NBA 2003-2004 Regular Season [R]

Trade rumor from WGN:

Jalen Rose and a player to be determined to Toronto for Jerome Williams, Alvin Williams and Maurcie Peterson.

ESPN has mentioned it, but nothing official yet.

 

Expansion Bobcats prompt change

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1664103

Eastern Conference

Southeast Division
Charlotte
Atlanta
Miami
Orlando
Washington

Central Division
Chicago
Cleveland
Detroit
Indiana
Milwaukee

Atlantic Division
Boston
New Jersey
New York
Philadelphia
Toronto

Western Conference

Southwest Division
New Orleans
Dallas
Houston
Memphis
San Antonio

Northwest Division
Denver
Minnesota
Portland
Seattle
Utah

Pacific Division
Golden State
LA Lakers
LA Clippers
Phoenix
Sacramento

Teams will play divisional opponents twice at home and twice on the road. They will play conference opponents outside their division three or four times, and teams from the other conference twice -- at home and away.


Divisional winners each earn a playoff berth. The remaining five playoff berths for each conference will be based on regular-season records with no regard to divisional alignment.


Home-court advantage throughout the playoffs will be based solely on regular-season records. That means a divisional winner will not necessarily have home court advantage in the playoff series.

 

Re: Expansion Bobcats prompt change

I know divisions don't matter beyond the winners but the gap in talent between the two divisions is astounding. Every team in Southwest is arguably better than every team in Southeast.

 

For now...

This all changes over time. I remember when Dallas had Mash, Kidd and JJackson and still sucked.

The cream does rise to the top and at least one of those Eastern retards will be crowned the least-retarded retard.

I like this as it brings the NBA back to more like it used to look like.

 

One would hope, but a lot of times, it's the dead fly that rises to the top.

Right now, the record of the 2004 Southwest is a combined 50-23 (.602) while the 2004 Southeast is at 14-39 (.264), and that's without the expansion team. Every Southwest team has a winning record whle every Southest team has a losing record.
I wonder if they considered putting Charlotte in Southwest for a couple of seasons and had Memphis or New Orleans in the Southeast just to balance things out competitively?
Steve Kerr said a lot of the same things I did, but he got paid doing it and I didn't.

Current Rose-to-Toronto speculation
Rose & Donyelle Marshall for Antonio Davis, Mo Peterson & Michale Bradley
Doesn't make much sense for Chicago except for Rose's big salary. Makes more sense for Toronto, but is Jalen Rose someone you sacrifice salary cap flexibility for?

Why didn't anyone think of having a reality show based around the Cavs? Seriously, think of the possiblities - Ricky Davis as the Psycho Star, Darius Miles as the Reluctant Role Player, Zydraunus Illgauskus as the Eastern European Misfit, Dajuan Wagner as the Forgotten Phenom, Paul Silas as the Coach Who Has No Idea Why He Took The Job, and of course, LeBron James as the Mature One.

 

Worked for Michigan.

 

Geez...if only the Knicks could win without their best two shooters, Houston and Van Horn. I mean, wins versus Philly and Boston just aren't good enough these days, especially when you don't have your stars and rely on guys like Shandon Anderson ( the guy who the NYT says is sooo bad) to score 20 points one night and 28 the next. Dude, Deke needs to leave, his old age is causing much trouble. 13 points, 11 rebounds and 3 blocks versus the Celtics remind me why he should retire. Don't bother mentioning the game versus Philly where he dominated the paint and dunked over 2 or 3 guys. Don't even start saying anything about Mike Doleac. 4 blocks versus Philly are horrible numbers. If only he could play defense!!


FIRE LAYDEN!! BRING BACK SPREWELL!!!

 

Wow! The Knicks now have the 24th best record in the league! A whole game ahead of the mighty, mighty Atlanta Hawks and only a half game behind the Washington Wizards! Oh, be still my beating heart!
And who did they beat? Two teams with a combined record of 12-14... well, I guess they are still better than the Knicks. Hooray!

Seriously though, are you going to post every time the Knicks beat someone with a better record? Every team is going to get a win here and a couple of wins there. Hell, even the Cavs manage to scrape together a few wins.

Now, the Knicks are not a horrible team - they are an inconsistent team with no direction. But there are talented players on that squad so it's natural that they'll break out and have good games here and there. And Mutombo, even at age 37 still has a little bit left, but there's no way he's going to average anything close to a double-double or average more than 25 mins a game for the whole season.
A team is only good as its record and the Knicks are a .350 club, that is to say, ahead of Miami or Orlando, but lagging far behind teams like Golden State and Memphis.

 

ESPN's Marc Stein on Zo's retirement
So the Nets are obligated to pay the whole $22 million on the contract and insurance won't cover it.

