I find this Pacers hype HILARIOUS, and I mean HI-LA-RI-OUS! Here are my projected Eastern Conference standings for next season:
1 Nets (the team to beat)
2 Bucks (will bounce back bigtime)
3 Hornets (I have this weird hunch that Andre Miller ends up here in a three-way involving Baron Davis and the Clips)
4 Pistons (now HERE is the REAL "team of the future" in the East)
5 Celtics (gotta love the Pierce-Walker show, but these guys play way too many minutes)
6 Magic (T-Mac needs some help; Tim Duncan will re-sign with the Spurs, and YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST, Jermaine O'Neal jumps ship and joins Orlando next offseason, YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST)
7 Heat (you can't keep The Great Pat Riley out of the playoffs two years in a row, PERIOD)
8 Sixers (the Iverson situation will be a huge distraction, he'll get suspended a LOT of games by David Stern, this team will barely make the playoffs)
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9 Raptors (Lenny Wilkens needs to get fired)
10 Pacers (a huge disappointment)
11 Hawks (getting better)
12 Bulls (yep, they really will be a lot better, but they're still at least 10 more wins away from the #8 seed in the East)
13 Knicks (talk about a HUGE disappointment; that McDyess trade set this team back another couple of seasons, something I did not think was possible; when the team throws their $4.7 mil exception at JEROME JAMES (5 ppg, 4 rpg last year), prepare to DIE LAUGHING)
14 Wizards (MJ won't be close to 100% next season, and this team really does lack talent, good LORD)
15 Cavs (yeah, Miller will get traded, making this team the worst team in the East; Dajuan Wagner will take more shots per game than anybody, which is NOT a good thing)
Now, here are some MORE reasons why the Pacers will finish tenth in the conference:
1) The Pacers have done nothing but underachieve ever since Isiah began his "coaching" career there;
2) The Pacers BARELY made the playoffs last season, and so did the Raptors;
3) The Heat were quite a few games over .500 after their godawful start. I believe they started 5-23, which means that they went 31-23 the rest of the way. 31-23 is a .574 winning percentage, and if they had played .574 basketball all season long, they would've finished #4 in the conference. Keep in mind that Caron Butler will be an impact rookie--this team WILL make the playoffs next season;
4) The Bucks' collapse was bizarre, this is a team that nearly made the NBA Finals just 14 months ago! Expect Mason to get shipped somewhere (anywhere, for anything). This team WILL bounce back, it WILL make the playoffs;
5) The Hornets are simply too well-coached to miss the playoffs, they have an excellent veteran cast, and they will either re-sign Baron Davis or replace him with Andre Miller in a three-way with the Clips (you just watch);
6) The Nets, Pistons, and Celtics were the top three teams in the East next season, their rosters will remain almost perfectly intact; pretty difficult to imagine any of these teams missing the postseason;
7) The Magic aren't going to get any better this offseason, but they aren't going to get any worse, either, are they?;
8) The 76ers will not miss the playoffs unless Iverson gets sent to prison.
SO! If the Bucks and Heat both bounce back and return to the playoffs (and they WILL, don't you know?); if the Nets, Pistons, and Celtics do not have to deal with major longterm injuries to any of their stars; if the Hornets, Magic, and 76ers all play up to expectations--well, there are going to be some teams that miss the playoffs, that's all there is to it! I happen to find the hype surrounding this underachieving Pacers team to be quite hilarious; I just moved out to Washington from Bloomington, IN, where I watched Isiah "coach" this group on WB for two seasons. It was painful to watch.
