Which of these surprisingly mediocre teams who made the playoffs last year will turn things around after getting out of the gate slowly?
Denver-for all the talk about Kenyon Martin they're off to a 2-5 start and a lot of talk about the head coach being on the hot seat.
Memphis-last year's surprise team of the year is really surprising people with such a poor start at 2-5. They're deep, they've got a good coach, but the parts aren't adding up to a whole right now.
Lakers and Sacramento-both are at 4-4, both seem to be on a downward trend after several strong seasons. Will either find a way out of their doldrums?
Houston-Unfortunately I live in Houston and I was privy to the 24-7 media coverage on the trade that sent the much maligned guard tandem of Steve Francis and Cutino Mobley to Orlando for T-Mac. You would have thought that he was bringing a cure for cancer with him the way the city reacted. The results? He gets hurt early, and they drop a game in the fourth quarter to the Hawks last night to go to 4-5.
The question before you-which of these former playoff teams will find a light at the end of the tunnel and which will simply get hit by the train?
Nice post.
I think Sac or Memphis will break out of their slump. Memphis is already starting to play better and Sacramento are going to be at home for stretch.
Denver, Houston and the Lakers are a ways off of turning it around. Denver overachieved last season, Houston doesn't have enough offense and Kobe is killing the Lakers by trying to be a super hero.
To me he'll always be known affectionately as Kenyon "3-23" Martin.
I guess I should weigh in on my own post. I think Memphis will likely be the one to bounce back the best. They didn't come together until the second half of the season last year and when they did the were easily the hottest team in the NBA for nearly a month and a half. With the lack of a true superstar they have to rely heavily on strong chemistry and team basketball. That takes time to develop, but I think it will soon enough.
My prognosis for Denver is not as shining. For starters they're playing in what may be the hardest division in the league. And I think a lot of their success last year may have been from teams overlooking them. They won't get the same luck this year and teams are going to come in ready to play. And as years and years have shown, it's not going to be easy to to much in the west without a consistent post player (which I do not consider Martin or Camby to be).
I think one of the California teams will turn it around, I'm just not sure which. Say what you will about Kobe's ego, he's not an idiot. I think at some point he'll finally figure out that he needs to starting winning games to prove himself, not scoring 50 points a night in losing efforts. On top of that it's a lot of new faces, including the head coach. If they've got anything going for them, it's Rudy T. As far as the Kings go, there is just too much talent there for them not to be on track. The question mark for them is what to do with Peja. If they get him happy and in the mix they can be a dangerous team once again, but right now the "trade me now" talk is starting to creep around. As Peja goes, so will the Kings.
And Houston I think is going to stay below average. While my Rocket fan friends are busy trying to sell me "it's going to take time for T-Mac to settle in" line, I'm not buying it. McGrady went from possibly the weakest division in all of basketball to having to play Bruce Bowen four times a year. And Yao's just waiting to break out and be the next big thing, right? The time has come and gone for Yao to be big. He's no great slouch, but they've brought in Ewing and Mutombo to mentor this guy and he's just not showing me anything special. He's just not physical enough to be a force in this league. And then you throw in the fact that they have no bench and no point guard. I don't see the playoffs in the future.
Nice, SFIE.
The Lakers can turn it around, but they need Odom to take up more of the load. For that to happen, Kobe will have to start passing the ball. There's no reason Kobe can't average 7+ assists ... especially since the ball is always in his hands.
I agree about Yao.
He'll break out with the occasional 30 pt, 18 reb game, but mostly he's just a string of 25/3, 6/10, 18/5 games in-between.
If he was going to dominate, he should have started showing signs by now. Instead, it's the second coming of Rik Smits.
exactly right shoogar.
for a 7'6 guy he sure doesnt rebound VERY well.
Hes a mediocre rebounder.
I still think though you need to give him more time, still only his third year.
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