Biggest surprise so far

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

What has shocked you the most this year in the NBA? The great starts by former pushovers like the Sonics and the Magic? Or the poor starts of such early favorites like Minnesota and Houston? And how about individual players?

[Medvedenko]

Starts of the Rockets...and the Sonics...I believe they'll taper off as the season goes.

[picnroll]

Sonics.

Rockets were way overated. Yao someday, if he works hard, will be as good as Rik Smits.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

I think Yao has received a lot of unfair comparison to Rik Smits. For starters, Rik Smits' moustache never looked nearly as middle schoolerish as Yao's. And Rik is a lot fatter than Yao will ever be. And really that's about where the differences end.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

As for me, I'm the most surprised by the Magic. If you told me that a team of Steve Francis, Grant Hill, and Dwight Howard would get off to this good a start I would have laughed my head off. But alas Francis is playing great, Hill is healthy and Howard is looking like the real deal. Who would have thought that Shaq, Wade, and the Heat might be considered the second best team in Florida?

[ChumpDumper]

The thing about the Magic is they got a truly complete team out of this offseason. Weisbrod isn't getting enough credit for making the right moves this summer, probably because he overpaid Hedo -- but even that looks like it's working out.

[T Park]

You mena HEDO is ok??

Dont mention that here, forum faithfull will rip you mercilously.

IMO the Sonic's quic start is suprising.


The Magic are a good team.

IMO, they are Eastern Finals material VS Detroit.

[Solid D]

Team: Phoenix & Seattle (Tie)
Player: Grant Hill

[ducks]

suns are not suprising me

they would be real scary if they trade marion for a decent big

but if I am them I trade q. richardson for a big

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

* Phoenix Suns. Amare in top 5 in scoring, Nash throwing out 2843 assists per game

* Grant Hill is still playing



Come on Tpark, we all know when the chips are down (should Orlando make it to the playoffs) Hedo will go 1-15.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

I'm with all you who are claiming Hill as the individual shocker. But surprised by Phoenix? I was shocked at how poorly they did last year. With the addition of Nash they have every reason to be doing as well they are.

[ShoogarBear]

I am surprised that Pop's pussy hairstyle has lasted over an entire year.

[sickdsm]

Hands down the Sonics. Live by the three, die by the three, right??? How the hell can they keep hitting it with that accuracy this much of a stretch?

Player would have to be Alonzo Mourning. Its amazing what they can do with bones and ligaments but kidneys aren't that fixable. His numbers are bound to improve.

[ChumpDumper]

I wouldn't account much to the kidney -- I'd venture a guess that most of it has to do with his not being able to take the kind of anti-inflammatories he did before that helped destroy his renal system. Add to that his increased vulnerability to colds and other infections due to immunosuppressive drugs he's taking every day for the rest of his life and you have to conclude that his numbers are pretty remarkable. He needs to be traded though -- he's playing far too many minutes to last the season.

Yes, the Sonics -- but the shots could stop falling or one injury could send the whole thing south.

[Sportcamper]

Seeing Grant Hill on the court waxing the Lakers was not only a surprise it was inspirational to see him continue to fight back from injuries....

Seeing Alonzo Mourning on the court sickens me...Its like watching the train wreck from “The Fugitive”...The man has a second chance at life, I wish he would count his blessings and hang it up....

[Jimcs50]

Biggest surprise is Seattle, no doubt about it. Nobody, not one stinking person in here, not even me, (and I usually am never wrong at anything), picked them to be in top 8 in preseason poll, and they are on pace to be in top 3.

Link:

http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5634&page=1

[Hawk]

Seattle they have beat some tough teams.

[ChumpDumper]

Seeing Alonzo Mourning on the court sickens me...Its like watching the train wreck from “The Fugitive”...The man has a second chance at life, I wish he would count his blessings and hang it up....Doing pretty well from what I've seen. Again, it ain't the kidney that's going to slow him down, and any worries about its getting injured are pretty unfounded. The placement of the transplanted kidney makes it better protected than a normal person's, and when was the last time you heard of a basketball player injuring a kidney?

[ZStomp]

Sonics.

Rockets were way overated. Yao someday, if he works hard, will be as good as Rik Smits.


Agree.

I'm not a fan of Yao. He's overrated and TMAC in Houston won't help that situation.

When Hou obtained TMac- I was one of the few that believed Hou did not improve.

Look at their record. :fro

[Jimcs50]

Agree.

I'm not a fan of Yao. He's overrated and TMAC in Houston won't help that situation.

When Hou obtained TMac- I was one of the few that believed Hou did not improve.

Look at their record. :fro


So now you guys admit that it was not Francis' fault last year????

[ZStomp]

So now you guys admit that it was not Francis' fault last year????