The bottom line is, there are only four teams in the East that have virtually no shot at the playoffs: Cleveland, Washington, Chicago, and Atlanta. That leaves eleven teams competing for eight spots, so, well, YOU do the math! You tell ME which three teams won't make the cut! I'm saying that the Knicks will be a HUUUUUUUUUGE disappointment, that the Raptors will continue to underachieve, that Miami and Milwaukee will both bounce back, that if Miami didn't start off 5-23 last season and if Milwaukee didn't sign Anthony Mason, that both teams would've made the playoffs ahead of Toronto and INDIANA, that the Pacers have done pretty much nothing to convince anyone that they are anything better than a .500 team. I mean, seriously, why is this team going to suddenly be a major force in the East? Is Jermaine O'Neal REALLY going to get THAT MUCH BETTER next season? Is Al Harrington (and don't tell me about his injury, about how that prevented the team from advancing in the playoffs, because this team was .500 before AND after he got injured)? What about Jonathan Bender? This Tinsley/Croshere-for-Anderson trade will probably happen, it works for both teams--so who is the point guard for the Pacers? Kenny Anderson? Ugh. Here is the team's starting lineup next season:
PG Kenny Anderson (one of the most overpaid players in the league, although he WILL be playing for a new contract, so he should be in good shape to start the season; HOWEVER, he is a PG, and he will be adjusting to life on a new team, a team that already has a leader in Reggie Miller; I don't know, could be trouble--and his backups, Kevin Ollie and this Jamison Brewer kid, aren't exactly GOOD; AND keep in mind that Anderson will NOT be happy about getting shipped off from an Eastern Conference Finalist to a soap opera, AND that he's injury-prone, AND that he's probably not an Isiah Thomas kind of guy)
SG Reggie Miller (I gotta think that Reggie is going to be worried about whether or not the team is going to re-sign him after next season, and what kind of money he's going to get, and so on; keep in mind that he doesn't want to end his career playing for a .500 team, and that he is having a hard time coming to grips that his career is winding down)
SF Al Harrington (a nice glue player, no doubt about it, but how will he respond to sharing minutes with Ron Artest and Jonathan Bender? And how will Ron Artest respond to sharing minutes with Harrington?)
PF Jermaine O'Neal (if this team is playing .500 ball and therefore disappointing everybody in Januaryish, how will this team respond to the possibility of losing O'Neal to either the Orlando Magic or the Denver Nuggets via free agency next offseason? Won't this be a distraction, to O'Neal and to everybody else?)
C Brad Miller (he'll be a free agent after next season, so he'll be playing for a big contract, with either Indiana or SOMEBODY, but in order for him to put up big numbers, he's going to have to get plenty of shots, and I just don't see him getting NEARLY enough shots to make him happy; PLUS he's an injury-prone player)
Backups: Ron Artest (again, how will he respond to sharing minutes with Al Harrington? Probably not very well!), Ron Mercer (too good to not play 20-25 minutes a game, he'll take minutes away from Reggie, and from Bender), Kevin Ollie and Jamison Brewer (is Ollie the team's PG of the future, after the team lets Kenny Anderson go after next season, or is Brewer? Or is neither one of these two the answer?), Jeff Foster (this guy hustles too much to sit at the end of the bench, he's paid his dues and everybody knows it), Fred Jones (will pout and pout and pout at the end of the bench, don't you know).
Not to mention that everybody will be calling for Isiah's head because of the underachieving! And that Donnie Walsh may not even be sticking around, he may move on, or get fired! There just aren't enough minutes to go around for this team, and Isiah just doesn't have the right personality to appease everybody.
This team is going to be a big mess, in other words. Lots of talent, but the team lacks direction, there are way too many distractions, and the high expectations will really hurt this team.
Here's what I think will happen over the next 12-13 months:
1) Jermaine O'Neal will get disgusted with this team's development (or lack thereof), the Magic and Nuggets will get into a bidding war for this guy's services, the Magic will win, O'Neal will buy into the idea that The McGrady-O'Neal Show is good enough to make the NBA Finals on a regular basis, the Pacers will get nothing in return for O'Neal;
2) Reggie Miller will be so disgusted with the team's mediocre play and lack of direction, and ESPECIALLY its refusal to extend his contract (and to give him the big bucks that he feels he's earned by sticking with this team throughout his entire career), that HE will bolt at the end of next season, to a contender, even if it means he signs for less money (you tell ME he wouldn't look great in a Lakers uniform!);
3) Ron Artest starts demanding to get traded and throwing fits when he doesn't get the 30+ minutes a game he feels he is entitled to;
4) Jonathan Bender continues to look like somebody who has absolutely no idea how to play basketball, yet the team continues to give him 20+ minutes a game;
5) Fred Jones plays very little and pouts a lot, and, when he does play, does nothing to convince Pacers fans that he is a total bust;
6) The team replaces the bolted O'Neal and Reggie (their top two players, don't forget THAT) with NO ONE via free agency (no one GOOD, anyway), and Brad Miller takes off and signs somewhere else, too, after the Pacers balk at giving the guy $7 or $8 mil/yr;
7) Kenny Anderson does NOT fit in well, and does NOT re-sign...
Here are yr 2003-04 Indiana Pacers:
PG Kevin Ollie--Jamison Brewer
SG Ron Mercer--Fred Jones
SF Ron Artest--Jonathan Bender
PF Al Harrington (undersized, but the best this team can do)--??
C Jeff Foster--Primoz Brezec
NOW! Who is this team's go-to guy? Ron Mercer? Al Harrington? You're looking at one of the 2-3 worst teams in the league here, folks! Team of the future? HA! 18-64 in 2003-04 is more like it!
