09/10 Season Preview Part 2
@BenitoSTARR on the
New York Knicks (48-34, 2nd Round)
BenitoSTARR might be disappointed if he ends his career with "only" two rings, having been a superstar on an (almost) automatic playoff team. He keeps winning MVPs too, so he must be doing
something right. While he saw a slight decline already this season (with every chance he reverses it next season given he's still only 28), his team might have gotten better. Are they good enough to play with the likes of the altodevil-Lakers, hobbers-Celtics and Durant-Wizards, though?
@sebsheep is on the
Miami Heat (27-55)
This is... not a great team. On the other hand,
SebJr himself is but a wee bairn, and we've seen what can happen to players whose teams were suddenly too good for good draft picks but too bad to get anywhere. The Seattle boys were only the Seattle boys because Seattle kept being awful and drafting the boys and their teammates.
@Solius and
@reelworld on the
Orlando Magic (49-33, Conference Finals)
What to make of the Orlando Magic? No, seriously, what should I make of them? They were great, and then they weren't, and then suddenly last season they were possibly an injured
Solius from the NBA Final and a shot at the title. Their squad isn't looking too likely to repeat that, though. Paradoxically the younger
reelworld is the one who took the biggest step back - a move he'll want to perfect, incidentally, given his new jumping rating of
5. He's not going to dunk on you, is he?
@V.O. and the
New Jersey Nets (33-49)
10x All-Star. 8x Assists Leader. 6x All-League. All-Defensive. Scoring Leader.
V.O. has had a very successful career by any measure except one: rings. It's not like he's held his teams back or anything, it just hasn't happened for them. He's not too old to make something happen though, and his teammates are all young and pretty good - and getting better. The only problem is the aforementioned superteams, but any team is just an injured hobbers from crashing out of the playoffs.
@Skizzo is on the
Indiana Pacers (41-41, 2nd Round)
I wonder if there's a "the best players decline the slowest" thing in the game, because it seems like all our good-but-not-great players are declining before their older superstar friends. It's not over for
Skizzo by any means, as he could just as well go +5 next season again, but it probably won't be the most eventful season for his Pacers. Are they good? No. Are they bad? Maybe.
@weetee and the
Atlanta Hawks (33-49)
The bad news: LeBron James is declining a bit. The good news:
weetee and several other teammates are still improving. The Hawks haven't really done too much the last years despite drafting LeBron, but they're not a bad little team as it stands. Maybe a bit heavy on guards, but other than that pretty good across the board. The challenge is that Tim Thomas is now finally getting old, but that might paradoxically not be so terrible for the future. If he leaves the Hawks suddenly have some money to throw at, say, a Solius. If he stays he'll probably be paid less, and that might mean more money for other decent players.
@hobbers is now on the
Boston Celtics (31-51)
Let's be honest,
hobbers hasn't had the best of luck so far. Well, unless you consider the fact that he's been the highest rated player in the NBA for a decade now. Some (your Skizzos and your sebsheeps) might say that's not something to whine about. Still, he's mostly been on teams that are good
literally only because he's on them. Once or twice he might have had a shot at the championship, but in those cases he's been quite unlucky with injuries. Well I say unlucky, but what teams spend on stuff like coaching and fitness has an impact. Now he's in Boston, who spend money even when they're bad. And he's got a teammate who is above 70 for the first time since... I honestly don't know, maybe ever?
@Salt Bailly and the
Detroit Pistons (48-34, 1st Round)
Salt Bailly really is the steady, safe choice of this whole experiment. He's never been
bad. He's never been a superstar either, perhaps, but 67 is very good in any case. The only reason he's not sitting on 4 rings (or wearing them on his hand, probably) is that he just hasn't been on the right team yet. Is he on the right team now? In a word: no. The Pistons aren't bad by any means, but two 67 players probably isn't enough to get very far in the playoffs. They did alright last season though, so who knows?