NBA Champs ESPN Videogame Prediction Using NBA 2K5 ESPN Videogames ran a simulation of the 2004-05 season with updated rosters and it predicts the <font color="Red">Miami Heat </font> win it all. 57-25 Regular season record. They went 42-40 last season. Shaq Projected stats. Team FG% FT% PPG REB AST STL BPG Mins 2004/2005 Season Miami Heat .549 .533 25.7 10.0 3.5 0.4 2.4 38.1 2003/2004 Season LA Lakers .584 .490 21.5 11.5 2.9 0.51 2.5 36.8 I don't know how accurate these video games are but it sure sounds nice! Check out the link. http://www.espnvideogames.com/nba2k5/20045_sim.php
very interesting we will have to wait and see how everything turns out. i simulated games on espn back when the sixers were coming off the fabolous season of making it to the finals being led by allen iverson. And my simulation proved true in predicting the celts to defeat our team because of paul pierce and antoine walker.
Its a darn vid game that is SOOOO unrealistic and annoying. I mean, i used Yao to post up on Boykins and boykins still manages to push Yao out (WTF!?) But ya, sims wont work.
this is sweet, while sims aren't always on point they do give a good idea of what will be happening next season, just look at the NBA.com sims. Almost any basketball fan you talk to will put the Heat as their #1 choice to win it all this year. Some of those reasons include that Shaq walks into a team with a proven shooting guard (wade) that will replace Kobe and that Shaq is dying to show the world that he was the only reason why L.A. won the title. Many more reasons too that I won't get into before it turns into a flame thread.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting heatfan83:</div><div class="quote_post">this is sweet, while sims aren't always on point they do give a good idea of what will be happening next season, just look at the NBA.com sims. Almost any basketball fan you talk to will put the Heat as their #1 choice to win it all this year. Some of those reasons include that Shaq walks into a team with a proven shooting guard (wade) that will replace Kobe and that Shaq is dying to show the world that he was the only reason why L.A. won the title. Many more reasons too that I won't get into before it turns into a flame thread.</div> If Shaq, Kobe, Malone, and Payton couldn't get it done...then Shaq, Wade, Jones and whoever else is on that team can't either
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting realdealbneal:</div><div class="quote_post"> If Shaq, Kobe, Malone, and Payton couldn't get it done...then Shaq, Wade, Jones and whoever else is on that team can't either </div>Then I fear all basketball teams are doomed! eheheh Actually the Lakers lost because of Kobe and no one else. From the field and the 3, Kobe made so many attempts he would've averaged 60ppg and he only ended up averaging 22ppg. That's why they lost, an unexplained 38ppg gone down the drain and that's not including how many times the Pistons stole it from him. I know the Lakers weren't doing good but 38ppg gone missing from one player is a huge factor in anyone's book.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting realdealbneal:</div><div class="quote_post"> If Shaq, Kobe, Malone, and Payton couldn't get it done...then Shaq, Wade, Jones and whoever else is on that team can't either </div>Then I fear all basketball teams are doomed! eheheh Actually the Lakers lost because of Kobe and no one else. From the field and the 3, Kobe made so many attempts he would've averaged 60ppg and he only ended up averaging 22ppg. That's why they lost, an unexplained 38ppg gone down the drain and that's not including how many times the Pistons stole it from him. I know the Lakers weren't doing good but 38ppg gone missing from one player is the deciding factor in anyone's book.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting realdealbneal:</div><div class="quote_post"> If Shaq, Kobe, Malone, and Payton couldn't get it done...then Shaq, Wade, Jones and whoever else is on that team can't either </div>Then I fear all basketball teams are doomed and the Pistons will win 12 titles! eheheh
