Top 30 Players in the NBA this season

1. Kobe Bryant – Best offensive player, dominant on defense, will take over. HS
2. Dwyane Wade – Terrific player, takes over games at an extraordinary pace. HS
3. Tim Duncan – Dominant everywhere, always deep in the playoffs. HS
4. Steve Nash – Great playmaker, and extremly efficent on offense. SS
5. Tracy Mcgrady – Still great offensively, and can be dominant defensively. SS
6. Kevin Garnett – Great at everything, still can go for 20/10/5 a night. SS
7. Jason Kidd – Still puts up triple doubles routinely. SS
8. Allen Iverson – Who can stop this man? And he gets his teammates involved too. SS
9. Carmelo Anthony – Maybe the best pure scorer in the game. SS
10. Yao Ming – 25/10 everynight now, great production. SS
11. Gilbert Arenas – Prolific scorer who takes and makes big shots. SS
12. Baron Davis – Clutch, tough, underrated. 25/8 guy when healthy. SS
13. Lebron James – Hed be higher, but he doesnt take over games enough. SS
14. Deron Williams – In 3 years could be in the top 5 on this list. SS
15. Paul Pierce – Seems to be forgotten, but still puts up 25 and 7 a night. SS
16. Amare Stoudemire – Terrific scorer, will only get better. SS
17. Chauncy Billups – CLUTCH city, and damn good point guard. SS
18. Gerlald Wallace – Most underrated player in the NBA. AS
19. Josh Howard – He’s the real best player on the Mavs. AS
20. Vince Carter – Puts up 25 points but disapeared in the playoffs. AS
21. Elton Brand – 20 and 10 is a solid bet for EB everynight. AS
22. Chris Paul – Injured this year, still is a great player. AS
23. Chris Bosh – Is now a very solid 20 and 10 guy for Toronto. AS
24. Dirk Nowitzki – MVP? Hell no. But he is still a great shooter and puts up 25 a night. AS
25. Shawn Marion – Does everything, defense, rebounding, scoring. AS
26. Luol Deng – Emerging as a great player, 20 points with very good D. AS
27. Andre Iguodala – Now a legitimate scorer to go along with the defence. AS
28. Marcus Camby – DPOF, that despite 11 points a game gets you in the top 30. AS
29. Manu Ginobli – Can create going to the rim better than alomst anyone. AS
30. Shaquille O’Neal – Still puts up 18 and 9, and creates open shots for everyone. AS

HS – Historical Star, someone you’ll be talking about 30 years from now.
SS – Super Star, a guy who can lead your team to the promise land.
AS – All Star – A great number 2 guy, but might not lead you to championship
glory as a number 1 option.

Round 2 Playoff Predictions

Pistons vs Bulls

Bulls lost game one today but they will still contend with the
Bulls. Luol Deng proved himself as the go to guy they needed
in the Miami series which is what they needed to be a serious
contender. But the Pistons are still really really good, and have
a slew of good big men in Rasheed, Webber, Mcdyess, and
Davis to go along with Prince, Hamilton, and Billups that is
one of the best rosters in the NBA. Pistons will win this in 7,
but Chicago will give them a scare. I expect Chicago to win
game 2 in Detroit.

Cavaliers vs Nets

The Cavaliers had trouble vs the injury depleted Wizards,
and did not play that well, despite sweeping the Wizards,
the games were really close. I think there play will pick
up though once they face the Nets, a team that is
signifigantly better than the Wizards, since now the Cavs
know they cant play there C game and still win. The
Nets looked good in the Tornoto series, and played
much better than I thought they would and Kidd really
carried them and played great, and they played good D.
But the Raptors were obviously very very rattled from the
playoff pressure, shooting terribly, and Chris Bosh
admitting that he was extremly nervous in his first playoff
series. The Cavaliers won’t be nervous, Lebron, Hughes,
Ilgauskas, and company have been there before, and will
beat the Nets 4-2.

Suns vs Spurs

The Spurs are playing extremly well, and beat the Nuggets
4-1, who is a better team than the Lakers who the Suns
beat 4-1. But the Suns have the best offense in the league,
underrated defense, not a great defense by any means, but
Raja Bell can get the key stop on a player like Ginobli in the
final moments of a game to close it out, which the Suns have
need to win. The Suns will win this series in 6 games, maybe
7, and even if they don’t completely control the tempo, I still
see Nash and Stoudemire doing enough damage to beat the
Spurs anyway. That pick and roll can’t be stopped, Nash can
score and create off the dribble wonderfully, and that will
create open 3 pointers for Bell, Marion, and Barbosa even in
a half-court offense. The Spurs are a great team year in and
year out, but this year the Suns are just a little better I think.

Warriors vs Rockets/Jazz

The Warriors pulled off one of the greatest feats in sports
history, and I expect them to keep it up. The Rockets are
horribly matched up with the Warriors, just too too slow to
keep up with the frentic pace and I see that series being
won by the Warriors in 5, maybe 6 games. The Jazz series
would be a lot tougher, the Jazz won’t be run on like the
Rockets, but the Warriors have become a very good
swarming defensive team, and contrary to what I thought
were a good defensive team in the regular season. Once
they got rid of the stiffs Dunleavy and Murphy,and
imported the toughness of Stephen Jackson, along with
Al Harrington they took off. There defense over the last
17 games there opponents field goal percentage was .453,
which would put them tenth in field goal defence over a full
season, and over the last ten games it was .439, good for
3rd. Thats some good defence, along with the terrific
offense they have, which would lead them to a 4-2 series
win over the Jazz. And who can stop Baron Davis?

Warriors are title contenders.

