Season Preview: Memphis Grizzlies

Starting 5:

PG- Mike Conley

SG- OJ Mayo

SF- Rudy Gay

PF- Hakim Warrick

C- Darko Milicic

Off the bench

Guards: Kyle Lowry, Javaris Crittenton, Marko Jaric

Forwards: Darrell Arthur, Greg Buckner, Quinton Ross, Antoine Walker, Brent Petaway

Centers: Marc Gasol, Hamed Haddadi

The Grizzlies have been something of the laughing stock of the NBA for a while now, well, now until OKC decided to call their team the Thunder. They will be most well known now for ensuring Lakers title contention by trading Pau Gasol away for Kwame Brown's expiring contract, Javaris Crittenton, the rights to Marc Gasol, and Aaron McKie. Meaning all they have left now, is Javaris Crittenton, Marc Gasol, and cap space. There's a lot of talent on this team, I'm a Rudy Gay fan, despite the fact that his UConn Huskies defeated Brandon Roy's UW Huskies in the NCAA tournament (I'm a UW Alum). The biggest question is if Rudy Gay can step it up to the next level and really carry a team. Sophomore Mike Conley seems to have won the starting spot, and despite the injuries that plagued him last season, I like the numbers that he can put up. He won't be All-Star caliber, but he's serviceable and what I consider an above average starting point, you certainly could do a lot worse.

From there, everything sort of curtails into potential and hopes that that potential is realized. Darko has pretty much been deemed a draft bust, more because expectations I think were too high than that he's actually that bad. He's a serviceable player, just don't expect 20-10 from him night in and night out. Antoine Walker, well, is Antoine Walker, he takes up space and a lot of cap space, similar to Marko Jaric, except he doesn't bring as much to the floor, or a supermodel girlfriend to the area. Anyways, in terms of basketball, Marc Gasol and OJ Mayo have shown they can play, but if that carries over consistently into the regular season remains yet to be seen. All we've seen thusfar is play from Euroleague, NCAA, and the preseason (in the case of Marc Gasol, yes the Olympics as well). Marc Gasol hopefully can pan out to be almost as good as his brother, and man the middle. OJ Mayo, well, they were willing to throw Mike Miller into a package for him, which is really saying a lot about how much they like him. Worse case scenario he turns into a DeShawn Stevenson, actually, that's pretty bad. Hamed Haddaddi will get his taste of NBA action, after being cleared by US Customs to come over from Iran, he looked good in his league, but again, it's a matter of how much of his game is lost in translation.

Potential and upside team yet once again. They've been that for a while. When will they realize that potential? Who knows?

Season Preview: Charlotte Bobcats

Only a couple more weeks!!!

Starting 5:

PG- Raymond Felton

SG- Jason Richardson

SF- Gerald Wallace

PF- Sean May

C- Emeka Okafor

Off the bench

Guards: DJ Augustin

Forwards: Matt Carroll, Jared Dudley, Adam Morrison, Shannon Brown, Jermario Davidson

Centers: Nazr Mohammed, Alexis Ajinca, Ryan Hollins, Andre Brown

I don't know, but this teams looks like it should be doing a lot better than it actually has been. I like Jason Richardson, and in terms of production, Charlotte looks like it got the better end of the deal on what was essentially a Jason Richardson for Brandon Wright straight swap. The offense should continue to run through J-Rich, though how that will work is up to the new coach: Larry Brown. If we look at the roster, the draft choice of DJ Augustin doesn't seem to make a lot of sense, and seemed to imply that Raymond Felton would be soon departing, but there's nothing for certain yet. Gerald Wallace has expressed that he refuses to play the PF position since he seems to always get concussions while doing so, and there was word out that Michael Jordan is less than pleased with his performance. Honestly, I think if any player merits a Scottie Pippen comparison it's Wallace, a lot of people forget about his defense and only point to his poor shot selection, that, and the fact that he's on the Bobcats makes his accomplishments forgettable. So here I remind you, Wallace is known for his defense first. Okafor is another solid guy that just hasn't been able to find his groove. He has the size of a power forward but plays like a center. Some say that the answer is to play a center next to him, but I feel like that's not the answer, unless you use him like a Tim Duncan kind of guy, but even Tim Duncan is effective out of the paint. We'll see, Okafor is still young, so he still has a ways to grow.