1 Nets (the team to beat)
2 Bucks (will bounce back bigtime)
3 Hornets (I have this weird hunch that Andre Miller ends up here in a three-way involving Baron Davis and the Clips)
4 Pistons (now HERE is the REAL "team of the future" in the East)
5 Celtics (gotta love the Pierce-Walker show, but these guys play way too many minutes)
6 Magic (T-Mac needs some help; Tim Duncan will re-sign with the Spurs, and YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST, Jermaine O'Neal jumps ship and joins Orlando next offseason, YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST)
7 Heat (you can't keep The Great Pat Riley out of the playoffs two years in a row, PERIOD)
8 Sixers (the Iverson situation will be a huge distraction, he'll get suspended a LOT of games by David Stern, this team will barely make the playoffs)
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9 Raptors (Lenny Wilkens needs to get fired)
10 Pacers (a huge disappointment)
11 Hawks (getting better)
12 Bulls (yep, they really will be a lot better, but they're still at least 10 more wins away from the #8 seed in the East)
13 Knicks (talk about a HUGE disappointment; that McDyess trade set this team back another couple of seasons, something I did not think was possible; when the team throws their $4.7 mil exception at JEROME JAMES (5 ppg, 4 rpg last year), prepare to DIE LAUGHING)
14 Wizards (MJ won't be close to 100% next season, and this team really does lack talent, good LORD)
15 Cavs (yeah, Miller will get traded, making this team the worst team in the East; Dajuan Wagner will take more shots per game than anybody, which is NOT a good thing)
Now, here are some MORE reasons why the Pacers will finish tenth in the conference:
1) The Pacers have done nothing but underachieve ever since Isiah began his "coaching" career there;
2) The Pacers BARELY made the playoffs last season, and so did the Raptors;
3) The Heat were quite a few games over .500 after their godawful start. I believe they started 5-23, which means that they went 31-23 the rest of the way. 31-23 is a .574 winning percentage, and if they had played .574 basketball all season long, they would've finished #4 in the conference. Keep in mind that Caron Butler will be an impact rookie--this team WILL make the playoffs next season;
4) The Bucks' collapse was bizarre, this is a team that nearly made the NBA Finals just 14 months ago! Expect Mason to get shipped somewhere (anywhere, for anything). This team WILL bounce back, it WILL make the playoffs;
5) The Hornets are simply too well-coached to miss the playoffs, they have an excellent veteran cast, and they will either re-sign Baron Davis or replace him with Andre Miller in a three-way with the Clips (you just watch);
6) The Nets, Pistons, and Celtics were the top three teams in the East next season, their rosters will remain almost perfectly intact; pretty difficult to imagine any of these teams missing the postseason;
7) The Magic aren't going to get any better this offseason, but they aren't going to get any worse, either, are they?;
8) The 76ers will not miss the playoffs unless Iverson gets sent to prison.
SO! If the Bucks and Heat both bounce back and return to the playoffs (and they WILL, don't you know?); if the Nets, Pistons, and Celtics do not have to deal with major longterm injuries to any of their stars; if the Hornets, Magic, and 76ers all play up to expectations--well, there are going to be some teams that miss the playoffs, that's all there is to it! I happen to find the hype surrounding this underachieving Pacers team to be quite hilarious; I just moved out to Washington from Bloomington, IN, where I watched Isiah "coach" this group on WB for two seasons. It was painful to watch.
The bottom line is, there are only four teams in the East that have virtually no shot at the playoffs: Cleveland, Washington, Chicago, and Atlanta. That leaves eleven teams competing for eight spots, so, well, YOU do the math! You tell ME which three teams won't make the cut! I'm saying that the Knicks will be a HUUUUUUUUUGE disappointment, that the Raptors will continue to underachieve, that Miami and Milwaukee will both bounce back, that if Miami didn't start off 5-23 last season and if Milwaukee didn't sign Anthony Mason, that both teams would've made the playoffs ahead of Toronto and INDIANA, that the Pacers have done pretty much nothing to convince anyone that they are anything better than a .500 team. I mean, seriously, why is this team going to suddenly be a major force in the East? Is Jermaine O'Neal REALLY going to get THAT MUCH BETTER next season? Is Al Harrington (and don't tell me about his injury, about how that prevented the team from advancing in the playoffs, because this team was .500 before AND after he got injured)? What about Jonathan Bender? This Tinsley/Croshere-for-Anderson trade will probably happen, it works for both teams--so who is the point guard for the Pacers? Kenny Anderson? Ugh. Here is the team's starting lineup next season:
PG Kenny Anderson (one of the most overpaid players in the league, although he WILL be playing for a new contract, so he should be in good shape to start the season; HOWEVER, he is a PG, and he will be adjusting to life on a new team, a team that already has a leader in Reggie Miller; I don't know, could be trouble--and his backups, Kevin Ollie and this Jamison Brewer kid, aren't exactly GOOD; AND keep in mind that Anderson will NOT be happy about getting shipped off from an Eastern Conference Finalist to a soap opera, AND that he's injury-prone, AND that he's probably not an Isiah Thomas kind of guy)
SG Reggie Miller (I gotta think that Reggie is going to be worried about whether or not the team is going to re-sign him after next season, and what kind of money he's going to get, and so on; keep in mind that he doesn't want to end his career playing for a .500 team, and that he is having a hard time coming to grips that his career is winding down)
SF Al Harrington (a nice glue player, no doubt about it, but how will he respond to sharing minutes with Ron Artest and Jonathan Bender? And how will Ron Artest respond to sharing minutes with Harrington?)
