Right now for me it comes down to 3 teams. Boston, Chicago and Orlando (in no order)The Bulls are stacked with good young players and solid role players. Hinrich, Deng, Duhon and Gordon make up a very solid core of players that could possibly be there for a long haul together. Gordon is turning into an elite scorer, so he would be the scorer of the bunch. They have Ty Thomas developing in the wings, and he could be their PF of the future if he puts on a few more pounds of muscle. Nocioni is a very good guy who was a role player, turned into defensive stopper and leader for them, that could stay there for a while. If they can pick up a big man to spell Ben Wallace when he's done, this team could be very dangerous down the road. And then the Celtics. They have the big man in Jefferson. They have the star in Pierce. They have the up and comers in Rondo, Allen, Green, West, etc. They have solid role players in Perkins and Gomes. Powe can be a solid rebounder off the bench, and Ray a solid shooter. I think that if they can rid themselves of Wally and Telfair, they can get Rondo much more playing time, and they can bring in a star player in the offseason with the cap space they'd get from Wally not being here, which would greatly please Pierce. You look at their record right now and see 12-24, but IMO they aren't very far off from being a very very competitive team in the NBA. With a good draft this summer, and a good key free agent or trade this summer and I can see them being competitive next year, especially in the East. Lastly, the Magic. They have the star big man with Howard, and a great up and coming guard in Nelson. They're going to be a great combo as they both develop more. Then off the bench they have a lot of good, young, and developing role players, in Dooling, Battie, Ariza, Arroyo, and Milicic. I think if JJ can develop he can be a pretty good scorer as a 6th man. If they can keep this team together for a while they have a lot of potential to make some noise in the future too.
Hmm id have to agree with most of that, I myself personaly think the sixers have a decent future ahead of them, there a fairly young team with some good talent at each position and with the draft comming up this year the sixers will look to become a even better young team in this league, for sure.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Madness @ Jan 15 2007, 10:53 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I agree with everything you said. But why would you want Telfair traded?</div>He's not as good as he was advertised to be. All his "potential" I felt was a bit blown out of proportion. He's blocking Rajon Rondo from getting his hard earned minutes. He's missed more layups than I can count. He doesn't push the ball like he was supposed to be able to do so wonderfully. We were advertised to be a fast break team with him in there and he doesn't push the ball enough and seems way too content with jumping into the half court. West is a better point guard than him, I still don't get why Telfair was handed the job when West played great last season. Rondo plain and simple needs minutes as well. He always has an impact, be it a steal, a defensive stop, a great pass, he always does the right thing, and like I said, simply needs the minutes. West and Rondo both play better defense than him, both push the ball harder, and have earned their minutes, while I feel Telfairs was handed to him.I feel Doc felt obligated to hand the minutes to Telfair, as he was Ainge's prized offseason acquisition. He hasn't lived up to the hype and hasn't fit in well. I'd rather see Rondo or West out there.
What about the Hawks?Josh ChildressJosh SmithJoe JohnsonZaza PachiculaMarvin WilliamsThey have an excellent young group and in a couple of years could become a dominant team.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (yankshater213 @ Jan 15 2007, 09:38 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Right now for me it comes down to 3 teams. Boston, Chicago and Orlando (in no order)Lastly, the Magic. They have the star big man with Howard, and a great up and coming guard in Nelson. They're going to be a great combo as they both develop more. Then off the bench they have a lot of good, young, and developing role players, in Dooling, Battie, Ariza, Arroyo, and Milicic. I think if JJ can develop he can be a pretty good scorer as a 6th man. If they can keep this team together for a while they have a lot of potential to make some noise in the future too.</div>I like your picks for Boston, Chicago and Orlando as the teams with the brightest futures. Another team that I would like to mention for having a bright future is the Charlotte Bobcats. With Emeka Okafor and his defense in the middle, Morrison and his scoring ability that I expect to get better and more consistent. Sean May providing a nice big man compliment to Okafor who has good moves around the basket, a nice frame and is a good finisher on the offensive end. Then you have Carroll on the wings to provide a very nice shooting touch off the bench. They have a strong defensive presence on the wings in Wallace, as well as a nice slasher to the bucket. The one that I am most excited about on this team, a good young playmaking point guard like Raymond Felton. Since Brevin Knight has been out of action Felton has proved to be one of the best playmakers in the league. I think off all the young talent on the Celtics, Magic, and Bulls, the Bobcats have the best young playmaker on their team in Raymond Felton. He can slide into the lane with ease, his shot is getting better, and his vision and awareness is just awesome. With a core like Okafor, May, Felton, Wallace, Carroll, and Morrison there is alot to be excited about for the Bobcats. Just look at how tough they play already as a young team, they play everyone tough and scrappy.
