Posted by HoopsAvenue on October 12, 2008 under General NBA | 
Last week, we gave you team previews for the Atlantic Division. This week, we have the Southwest Division team previews. The Southwest Division is clearly the best division in basketball this season so it should be really interesting to see what is in these previews. The previews are written by a bunch of great NBA bloggers from around the web most of who are local to the team they cover so you can get a lot of insights from them! HoopsAvenue will be chiming in later this month with a Washington Wizards preview so stay tuned.
Dallas Mavericks
Jake Kerr: Mavs Moneyball
Houston Rockets
grungedave and UofTOrange: The Dream Shake
Memphis Grizzlies
Joshua Coleman: 3 Shades of Blue
New Orleans Hornets
Rohan: At the Hive
ticktock6 & mW: Hornets Hype
Ryan Schwan & Ron Hitley: Hornets247.com
San Antonio Spurs
Graydon Gordian: 48 Minutes of Hell
Also see links to all the previews at CelticsBlog.com
Posted by HoopsAvenue on September 25, 2008 under General NBA, Houston Rockets, LA Lakers, New Orleans Hornets, San Antonio Spurs |
You may have seen the poll that we’ve been running lately asking who will win the Western Conference. Well, the results are in and they are a bit surprising. The Lakers managed to take home 44% of the vote, followed by the Rockets at 18%, Other at 15%, the Hornets and Spurs at 11%. I presume Other refers to teams like the Jazz, Mavs, Suns, and, of course, homers. Now, it’s not surprising that the Lakers win this poll given they are the defending Western Conference champions, but it is surprising by how much they won. They got more than twice as many votes as the 2nd-place Rockets. So, are they that good with Bynum or are the fans just a bit overly optimistic? Here’s how I rank the top four teams in the West:
1. Lakers – I do give the nod to L.A., but just barely. With a healthy Bynum and the duo of Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol, there’s no reason for the Lakers to not be competing for the trophy again this season. It won’t be so easy, though, because even though the Lakers should be better, their competition will also be better, and that brings us to #2.
2. Hornets – The Hornets got better this summer by bringing in James Posey from the world champion Celtics. Posey gives New Orleans that defensive stopper they’ll need to get far in the post-season. Chris Paul is still going to give other teams fits and now that the Hornets have some playoff experience, they’ve got a good shot to survive the West.
3. Rockets – The Rockets enter the season with a great upside, but also a great downside after their acquisition of Ron Artest. Artest, a gritty defender and third scorer, looks to be exactly what Houston needs, but he could bring chemistry problems as well. Not to mention, T-Mac and Yao will need to be healthy come playoff time.
4. Spurs – The Spurs are aging and, like the Rockets, they have some questions of their own. They’ll need Manu Ginobili to recover from his ankle injury and come back at full strength. The regular season is not San Antonio’s forte, but they do know how to win in May and June so don’t count them out.
Who do you think will win the West?
Also, check out the new poll which asks who will win the East!
Posted by HoopsAvenue on August 30, 2008 under Fantasy Basketball, Free Agency, General NBA |
With the Olympics ending and the major free agent signing period over with, it’s a boring time of year for NBA fans as we await training camp, but there were a few stories that caught my eye this week:
- Ginobili To Have Surgery – The Spurs did not want Manu to play in the Olympics. He played. He hurt himself. He’s going to be out six weeks after getting surgery done. So should Manu have sat? I don’t think so. If you consider he got hurt on such minimal contact, he was bound to get hurt in the pre-season or early in the regular season so the timing actually works in the Spurs favor. Manu’s not going to miss much game action and the Spurs don’t seem to mind that Tim Duncan doesn’t wake up until March anyways so Manu should be no different. Don’t be surprised to see the Spurs hovering around .500 for a while though.
- Monta Ellis Out 3 Months – Sorry, Warriors, fans. Not a good summer for you. First, Baron Davis bolts for the Clippers of all teams and now your most exciting player is out. At least you got Corey Maggette, though. If he can carry the load for a while and you get some guys to step up, you could still be in playoff contention when Ellis returns.
- Grizzlies Sign Hamed Haddadi – Haddadi will be the first Iranian player in the NBA. He did well in Beijing, but some scouts don’t think he’s ready. The competition in the Iranian league is, well, softer than a marshmallow so we’ll take a wait-and-see approach on this guy. Just don’t expect the next Yao Ming.
Don’t hold your breath, September won’t be much more exciting.
By the way, it’s never to early to sign up for fantasy basketball. Click here to sign up.
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