain that isn't a rookie contract is Chauncey Billups, who is making 5.90 million this year.

How ya doing, buddy?

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Damn. I was rooting for Detroit, but they were playing terribly all series. Oh well, there's always next year.

Same. They've been struggling offensively for whatever reason since the Cleveland series. Also, there is next year, but after that, I think their championship window is probably closed since they're going to get old (and LeBron's going to terrorize the East for years to come). The good thing is that I think that the starters' skillsets won't deteriorate too much with age. People with Rasheed's build tend to last a long time in the league, Billups should be able to keep this level of production for a while, Prince is still very young, Hamilton's game is built around keeping in shape and running a lot (he's probably the main candidate to fade as time goes on, actually), and Ben Wallace is in amazing shape. They just need a decent bench for when the main guys get tired or aren't hitting their shots. The bench isn't deplorable like it was last year, but Saunders was still only really willing to use Hunter and McDyess during the playoffs.

My horse is out, and I don't have any emotional attachment with any of the teams left. I'm rooting for whoever comes out of the West, now, though.

Anyone bored enough to talk about the offseason at this point?

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I've read several articles on it, and it has to do with how big his hands are or some crap like that. Whatever the problem is, it makes for some good comedy.

Dallas in 6, I think. A bit late, I know.

I was speaking idiomatically.