PF Jermaine O'Neal (if this team is playing .500 ball and therefore disappointing everybody in Januaryish, how will this team respond to the possibility of losing O'Neal to either the Orlando Magic or the Denver Nuggets via free agency next offseason? Won't this be a distraction, to O'Neal and to everybody else?)
C Brad Miller (he'll be a free agent after next season, so he'll be playing for a big contract, with either Indiana or SOMEBODY, but in order for him to put up big numbers, he's going to have to get plenty of shots, and I just don't see him getting NEARLY enough shots to make him happy; PLUS he's an injury-prone player)
Backups: Ron Artest (again, how will he respond to sharing minutes with Al Harrington? Probably not very well!), Ron Mercer (too good to not play 20-25 minutes a game, he'll take minutes away from Reggie, and from Bender), Kevin Ollie and Jamison Brewer (is Ollie the team's PG of the future, after the team lets Kenny Anderson go after next season, or is Brewer? Or is neither one of these two the answer?), Jeff Foster (this guy hustles too much to sit at the end of the bench, he's paid his dues and everybody knows it), Fred Jones (will pout and pout and pout at the end of the bench, don't you know).
Not to mention that everybody will be calling for Isiah's head because of the underachieving! And that Donnie Walsh may not even be sticking around, he may move on, or get fired! There just aren't enough minutes to go around for this team, and Isiah just doesn't have the right personality to appease everybody.
This team is going to be a big mess, in other words. Lots of talent, but the team lacks direction, there are way too many distractions, and the high expectations will really hurt this team.
Here's what I think will happen over the next 12-13 months:
1) Jermaine O'Neal will get disgusted with this team's development (or lack thereof), the Magic and Nuggets will get into a bidding war for this guy's services, the Magic will win, O'Neal will buy into the idea that The McGrady-O'Neal Show is good enough to make the NBA Finals on a regular basis, the Pacers will get nothing in return for O'Neal;
2) Reggie Miller will be so disgusted with the team's mediocre play and lack of direction, and ESPECIALLY its refusal to extend his contract (and to give him the big bucks that he feels he's earned by sticking with this team throughout his entire career), that HE will bolt at the end of next season, to a contender, even if it means he signs for less money (you tell ME he wouldn't look great in a Lakers uniform!);
3) Ron Artest starts demanding to get traded and throwing fits when he doesn't get the 30+ minutes a game he feels he is entitled to;
4) Jonathan Bender continues to look like somebody who has absolutely no idea how to play basketball, yet the team continues to give him 20+ minutes a game;
5) Fred Jones plays very little and pouts a lot, and, when he does play, does nothing to convince Pacers fans that he is a total bust;
6) The team replaces the bolted O'Neal and Reggie (their top two players, don't forget THAT) with NO ONE via free agency (no one GOOD, anyway), and Brad Miller takes off and signs somewhere else, too, after the Pacers balk at giving the guy $7 or $8 mil/yr;
7) Kenny Anderson does NOT fit in well, and does NOT re-sign...
Here are yr 2003-04 Indiana Pacers:
PG Kevin Ollie--Jamison Brewer
SG Ron Mercer--Fred Jones
SF Ron Artest--Jonathan Bender
PF Al Harrington (undersized, but the best this team can do)--??
C Jeff Foster--Primoz Brezec
NOW! Who is this team's go-to guy? Ron Mercer? Al Harrington? You're looking at one of the 2-3 worst teams in the league here, folks! Team of the future? HA! 18-64 in 2003-04 is more like it!