Maybe. It's hard to say: Tmac/Francis are the same type of players....ball hoggers. :lol

I'm not a fan of Steve "Keep dribbling the ball" Francis either. Either way- Yao's overrated. Who knows if he would improve with a more team player. But as far as the type of players that were traded: Francis-Tmac--- same ol' shit.

[Manu20]

Yao needs to be more aggressive offensively. For being 7ft 6in he should easily dominate most games by now.

[ZStomp]

Yao needs to be more aggressive offensively. For being 7ft 6in he should easily dominate most games by now.


Exactly--he plays- OH OH...here comes the S word...he plays soft. I mean he's that tall and he averages only 8.5 rebounds a game. I would expect more than that....

[E20]

Biggest suprise. Spurs going 11-3. They should be 14-0 right now.

[ZStomp]

After last nights game...Yao...tsk, tsk...:lol

OVERRATED :blah

[Jimcs50]

Maybe. It's hard to say: Tmac/Francis are the same type of players....ball hoggers. :lol

I'm not a fan of Steve "Keep dribbling the ball" Francis either. Either way- Yao's overrated. Who knows if he would improve with a more team player. But as far as the type of players that were traded: Francis-Tmac--- same ol' shit.


Yeah that is why Francis is leading a previous lottery team to the playoffs and he left a previous playoff team which is now a lottery team, that is no coincidence. I said when the trade went down that Houston fucked up and I was right. And Orlando has not even had a healthy Mobley all year, once he is healthy, look for them to win the division over the over-hyped Heat.

[Rick Von Braun]

Yeah that is why Francis is leading a previous lottery team to the playoffs and he left a previous playoff team which is now a lottery team, that is no coincidence. I said when the trade went down that Houston fucked up and I was right. And Orlando has not even had a healthy Mobley all year, once he is healthy, look for them to win the division over the over-hyped Heat.Francis is not leading that team. The real leader in Orlando is Grant Hill.

[whottt]

So now you guys admit that it was not Francis' fault last year????

It was his fault in that his skills did not fit the style of ball Van Gundy wants to play. Van Gundy gets some blame too...but the Rockets now have the same problem with TMac...so I guess Van Gundy gets the lionshare of the blame.

I'm also one of the people that thought TMac was no better though, in fact I thought he would be worse...I still thought Orlando got the better end of the deal...because Mobley is a good guard period.

TMac, Yao and Francis are 3 of the most over-rated players in the NBA...The only time Yao seems to be effective is when he plays against Shaq.

But to be fair to Francis, TMac is by far the most over-rated and he is a much bigger bone-head that Francis.

I would not have done a straight up trade even of Francis for TMac...Francis doesn't blame his teamates, Francis at least tried to do what his team asked of him, even though it didn't suit his game, and Francis, bone-head that he is...still has never said some of the stupid things TMac has said that resulted in his team getting comeback upon in an embrarrasing way in the playoffs.

Any "Superstar" who allows his team to lose 19 in a row...well let's just say TMac is in a class all by himself.....I raised hell when people mentioned trading Parker and or especially Manu for him. 19 losses in a row is horrible. TMac is the only "Superstar" to have ever done it.

[whottt]

Yao needs to be more aggressive offensively. For being 7ft 6in he should easily dominate most games by now.


Teams figured out(mainly by watching the Spurs) that if you make Yao run, he wears down and goes in the tank fast. Yao doesn't have the agressiveness or conditioning to be a true dominant center. You can still build a nice team around him, but he's got big weaknesses in his game that aren't going away.

[baseline bum]

Seattle by a mile. I remember a few media outlets were projecting them as the worst team in the West.

Houston has surprised me a bit. Not because I thought they'd be good: Yao is by far the most overrated player in the game an all (I always see him ranked as a top-10 player, which is total bullshit), and going into the season I knew Ty Lue was one of the 5 worst guards in the league, but TMac and Yao should be good enough for a 4-5 seed where I projected them to be. They still made the right move though. Francis is the second stupidest point in the league (only behind Lue), and H-Town will be fine if they get a remotely good point with the MCX next season.

[ducks]

it takes time
houston will be better from the trade

the problem is now they need a guy like tp or beno

[Jimcs50]

Francis is not leading that team. The real leader in Orlando is Grant Hill.


Dude, you are full of it.

Francis is the leading scorer, assist leader, (by 50%) and 2nd leading rebounder on the Magic(to Howard)

I have watched 10 of their games this year and I know who is leading that team. When the Magic have lost, it was a game where Francis had a poor shooting game, he is the engine that drives that team and if you have watched them even one game, you would know that. Stop the hate...you are showing your total ignorance.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

I'm surprised no one brought up the Clippers in this thread either.