I honestly don't think that Chicago will be able to pay all of their young players when it comes around to it. So I think they'll have to get rid of one of hinrich, gordon, deng, noc, or thomas, which could hurt them in the future. I think they really screwed themselves by paying ben wallace so much. but they still have their team built around the right fundamentals and leadership to get the job done. This year's knicks pick won't hurt either.Orlando's situation is looking very good, as Dwight is turning into one of the best big men in the league, and they'll have plenty of cap space to attract free agents in an appealing fa class in upcoming years. not to mention the explosive jameer nelson. He can score in spurts, and from anywhere on the floor. If they can get a third player in there, via free agency or whatever, they'll definitely be championship caliber in a few years.With Boston, I think they've done a great job of filling roles. Their situation is a little different than chicago's in paying their young players, as boston's players haven't actually fulfilled their potentials yet, they can't ask for as big of contracts. I of course am going to have a bias, but this team has a lot of the pieces that a contender needs. They have a downlow scorer (Al Jefferson), a perimeter scorer (Gerald Green), a lockdown defender (even tho he's taken some hits now, Tony Allen. You could also say Rajon Rondo), a distributor (Rajon Rondo), shooters (Green, West), rebounders/hustlers (Ryan Gomes, Kendrick Perkins), and some energy guys (TA, West, Telfair). That combined with their high lottery pick this year and upcoming cap relief could spell out some good things for boston. finally..
Orlando and BostonI agree with Dogma about Chicago not being to pay all their young guysbut Chicago has A LOT of potentialand don't they have the Knicks pick this year? (top 3 protected)so they can probably get something great in the draftEDIT: the Bobcats are a pretty good choice too
I agree with Charlotte here, I think they have all the pieces to make a very nice team. Raymond Felton is a young playmaker that has already proved he can be a good lead guard. Gerald Wallace is the vet of the group with five years of experience under his belt, but is still just 24. Gerald is a do it all guy, can score, rebound, get into passing lanes, and block shots. Adam Morrison is still just a rook, but has shown signs that he can be a great scorer in this league. Emeka Okafor is the stud low post player who makes his presence felt on both ends of the floor. Sean May, Matt Carroll, and Brevin Knight are all very good players off the bench.
I don't like to be a homer but the warriors have to be on this liston't like the seem like a homer, but the warriors are in the hunt for the eighth seed despite being one of the most injured teams in the league with a tough schedule and the second youngest team in the league. They've got AB, who's playing like almost an allstar at 20 years old, Monta, who looks like he'll be the next gilbert arenas (before you attack this look at their second season stats, then factor in that monta came straight from high school and has Jrich and BD starting over him, and then factor in that I probably watched Gilbert more in his second season in the league than anybody here since he was a warrior), MP, who looks like he's actually panning out, Ike, Who could be a 20 point scorer right now if he wasn't so bad at defense and fouling, and a couple of "veterans" in BD and J-rich who will be here at almost allstar level for a few year. Heck, even azubuike looks like he could score 8-10 per game if he got the minutes. They're maybe the worst scoring team in the league, but they have as much firepower as anybody does. Unfortunately they don't have one superstar who could take them to the next level, just a bunch of good players, though monta could be that superstar.The only Downside is the sh*tty contracts of Murphy, Dunleavy, and Foyle may prevent us from re-signing our good young players.In a couple of years, this team could be fiendishG - BDG - MontaF - JrichF - IkeC - Biedrinsthat team would murder.
The reason why I didn't put Charlotte on my list is because their lack of a star player and big scorer. Supposedly they're going to have cap room to go after someone big, so when that happens, I think their potential to be a top team in the East skyrockets.