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting heatfan83:</div><div class="quote_post">Then I fear all basketball teams are doomed and the Pistons will win 12 titles! eheheh</div> Actually...no. The Pacers have a shot at beating the Pistons, and so do the Spurs. Possibly the Timberwolves and/or Mavericks. My only problem with the Heat winning it all is this: I know you're a Heat fan, but what lineup is greater? Shaq (worst year since rookie season, and declining) Malone George Kobe Payton OR Shaq (one year later, declining still...) whoever this is Rasual Butler or Wright Jones Wade The only good thing about the Heat roster is that Wade is better than Payton...although Payton was playing an offense that he didn't care for. Even though Shaq has lost weight, that doesn't mean much...there are positives and negatives about that. Whoever the PF is for the Heat, he won't be as good as Malone. Butler and Wright...neither are shooters, and Devean George is better than those two. Eddie Jones isn't even close to being in the same league as Kobe Bryant. That's where I see the Heat getting beat in the second round...by the Pacers or Pistons.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting realdealbneal:</div><div class="quote_post"> If Shaq, Kobe, Malone, and Payton couldn't get it done...then Shaq, Wade, Jones and whoever else is on that team can't either </div> Yea, but we all know it doesn't work so simply like that, you can't just say if these guys can't then how is it possible for these others to do it. The Pistons wounldn't have won with Stackhouse as opposed to Rip, but Stack is the better player in terms of all his skills, so sometimes it's not about that. Milwaukee got 9th seed with Allen, Cassell and GRob, and only got 7th seed with Cassell, Ray Allen | Payton, Tim Thomas, Dmase etc, and with Ford, Redd, Tim Thomas | KVH, Mason etc they get the 6th seed, so you never know really <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The only good thing about the Heat roster is that Wade is better than Payton</div> Same thing with Milwaukee though: Ford - Cassell Redd - Ray Allen Glenn Robinson - Tim Thomas Joe Smith - Anthony Mason Brian Skinner - Ervin Johnson
Dude don't get offended but the only reason the Lakers lost because Kobe wasn't able to land half of his 60ppg worth of attempts (he averaged 22ppg) not to mention all the times they stole the ball from him. He jacked up a lot of shots and missed thus costing the Lakers the championship OR if he would've landed half of his attempts they would've won the championship, if your an optimist . 38ppg gone missing, that's why they lost the championship. You want Kobe to be the Leader of the team yet you don't feel as him missing 38ppg was the deciding factor? You also feel the blame should be pinned on the whole team and not on your leader? Kobe wasn't able to get the job done, not the Lakers. Enjoy the next season as the 2004 Finals was a preview of what is to come!!!
If it wasn't for the rest of the team shooting 30% from the field, we would've won. If Malone wasn't injured, we would've had a better chance. Kobe/Shaq were factors, but they couldn't do it by themselves. The point is...Kobe/Shaq will always be better than Shaq/Wade. Then you have the role players for the Lakers, who should definitely do better than those off the Heat. The reason why the Lakers lost is because of these role players. Let me ask you this...who's going to back up Shaq when he's sitting the bench with 3 fouls in the 2nd quarter, and 5 fouls in the 4th? This is exactly what the Lakers asked themselves before sending Medvedenko out to play, a guy who has NO defense whatsoever. Yeah, Shaq scores, but he easily becomes a liability. By the way, heatfan...the points that Kobe failed to put in have little to do with their loss. MJ shot constantly, and missed alot, but he rallied the team when they needed it, much like Game 2 against the Pistons. Scoring isn't the only thing you do on the court...Shaq's defense sucked, and his free throws sucked, his fouls...his enthusiasm...I could go on, so there's no reason to point fingers at Kobe. EDIT: I'm not interested it debating about someone who none of you liked in the first place. No Heat fan cared about Shaq, none of you even mentioned his name unless he was destroying your team. How many of you are Rony Seikaly fans? Haha...half of you don't even know who he is. Go ride Shaq for a while and see how far he can take Miami into the playoffs, and then come back and let me know how disappointed you really are after dismantling a team who almost beat the Pacers last year to advance to the ECF.
Shaq missing 6ppg in free throws, playing bad D, lack of motivation, and pretty much his overall performance is petty compared to your primary scoring option, Kobe, going for 60ppg and averaging 22ppg. Shaq didn't have to do anything besides get the ball and score and they still would've won, that's how good he was on the offensive side. Because Kobe and team only had landed 1/3 of their attempts Shaq got blamed for all the reasons you listed. Now here is where Kobe gets blamed because he took soooo many attempts that it cost the team a lot of points (38ppg to be exact). So to say that "Malone, Payton, Kobe, and Shaq didn't get the job done" is simply a lie when the primary scoring option (Kobe, as the stats show) was the only player not getting the job done as far as offense goes.