The bench isn't horrible, but it's not great. I've never really liked Adam Morrisson and nothing about him now is leading me to change my mind. Matt Carroll is a hard working but not really all that impressive to me, however, he's a solid contributor. With Wallace injured often, we saw flashes of brilliance from Jared Dudley, if he could become a solid contributor and consistent, then that'd be great. Nazr Mohammed, well, is Nazr Mohammed. With starter's minutes he put up monster production for a bit last season, and then was promptly benched, no one's ever really sure what to do with him. Look for DJ Augustin to develop as a rookie, and if Larry Brown likes him better, which arguably he does, and his game develops enough, then he could easily supplant Felton as the starting point. Things don't bode well when a 40 year old Michael Jordan shows up to practice and rocks all your players, however, we'll see. Hopefully Sean May can get back in shape. However, while this team looks good, it's also looking for a clue. I'm not really sure where they're going either.

Season Preview: Sacramento Kings

I'm really not sure why, but I keep forgetting that this team exists.  Fortunately, today, I remembered that they're there.  Here we go:

Starting 5:

PG- Beno Udrih

SG- Kevin Martin

SF- Francisco Garcia

PF- Mikki Moore

C- Brad Miller

Off the bench

Guards: Bobby Jackson, Quincy Douby, Bobby Brown

Forwards: John Salmons, Bobby Jones, Donte Greene, Kenny Thomas, Shelden Williams

Centers: Spencer Hawes, Jason Thompson

When you take a second look at this team, it actually doesn't really look all that bad.  I mean, okay, you're starting Mikki Moore, things could be more ideal than that, but still it's not horrible.  Kevin Martin is a legitimate All-Star caliber talent (some say the real "Blue Light Special"), and I really like Francisco Garcia and John Salmons.  With Ron Artest and Mike Bibby now both gone, I look for Salmons and Garcia to pick up a lot of the slack.  Udrih was a pleasant surprise, and has earned a starting spot.  He's no stud that's going to light up the floor with brilliance, but he's above-average, which is harder to find than one might think in a point guard.  All in all, the team doesn't look half-bad.

That being said, it doesn't really look half-good either.  I think this team is similar to Indiana, in that it has players that everyone likes, but it's just a really average team.  Spencer Hawes still needs to find his game, Kenny Thomas needs to get off the books, and I'm not really sure what to make of Donte Greene yet.  Sure he scored 41 at a Summer League game, but obviously that wasn't enough for Houston to want to keep him.  Bobby Jackson is a solid backup, and I'm a big Bobby Jones fan, maybe it's because he's from UW.  That being said, I can't say I know how much to make of this team, they're solid, but not exceptional, which is what you have to be nowadays in the West to get anywhere.  So I'll stand by my intial gut reaction kind of assessment:  The Indiana Pacers of the West.

35-47

Season Preview: Chicago Bulls

I realized that, the season is coming (yay!), but I still have a good number of teams left (like 5 not including this one) to preview (not so yay). So I'll try to start cranking.

Starting 5
PG- Kirk Hinrich
SG- Larry Hughes
SF- Luol Deng
PF- Drew Gooden
C- Joakim Noah

Off the bench
Guards: Derrick Rose, Ben Gordon, Thabo Sefalosha, Darius Washington
Forwards: Tyrus Thomas, Andres Nocioni, Demetris Nichols
Centers: Aaron Gray, Omer Asik, Cedric Simmons

Forgive me if I'm not on the Derrick Rose bandwagon. I haven't seen a whole lot to impress me yet though. Regardless of how well the no 1 pick pans out, the fact of the matter remains that this team still needs a lot of work.   It's a young team, the veterens being the expendable Drew Gooden, Larry Hughes, and Andres Nocioni.  I believe that to begin with Larry Hughes and Drew Gooden will get their starts, but if Vinny Del Negro decides to go young, I can see them benched with Derrick Rose and Tyrus Thomas picking up starting spots and Kirk Hinrich sliding over to the 2 guard position.

The thing I note with this team is that they're deep, however, their depth consists mostly of average level talent, and doesn't begin with any All-Star caliber players.  The center position is the weakest as I believe Joakim Noah to be little more than a young Ben Wallace, meaning, high energy and negligible on the offensive end.  Omer Asik is supposed to have a lot of upside, but I haven't heard or seen anything to tell me it's anything but upside right now.  All in all, Deng, Gordon, and Hinrich have not shown that they can carry a team unless they're all playing at their best at the same time, which hasn't happened in two years.  I'm not as optimistic about this team as most other people.