 

Unless Zo waives it. But would you waive $22 mil? Morally it might be the right choice, but realistically I doubt he will after reading the whole article and seeing Zo wouldn't sign without a guarenteed contract and wouldn't let team doctors examine him on the kidney ailment; just his specialists.

 

Maybe just the games in which both Houston and Van Horn are out, forcing Chaney to start Anderson and Ward, because a line-up with a shooting guard playing SF and 2 PGs are said to be unbeatable.

 

Big deal. Sixers and Celtics both have small lineups. I assume Anderson was matched up against Paul Pierce or Jiri Welsch and Kenny Thomas (Glenn Robinson was out with injury), none of whom have more than an inch on him, not to mention that Philly has a 2-guard who's smaller than both NY point guards.

Shandon Anderson has always played at both 2 and 3. And Eisley was arguably the most effective when he played at the 2 alongside Steve Nash in Dallas. So no, the players weren't out of position (at least not grossly so) and matchups certainly weren't a problem.

So a mediocre undermanned team beat two mediocre teams. B.F.D.

 

Are the T-Wolves a horrible team too? Because the Knicks just finished beating them.

 

When did I use the word "horrible". If you weren't so damn illiterate, you would've noticed that I said the Sixers and the Celts were "mediocre", which right now, applies to the T-Wolves as well. Congratulations on playing 3 straight against struggling teams. Your prize? A chance to play a team that's actually playing to their potential.

See also: Indiana Pacers
See also: Howard Eisley's stat line
See also: 4 games below .500

 

Dude, horrible and mediocore are the same thing. A horrible team doesn't make the playoffs, and neither does a mediocore team, unless they play in a weak division/conference/etc.

I just find it ironic that the Timberwolves get all the respect in the world, but when the Knicks clearly out play them, it was a "lucky win" or "a win versus a 'mediocore' team."

What about Eisley? Yeah, he isn't Gary Payton. And should be replaced by Frank Williams, because he's clearly outplaying him.

Yeah, we're under .500. We're an under .500 team with an injured Houston, Van Horn and Dice. Not bad given the fact that we've played some strong teams so far.

I'm just being a fan and rooting for my favorite team no matter how hard the team's chances are of winning. If doing this is dumb, then what Team USA did the World Cup was wrong because they were never expected to beat Portugal, let alone make it to the next round. I'd rather root for my Knicks then root for the Spurs this year, and the Lakers next season because they will win the Championship this season.

 

Yes. If you consider the fact that Philly is at the top of our division and is 7-7...anythings possible.

 

Uh, okay.

Well, I explained to you before that Knicks weren't horrible, just mediocre. Lucky for you, the Knicks can make the playoffs if the East remains horrible and you can catch the Wizards for that 8th spot.

I hope you're not implying that I said the T-Wolves game was a "lucky win". No, I don't believe there are such things as lucky wins or unlucky losses.

But my point, which you seem to be ignoring all through this thread, is that you can't make judgements on a team based on a game here or 3 games there.
In the NBA, the worst team can beat the best team on any given night. The best team can go on a 3 game losing streak and the worst team can go a 3 game win streak. There's no luck here - doodoo happens, that's all.

You're acting like people should respect the Knicks because they happen to pull off relatively unexpected results every now and then. But besides the fact that individual games are hardly indicative of a team's quality, those wins weren't exactly shockers, especially as they came against 3 teams playing well below their strength.

Not every NBA fan takes the back page of the NY Post as gospel. I love NY, but perspective isn't exactly the greatest attribute of New Yorkers.

I just pointed to his stat line against Indiana as a microcosm of the whole team - hot one game, horrible the next. Inconsitency is a telltale sign of a mediocre, but not horrible team.

You can root for your team without drinking the whole jug of the magic Kool Aid.

Look, I can appreciate that you're a huge Knicks fan and who knows, we might find at the end of the season that you weren't so screwed in the head after all. I am open to that possiblity. There's nothing wrong with your team can kick my team's ass - just give me an argument more substantial than "We did okay the past few games."

 

Okay...what I really mean is, the Knicks should be a better team then what they are. One night they play like champions and the next game they play like a team that's never played basketball. Once they end this inconsistancy, they'll be much better.

Like tonight, they play the Hornets. They can very easily win, but lose just as easily.

Until then, there isn't much unfortunately.

 

Knicks: 79
Hornets: 74

Deke had another great night, he had like 13 points, 12 boards and 5 blocks (season high in blocks). For the Knicks to continue their success, they'll need to have a strong night defensively from anybody. Kurt had another double double, so that was obviously a factor. Dice is coming back this week (hopefully). He'll most likey have a slow start, but right now, any defensive addition is always positive. With Dice coming back, there will be a competition between Deke, Thomas, Dice, Harrington, and Doleac, therefore they'll probably improve their game so they can get more minutes. And you can't forget Sweetney and Lampe who must get some minutes.

Great result versus one of the better teams in the league. Stopping Davis was also a positive sign.