I'm going to say the same thing as I did in the last thread about this (SLAM mag thread), because it's getting old in my opinion also. The lanes were clogged, the Pistons' defense was too good to be throwing passes into the lane for Shaq. The Pistons shut down the Lakers, not just Kobe and Shaq. What happened the year before? Shaq was dominated by Duncan and the Spurs went on to win the title...and their primary scorer was Shaq, wasn't it? It doesn't matter, if Kobe does great this season and the Heat don't do anything in the playoffs, we'll all know who was right and who all was blind...and vice versa. By the way, I saw you edit your post, where you put "as far as offense goes" so I was wondering, how great was Kobe on defense compared to Shaq? Defensively, Kobe outperformed Shaq. Offensively, Shaq could've outperformed Kobe. Defense is just as important as offense...ask the Pistons. Therefore, nobody is really to blame.
You missed the point of the discussion TheAnswerIsAi3 What realdealbneal said is that 'Malone, Payton, Kobe and Shaq couldn't get the job done' What I said is that Kobe had made so many attempts and didn't land enough of them that it cost the Lakers many points (38ppg to be exact) and eventually the championship. So to say that those players didn't get the job done is false when you have one player making so many attempts and not landing enough of them. It pretty much got off topic from there but those were the main points and that's how I'll end my part of the discussion.
Okay, no one replied to me, but ah well. .....anyways, realdeal, don't say this: <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">I'm not interested it debating about someone who none of you liked in the first place. No Heat fan cared about Shaq, none of you even mentioned his name unless he was destroying your team. How many of you are Rony Seikaly fans? Haha...half of you don't even know who he is. Go ride Shaq for a while and see how far he can take Miami into the playoffs, and then come back and let me know how disappointed you really are after dismantling a team who almost beat the Pacers last year to advance to the ECF.</div> It happens with every team and every set of fans, do you think Utah fans liked Carlos Boozer before? Do you think Denver previously had a big Kenyon Martin fan base? How many Houston fans liked Tracy McGrady before? How many people in Orlando cared too much about Steve Francis? Would Odom have ever been said to be able to fill the role as someone's Pippen if he didn't go to the Lakers? How many Laker fans defended Odom before or said he could play as a PF in the league? It always happens, it's nothing new, you can't criticize people for being happy about their favourite team.
shaq-wade could be better than shaq-kobe but i think the chance of it happening is very slim... remember how shaq used to describe kobe as "the damn best player in the league", "courageous little brother got my back"?? shaq described situations, players based on his moods... when he feels happy his comments tend to be more positive, when he's angry he wants to blame others, that's just the way shaq is... no matter how selfless wade is, no matter how many more assists per game dwyane averages more than kobe, it's just a matter of time when shaq kills wade in the public if the heat don't win. It's just the way shaq is, he's a teammate killer. He's a ticking bomb waiting to explode... he's all business, he's never about winning.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting heatfan83:</div><div class="quote_post">Shaq missing 6ppg in free throws, playing bad D, lack of motivation, and pretty much his overall performance is petty compared to your primary scoring option, Kobe, going for 60ppg and averaging 22ppg. Shaq didn't have to do anything besides get the ball and score and they still would've won, that's how good he was on the offensive side. Because Kobe and team only had landed 1/3 of their attempts Shaq got blamed for all the reasons you listed. Now here is where Kobe gets blamed because he took soooo many attempts that it cost the team a lot of points (38ppg to be exact). So to say that "Malone, Payton, Kobe, and Shaq didn't get the job done" is simply a lie when the primary scoring option (Kobe, as the stats show) was the only player not getting the job done as far as offense goes.</div> What the hell are you talking about here? I don't really mind people blaming the finals on Kobe and I don't try to defend him, but damn you are so out of line. Even if Kobe had made EVERY SHOT he took in the finals he would have only had 50PPG, so how can you cost your team 38 when you averaged 22? Do the math. Second why the hell are you saying someone cost them x amount of points because of misses? Does that mean your new found favorite player Shaq cost them the nearly 20points he didn't convert in missed shots/freethrows? No. So I don't mind you blaming the finals on Kobe, but atleast make it a good argument. Blaming him for every shot he missed as "costing them points" is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard.
All I got to say is that Shaq probaly will average more then 10 rebounds. It's not like they got alot of big rebounders. And shoot higher then .549 from the field. But probaly shoot lower from the line. His ppg is what I was think he would average. 25.7 to 26.5.
Wade and Shaq will be better than Kobe and Shaq... Wade is not selfish, doesn't hav an ego, isn't an a-hole, getting better... has more potential then Kobe did... is amazing.. you underrate him... Shaq is in best shape of his life since rookie season... Stop lying realdeal... you know you are.
