Pretty good stuff! But check out where that tool Chris Sheridan thinks we will finish! http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/preview2009/news/story?page=Predictions0910-TrailBlazers
ESPN fantasy projections. Click on the top 12 players to see a paragraph about each. http://games.espn.go.com/fba/tools/projections?proTeamId=22
The same place you can take the under on whatever they predicted for Joel. They're just showing Joel some respect and giving him some minutes.
It's important that we beat the Spurs in the regular season, preferably with another team ahead of them as well. I dont' want to face the Spurs or LA until the WCF.
A lot of folks seem to forget that Miller was on basically the same Denver team that Billups is on now, and didn't have a Billups type effect on that team. Miller is mostly effective on running teams. Philly struggled until they fired Cheeks and started running last year. There is a reason for that. In the half court teams can sag off Miller and beg him to shoot from the outside. That is his achilles. We have even seen it this pre season some. Keep him 18 feet from the hoop, and he isn't as much of a threat anymore.
we've already debunked that myth in a past thread. In short Melo, rookie and not nearly what he has become. Nene, injured (played 133 of 242 games in AM's 3 seasons) + a young pup not nearly what he's become. KMart there for AM's 2nd and 3rd year but missed 40 games to injury. JR Smith, not yet drafted. Chris Anderson, looped out of his mind on hard drugs. some of the same names but last year those guys were healthier and more in their prime years STOMP
1. All of the other players besides Carmelo are interchangeable. I will give it to you that Carmello is better now than back then. But mostly on the defensive front. Part of the reason he is better defensivly, is because his current PG demands it of him now. Andre Miller didn't. The team Andre was with was one of the worst defensivly in the NBA. 2. Nene was injured but Camby was there and healthy, and playing well. 3. Chris Anderson played just about as well looped out of his mind on Angel Dust as he does now. He may have received less minutes then, but he played about the same.
how is JR Smith interchangeable when he wasn't there? When Andre was there they didn't have a decent NBA 2 on their roster. KMart played in only half the games during Miller's time there... who is he interchangeable with? And Chris Anderson played one of the three seasons at the rate he did last year, the other two he produced at a far lower level. Nene is now a beast on both ends. you're comparing rotten apples and ripe oranges STOMP
Ahh shit. Oden out. Pryz down. Miller's streak continues. Which Blazer fan forgot to sacrifice the goat?
Excuse, excuses excuses. Bottom line is while he has always taken special care to assure his personal stats are respectable, none of the 4 teams Andre was on over his 11 year career have excelled during his time on each team. I'd rather have Brad Miller, Mike Miller, Reggie Miller or his sister Cheryl Miller than Andre Miller.
Debunked? Maybe you should look the word up. Your pointing out that players were disappointing during Miller's stay, then were much better players in his abscence seals his coffin.
i think the point was that denver had a similar caliber team around him, not that they had the same exact players there. and i think that is a reasonable point to make. do you have anything to say about every team that miller's has been on hasn't really cared when he left? i mean philly thinks they'll be fine(they won't, but that isn't the point) just shifting louis williams to the full time pg spot with jrue holiday and royal ivey picking up backup minutes. denver was happy to see him go and it didn't seem to trouble the clippers or cavs at all that he left either.
the point of my post was they weren't very similar at all. No SG better then Vashon Leonard, a much worse Melo, a much worse Nene who was injured for much of the time, a not yet signed FA KMart who then was injured for much of the time. obviously you didn't read Andre Iguadala's comments the day Dre left. Of course the franchise is turning the page/putting the best face on it as they have tickets to sell but they did offer him a contract... I also recall reading an article quoting a former Nuggets exec. (I think... maybe it was a media member) lamenting Andre's leaving and lauding his performance. The person claimed he was a numbers victim. Certainly he isn't the GOAT and of course he's never made it out of the first round so he's never truly endeared himself to a fanbase, but every team that he's played on has improved over the previous year... well every one but the Clips but they are the Clips. STOMP
oh Maris... still grinding the Sergio ax and blaming the world of course you'd blame Carmelo for being worse as a 19 year old rookie then as a 24 year old... same strong logic holds true for young Nene and everyone knows it was Miller who caused his knee injuries. And of course it was Miller's fault that the Birdman was hooked on smack, and that KMart kept getting injured. Good points all STOMP