The BS Report -- Literally

[Findog]

If AJ is smart enough to start amassing bulletin board material this early in the year that's kind of scary. If he can get them far enough under the radar that's very good for this team. For some reason AJ's Mavs don't handle being the favorites very well, but, like AJ, I think they respond very well to the underdog role. .

+1. We were in kind of a unique position last year. We were the overwhelming favorites even though we hadn't ever won anything, since Miami was suffering from a le hangover/injuries and was never a threat to repeat. Teams that have won les can handle that pressure of being the favorite pretty well, but it's probably pretty hard when you haven't done it yourself.

[THE Dr. Evil]

The Sonics lost in the first round of the playoffs to the #1 seed and made it to the NBA finals a season later. I think Dallas is still a great team and just because their lcuk ran out last year doesn't mean they still are not a good team.

[FromWayDowntown]

The Sonics lost in the first round of the playoffs to the #1 seed and made it to the NBA finals a season later. I think Dallas is still a great team and just because their lcuk ran out last year doesn't mean they still are not a good team.

Actually, to get picky, it took the Sonics two years to reach the Finals. They were the #1 seed in 1994 and lost to Denver in 5; in 1995, they were knocked out again in the First Round (to LA); they were the #1 seed in the West again in 1996 and went to the Finals.

[Reggie Miller]

At the risk of repeating myself (like I really care!), Denver isn't even a paper tiger. Looking at some of the Nuggets' stats from last season will curl your hair. This team doesn't play much defense, and they cannot score enough points to win against a team that plays defense for 48 minutes. Denver doesn't have much of an offensive plan/iden y, and when A.I. and Carmelo don't shoot well, they struggle to score. The Spurs saw the "real" Denver in the playoffs last season.

EDIT: I forgot Utah. In order for Utah to win this season, it would take a cosmic convergence: 3-4 players having career years, a good draw, and some key injuries to other WC teams. I don't even give Denver this chance...

[Bruno]

I really think all the mentally broken thing is exaggerated.
A NBA player plays basketball for something like 20 years. It's not because they lost against GS last year that Mavs players will turn a bunch of pussy.
Basketball is too a skill game before being a mental game. Mavs players have chocked last year and they are maybe not the most mentally tough team in the league but they remain a very skilled team and that's why they are dangerous.

My power ranking for West team is :
1. Spurs
2. Suns
3. Mavs
4. Nuggets
5. Rockets
6. Jazz

I've never been really high on Mavs. I consider Suns as a better team. Mavs is a harder matchup for Spurs than Suns (even more after they lost Kurt Thomas) but it's a power ranking and not a "against the Spurs" ranking.
I find the Nuggets team very dangerous. They aren't running on all their cylinders for the moment fut their upside is really high. They have a lot of good to great players and could become very hard to beat.

[ambchang]

I posted this same rant on a Mavs board, and one of the best responses was to the effect that Dallas has lost all benefit of the doubt. And if you're thin-skinned, it's going to be a long regular season. And until they actually do win a le, those doubts will remain. Basically everything positive they do until May will be met with a "yeah, but," and right now there isn't an effective comeback for that.

Neither could any team outside of the Spurs, or possibly Detroit and Miami, come with with an adequate answer to the "yeah, but" reaction. People kept dogging on the Mavs because they lost in the Finals 2 years ago and in the 1st round last year, but compared to a team like the Suns, who couldn't get past either the Spurs or the Mavs the last 3 years, or Utah, who doesn't have much interior defense (Boozer? please), or Houston, who never even got out of the 1st round. How Denver got in the mix is beyond me, they have disappointed every single season because it is proven that their sum is lesser than the parts (both scorers dominates the ball, the interior players duplicate the strengths of each other, no reliable shooters, no true facilitator, crazy meltdown coach).

Mavs is the #1 threat to the Spurs. There isn't even another team close to it.

[bdictjames]

Rant over?

I thought you could have added more.

[Findog]

Rant over?

I thought you could have added more.

Yeah, I know, it was too long. But it wasn't an 8,000 word blow job to all thing Boston, so in that sense, I believe it's an improvement on a typical Simmons effort.

[leemajors]

mono must be torn between his worship of simmons and simmons' trashing of his basketball team. simmons also predicted 62+ wins for boston.

[Leetonidas]

As much as I hate Dallas, they are a good team, and a much better team than anyone not located in San Antonio.

[dirk4mvp]

Damn I usually enjoy the bs report and all the crazy he talks about, but this is just idiotic.

[timvp]

Not listing Dallas as a contender is ridiculous. Saying Dallas is the odds on favorite to win the championship is much closer to reality than saying Dallas isn't in the top five.

[MrChug]

Like I said, it aint smart money right now to put Dallas past San Antonio, or even Phoenix. And losing like they did is going to create doubters and critics. But I would put them ahead of Denver and Utah. We're not the sixth-best team in the Western Conference. Just seems like an overreaction.

Well I agree. Short of Phoenix, we're just not the "sexy" pick at this point in the year.

[Findog]

Well I agree. Short of Phoenix, we're just not the "sexy" pick at this point in the year.

I understand the sports pundits are frontrunning types, and they scurried off the bandwagon after the Mavs lost to the Warriors because that series made them look like fools. They stake their reps by predicting the future. So it's no surprise that once bitten, you're twice shy. But I simply DO NOT UNDERSTAND how the Suns get such a free pass and are a trendy pick, when they have just as many questions and concerns about their ability to win a le.

[Reggie Miller]

I try to ignore it all as much as possible. (I don't even have cable television.) Others have written about this more eloquently, but sports journalism is really in the toliet. You now have a 24/7 news cycle, regardless of whether anything truly newsworthy happened that day. There is "too much media:" tv, internet, radio, etc. all trying to outdo each other in content, speed, etc. The ethos is now totally different. Writers don't make a preseason prediction based on the odds, becuase they will have 30-50 opportunities to flip-flop before the season is over.

ESPN really slays me, becuase they are symbolic of everything wrong about merketing, covering, and televising the NBA, despite the fact that they have a vested financial interest in its success. The classic example would be talking about how bad the ratings were going to be for the 2007 Finals. Why would anyone do this? It just astounds me. Hollinger is their only NBA writer with any credibility at all, and that isn't saying much for many hardcore NBA fans.

(Personally, I think Hollinger is good at what he does, but basketball does not lend itself to the SABR-inspired approach. This does hurt his credibility with a lot of people. Still, we're not talking Screamin' A. Smith, either.)