34-48

Season Preview: Golden State Warriors

I don't dislike the Warriors, in fact, they're the closest team that I can go watch, so I have a slight personal vested interest, sort of. I'm not a fan either though, however, objectively, I can't say they'll be very good this year.

Starting 5:
PG- Monta Ellis
SG- Stephen Jackson
SF- Corey Maggette
PF- Al Harrington
C- Andris Biedrins

Off the bench
Guards: Marcus Williams, CJ Watson, Dan Dickau, DeMarcus Nelson
Forwards: Marco Bellinelli, Kelenna Azubuike, Anthony Randolph, Brandon Wright, Anthony Morrow, Ronny Turiaf
Centers: None

Technically, Harrington and Turiaf would likely split time at the 5 with Biedrins, given how Nellie runs his small ball lineups. I wouldn't be surprised to see Randolph and/or Wright get playing time there too. The season hasn't even started and it's already been ruined for most Warriors fans, everything went downhill when Baron Davis opted out and fled south to his favored hometown of LA to join the Clippers. The features of this year's Warriors will be the same as those of previous years; minimal defense, lots of running. All this of course less Baron Davis and Monta Ellis.

It hurts that Ellis is out for so long, and from what I hear, his injury is not a quick recovery, he could very well be rehabbing for the better part of the season. Much of the onus of scoring and production now fall upon new acquisition Corey Maggette and captain Stephen Jackson. Al Harrington also will now have a chance to prove himself worth something, maybe that'll get him traded or something, if that's what he wants. Azubuike and Bellinelli look to fill the void left by reserves Barnes and Pietrus, which some might consider an upgrade. I hope that Nellie opts to develop his younger players more. Ronny Turiaf was a solid, but expensive addition to help mitigate the post and assist Biedrins on the glass, I think they can do better.

Playoffs unfortunately are well out of the picture. Stephen Jackson and Corey Maggette will be interesting playing next to each other, but all in all everything remains the same, minus the beard. Hopefully Marcus Williams or CJ Watson can really step it up.

38-44.

Season Preview: Indiana Pacers

I warn you that this isn't written for fantasy, so you use your own discretion if you use it for such.

Starting 5
PG- TJ Ford
SG- Mike Dunleavy Jr
SF- Danny Granger
PF- Troy Murphy
C- Rasho Nesterovic

Off the bench
Guards: Marquis Daniels, Travis Diener, Jarrett Jack, Brandon Rush
Forwards: Josh McRoberts, Austin Croshere, Shawne Williams
Centers: Jeff Foster, Roy Hibbert, Maceo Baston

I would like to reiterate the fact that I don't think this team is very good, in fact, it's average, so average that it's forgettable. Which shocks me, because Danny Granger is considered like top 5-10 SG/SF material on like every other ranking board I've seen. Ok, he had a career season last year, 19.1 pts, 6.1 rbds, 2.1 assts, 1.2 stls, 1.1 blcks per game, a respectable line. Top 5? I don't know about that. Here's Yahoo!'s Kelly Dwyer's take:

8:29	[Comment From Jaceman] Is there any specific reason that Granger is ranked so high in all the power rankings? Or am I the only one that thinks he's been massively overhyped?

8:29	KDonhoops: Because it sounds right. Solid player, does everything OK, but that's it. He's OK, but he's just ... OK.

8:30	KDonhoops: ... as he charges into Tyson Chandler.

8:31	[Comment From Jaceman] Ok enough to be considered top 10 SG/SF?

8:31	KDonhoops: Nope.

There you have it. I'm done. No, I'm not, but seriously. Danny Granger is good, but he's not THAT good. There are still other people I'd rather have on my team, and that is the reason why he, little Dunleavy, and TJ Ford are not going to take the Pacers to a playoff series this year.

That seems to be the problem with everyone else on the roster too, they're all just OK. I don't see Marquis Daniel or Travis Diener being anything more than serviceable, Jarret Jack already is serviceable, and unless Roy Hibbert and Brandon Rush somehow manage to win playing time and breakout then maybe. However, I don't see them outperforming Rasho Nesterovic and/or the above mentioned Marquis Daniels anytime in the near future. Honestly, there's nothing that convinces me that this team will perform well against the better constructed teams. It's like where all the players that deserve a contract but no one really wants ends up. I might change my analysis if Rasho Nesterovic or Troy Murphy start averaging 20-10, but until then, Pacers have a bleak season ahead of them.

