ralaw

That's a great point, but Mavs supporters believe the refs caused the Mavs to lose 4 straight games including the close out game in Dallas. They believe the Mavs were basically used by the NBA like a pimp uses his whores to make a profit. Poor Mavs

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Mr. Predictable

Looking at the champions over the past 20 years, the Heat don't come close to any of them. That's the point I am trying to make. Essentially what you have is discombobulated talent that played against a good team that had a very bad series. You have players that don't really complement each other, passing is below average for a champion and Shaq's decline was extremely evident in the Finals. And they still won!

Prime Hakeem trumps Wade in every possible way.

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"He's the best center in the NBA on one end now," Mavericks swingman Jerry Stackhouse said. "The team has to focus on him more than any center in the NBA, even Shaq."

"He's 7-6, turning and fading. You want a guy to turn out, unfortunately he was hitting the shot," Brown said. "What could I do? I had a hand up. I was, '(Man), another one.' Now I know what it's like when guys play against Kobe (Bryant)."--- Kwame Brown on Yao's 16-25 shooting performance

5/29 Mock Draft 1.0

Sir Patchwork

Yeah, the playoffs were pretty great this year, but the calibre of the best teams was down considerably. I think the Heat of last year would have beat this years Heat team, and last year, the Pistons and Spurs were both better than the Heat. The Suns might have been too.

I can't think of one team since 1991 (when I started watching NBA ball) that is a worse champion than these Heat.

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Laker Freak

Not true the bench in 2004 was much better with scores like Mike James (20 PPG this year) and Corliss Williamson. They also had more big guys like Campbell and Okur (18 PPG this year) to gaurd Shaq where as this year all they had off the bench was McDyess, who is too small to gaurd Shaq effectively. While I do think Prince and Billups have improved a lot since 2004, Ben Wallace has noticeably regressed.

ralaw

Sorry, I wasn't aware prime Hakeem was the center for the Houston Rockets. Maybe it's my fault for assuming when you said, "If Houston makes the right moves this offseason, they could easily be contending for the Finals a year from now," you were talking about the current Houston Rockets. My fault.

BTW, the Rockets at best will be no more than 4-5 in the West next year.

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smrtguy

You can't be serious! I wish Jordan would never have retired, because all the Hakeem crazies would be saying they wish they would have won a title.

A better statement is to stick with the same position:

Prime Shaq trumps Prime Hakeem in every possible way. (2000 Shaq)

ralaw

I thought the 99' Spurs were a suspect champion.

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Shady*

You wouldn't have made this thread if the Mavericks were NBA Champions.

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Hoopla

This Heat team is one of the weaker champions in recent times, but better than the 2004 Pistons.

To say the Heat won because the Pistons played poorly and because Avery Johnson can't coach is a narrow-minded claim. As is always the case, one team playing well has plenty to do with the opposition not doing the same. Everyone was singing Avery Johnson's praises following the Spurs series, but in the NBA Finals he decides to take his thinking cap off and now makes horrible decisions? Bottom line is Miami knocked off a 64 and 60 win team without homecourt advantage.

And this Heat team wasn't the same team that won 52 games. Unlike the regular season, the playoffs saw a healthy Miami team.

Mr. Predictable

Jordan was back and in form in 1995 when Orlando beat Chicago then proceeded to get swept by Houston in the Finals. The problem? Jordan only had 1 HOF'er on his team (Scottie Pippen), instead of the usual 2 he needed to win a championship.

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"He's the best center in the NBA on one end now," Mavericks swingman Jerry Stackhouse said. "The team has to focus on him more than any center in the NBA, even Shaq."

"He's 7-6, turning and fading. You want a guy to turn out, unfortunately he was hitting the shot," Brown said. "What could I do? I had a hand up. I was, '(Man), another one.' Now I know what it's like when guys play against Kobe (Bryant)."--- Kwame Brown on Yao's 16-25 shooting performance

5/29 Mock Draft 1.0