I don't mean to be a homer, but the Lakers have a pretty nice future. They don't have a single actual player (Mckie and Shammond don't count because they never play) who's older than 28. I mean look at their starting lineup.Smush-25Kobe-28Lamar-27Luke-26Kwame-24Thy have one of th most promising young big men in the league in Bynum, whose just 19 and still growing. Then there's Jordan Farmar, a 20 year old rookie who's almost ready to start right now. In a year or two I expect both Bynum and Farmar to be starting and averaging double digits with great defense (they've both already shown signs of being very good defenders). The whole team is either about to enter their prime, just entering their prime. If they can keep this lineup assembled for another 4 or 5 years they could do some real damage in June.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (tHe_pEsTiLeNcE @ Jan 15 2007, 01:03 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I don't like to be a homer but the warriors have to be on this liston't like the seem like a homer, but the warriors are in the hunt for the eighth seed despite being one of the most injured teams in the league with a tough schedule and the second youngest team in the league. They've got AB, who's playing like almost an allstar at 20 years old, Monta, who looks like he'll be the next gilbert arenas (before you attack this look at their second season stats, then factor in that monta came straight from high school and has Jrich and BD starting over him, and then factor in that I probably watched Gilbert more in his second season in the league than anybody here since he was a warrior), MP, who looks like he's actually panning out, Ike, Who could be a 20 point scorer right now if he wasn't so bad at defense and fouling, and a couple of "veterans" in BD and J-rich who will be here at almost allstar level for a few year. Heck, even azubuike looks like he could score 8-10 per game if he got the minutes. They're maybe the worst scoring team in the league, but they have as much firepower as anybody does. Unfortunately they don't have one superstar who could take them to the next level, just a bunch of good players, though monta could be that superstar.The only Downside is the sh*tty contracts of Murphy, Dunleavy, and Foyle may prevent us from re-signing our good young players.In a couple of years, this team could be fiendishG - BDG - MontaF - JrichF - IkeC - Biedrinsthat team would murder.</div>In a couple of year Baron Davis will be 31 or 32 so how about this line-upg - monta ellis / baron davissg - jason richardsonsf - michael pietruspf - ike diagu (sp)c - andre bierdnes (sp) / partick o'bryant
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Pacers fan forever @ Jan 15 2007, 10:54 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>In a couple of year Baron Davis will be 31 or 32 so how about this line-upg - monta ellis / baron davissg - jason richardsonsf - michael pietruspf - ike diagu (sp)c - andre bierdnes (sp) / partick o'bryant</div>baron is 27 right now so he won't be 32 in "a couple of years"Monta isn't a point guard.POB sucks
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (tHe_pEsTiLeNcE @ Jan 15 2007, 02:03 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>baron is 27 right now so he won't be 32 in "a couple of years"Monta isn't a point guard.POB sucks</div>patrick o'brant stinks right now but he has a lot of potential. Be patient.I thought Baron was 28, he was born in 1979.Monta can play point, he's going to have to with his height.
Memphis isnt number one, but I think we're up there. Most likely a high draft pick this yr, Rudy Gay, Hakim Warrick, Kyle Lowry and Alexander Johnson(both players shown they will be veryy good player in the NBA), tons of cap this summer so we might sign a major FA. Pau and Mike Miller arent that old, Lawrence Roberts. Id say Memphis is pretty set for the next few years.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Memphis Fan @ Jan 15 2007, 02:08 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Memphis isnt number one, but I think we're up there. Most likely a high draft pick this yr, Rudy Gay, Hakim Warrick, Kyle Lowry and Alexander Johnson(both players shown they will be veryy good player in the NBA), tons of cap this summer so we might sign a major FA. Pau and Mike Miller arent that old, Lawrence Roberts. Id say Memphis is pretty set for the next few years.</div>Memphis could be good at the closest 4 years from now. They have so much youth to develop.
they are going to be good next year, we got off to a shaky start this year so our season is screwed...but we will be a above .500 team next year(with the team we have, no FA signings or lotto picks). Gasols injury really screwed us up. But we arent that different from last years playoff team. We are better than 8 and wutever our record is. This season is a fluke.
hate to sound like a homer, but how can u guys forget about the blazers!?!?brandon roy (voted most likely to be rookie of the year by NBA GMs)lamarcus aldridge (#2 pick)sergio rodriguez (21 points, 10 assists vs nuggets last night)Martell Webster (just turned 20!)and more.