34-48

Oh the Vinsanity

I promised a gig about Vince Carter and so here it is. Most people remember him as a Raptor, because as a Raptor, he completely redefined the Slam Dunk Contest, and that's all anyone will remember him for. Well, that and jumping over a 7-foot Frenchman. Vince Carter is a good guy, he really is, he's opening a chemical addiction treatment center, he saves cats from trees and stops robbers stealing purses, the whole 9 yards. Ok, ok, in all seriousness Vince Carter's antics can always be limited to the basketball court, which unfortunately, as his profession dictates, creates something of a problem. You'd think that he and little cousin Tracy McGrady on the same team, at the same time would've been insane, but they both hated Toronto, Carter wanted to play for a winner. So, T-Mac goes to Orlando where he catches some chronic injury from Grant Hill and Vince ends up in New Jersey next to Jason Kidd.

Upon his arrival New Jersey was coming off of 3 playoff appearances, 2 of those losses in the Finals to the Lakers and to the Spurs. Vince Carter helped them get 3 more, but they always got knocked out second round. Some people say that Carter got complacent, for a guy playing complacently 21 pts, 5 rbds, and 6 assts per game isn't too shabby. I like his performance, but I would agree, he doesn't really have the fire in him anymore. So trade him. What's the problem? Well, I would guess $14 million per year for the next four years might be one of them, or rather, 56 million of them, depending on how you're counting. A lot of people view Carter as a highly talented player, but a washup that isn't really worth the money. He just doesn't have that edge that makes him a winner. That makes him hard to market. Especially since most teams can't really afford to pay star power money for someone who isn't necessarily going to bring star powered game to the court night in and night out.

A lot of people, Yahoo! BDL included, think that Carter will be traded very soon, very, very soon, as in, before the February trade deadline, which in terms of basketball talk, is pretty quick. We all know that the Nets are in the running for the LeBron James sweepstakes as many of the star-studded 2003 rookie class becomes free agents. Joining LeBron in the free agency would also include Olympic teammates Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade. Amare Stoudemire would also be a free agent in the upcoming summer. So, there's a lot of All-Star talent out there, and you need a lot of money to throw a max contract out there that one of them will take. So New Jersey, has long been enamoured of LeBron James, and is hoping to somehow draw him to the Nets (with a few hints from Jay-Z maybe) come free agency. So the Nets have been shedding talent for cap space left and right, picking young players with "upside" over proven veterans. They obviously don't really care if they win or not this year, because it's all about when LeBron gets to town.

The only problem; Vince Carter and his $56 million contract.

So, again, trade him. Well, given that fat of a contract, what kind of team would take him? We're looking for a team that has a weak SG slot, and is looking for an immediate solution, they are just that one SG away from being a winner. In fact, they'd be willing to give up an expiring contract or something just so they could fill that slot with effective talent. If we look at VC's contract, because it's 4 years, no rebuilding team wants him. Out go OKC and Memphis, the usual spots to dump bad contracts. So contender material... Spurs? No, Pops still likes Manu. Lakers? They got Kobe. Boston? Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. New Orleans? No, no contracts to make even close to matching. So you see the problem?

We see that the problem isn't that VC doesn't fit anywhere, or that he's a bad player, it's just that, there's no where that can use him that is able to pay him his contract. Except... Well, Wally Sczerbiak seems to have a $13 M expiring contract... That works... Except... VC to the Cavs might just make Cleveland good enough for LeBron to want to stay. Hey, I'm all for VC to the Cavs, get LeBron some more help. Seriously though, the Nets would be shooting themselves in the foot if they went for Wally just because he's an expiring contract, unless they're really going for Dwayne Wade all this time...

UPDATE: Yahoo!'s very own KD on VC for Wally Sczerbiak:

8:32	[Comment From Jaceman] I don't know that Carter will be that easy to trade. The quickest solution would be for Wally Sczerbiak's expiring contract, but then, would that make Cleveland good enough for LeBron to stay?

8:32	KDonhoops: Yeah, that's one of the weirdest non-trade scenarios I can remember for years. It would help both teams, but both teams would be wondering if it would be helping the other a bit TOO much.