The Warriors are up 2-1 on the Mavericks,
and in my opinion have a 55/45 chance of
beating the Mavs now in the series, that
home crowd was just amazing last night.
The D has really stepped up and they
wouldnt let the Mavericks get off shots
yesterday, at times it seemed the
defense was like a swarm of bees around
Dirk, and the Warriors defense was
brutal in the regular season, so this
certainley wasn’t expected. I thought
they would contend with the Mavs, but
purely on offense and a little better
defense than they played in the regular
season, but this defense is good enough
to take them to the finals. If they can
beat the 67 win Mavs, why can’t they
beat the Suns, Spurs, Rockets, ect?
I think this will be over in 6 games,
with Golden State winning games 4 and
6 at home, and Baron Davis carrying
them into the 2nd round vs the Rockets/
Jazz, which I think will be the Rockets.
They could give the Rockets hell,
and they would have a great chance of
beating them since Houston could not
keep up with Golden State, and I
actually would pick them in that
series also. I don’t think they could
beat Phoenix, Phoenix is just better
at what Golden State does, but that
would be a hell of a series also.

The most underrated players in the NBA

Number 5.
Jason Kidd

Everyone knows Jason Kidd, and that he is a great player,
but I think his greatness is underappreciated. He is the
Nets leading rebounder, 8.2 a game, remarkable for a 6-4
point guard. All those rebounds he gets sparks the fast
breaks that egnite the Nets offense, all thanks to Kidd’s
rebounding and playmaking prowess. His scoring ability is
also underrated, he doesn’t shoot well at all but he can
go to the hoop and score much better than people give him
credit for. His on the ball defense is also still good,
and the 2 steals a game he normally gives you sparks yet
more fast breaks for the running Nets. Jason Kidd is a top
5 player in the NBA, and I don’t think people realize that.

Number 4.
Andre Iguodala

The other A.I. has led the 76ers to a respectable record
since Webber and Iverson left. Starting on January 23rd
against the Hornets(when Iguodala got 20 points and 6
assists), the 76ers are 23-16, remarkable considering
they were 11-30 before. Andre Miller did help out,
considering he came in the Iverson trade so he wasnt
there through a lot of the 11-30, but Iguodala has been
the star of the 76ers who got them to 34-46, and only a
couple games out of the playoffs after they had been
doomed to possibly the worst record in the NBA. In those
39 games(4 of which he missed), hes put up 20.5 points
a game, 6.5 assists, and 5.8 rebounds, while playing the
lock down defense he was known for even while Iverson was
still there. Considering hes doing this at age 23,
Iguodala has super star potential and has made the Sixers
have hope for the future when no hope was anywhere near
Phili when Iverson left.

Number 3.
Marcus Camby

Camby, the most underrated center in the NBA. He pulls
down a massive 11.7 rebounds a game in only 33.8 minutes,
blocks 3.3 shots a game (NBA leading), a defensive force,
and even gets 1.2 steals a game at center! He’s not
anything remarkable offensively (11.2 points in 33.8
minutes), but thats still solid on 47% shooting from the
field, and has shooting range out to 18 feet. He even
makes his teammates better with his 3 assists a game.
If you need him to, he can score 15-20 as he proved
last year before he went down with an injury and wasn’t
the same when he came back. All this makes you think he
should be all-star material, but with centers you hear
names like Eddy Curry who is no where the player that
Camby is.

Number 2.
Shawn Marion

Marion, the man who can do everything. Tremendous
rebounder for his size, a man who blocks shots and gets
steals constantly yet still plays great man to man
defense. He pulls down 10 boards, gets 1.5 blocks, and
2.2 steals, at 6 foot 7. Add to that his scoring
ability (career 18.6 points a game) and you have a
top 15 NBA player, yet he never will be put up there
like he rightfully should.

Number 1.
Gerald Wallace

The Charlotte star, averaging 21.8 points, 8.5 boards,
3.2 assists, 1.1 blocks, and 2.12 steals on an
outstanding 52 percent shooting since he came back from
injury problems in January. That’s his numbers when
healthy basically, at small forward for god’s sake!
He is the eastern conference’s Marion, providing the
same type of numbers at the same size, and the same
great defense. The thing is, this guy is only 24 years
old, and has a good 3-4 years to still improve his game,
which he has done every year hes been in the league. In
three years on the Kings, he hit one three pointer, and
the highest percentage he shot at the line was 53
percent. This year he has hit 38 threes on 32 percent
shooting, nothing special from downtown, but drastically
better and it lets defenses be honest since they know he
is an average shooter now, and improving fast. It makes
his terrific slashing abililty that much better due to
the defenses being honest now, and when he gets to the
line he actually can make free throws now, 69 percent,
compared to the high 40/low 50 percentage he put up with
the Kings. The only problem with Wallace, is that he
plays so hard and recklessley, that he injures himself
constantly, so he is injury prone. But this kid is
capable of putting up 25 points, 10 boards, and 5 assists
someday, along with the great defense, and if Charlotte
doesn’t resign this guy this offseason, they are doomed
for failure.

Ahh damn, my Celts were recently finally eliminated
from playoff contention mathematically. With the second worst
record in the NBA (23-50), and all the NBA experts proclaiming
this a terrible team and organazation wouldnt it seem everything
is hopeless with this organazation? Nope.
The Celtics have had amazingly bad luck with injuries this year,
losing Paul Pierce, Wally Szczerbiak, Tony Allen for huge chunks
of the season. Szcerbiak, a perrenial great shooter who can put
up 20 points a game, and Allen, a great defender who came into his
own scoring 20 a night when Pierce was injured have played a combined
65 games this year, and won’t play anymore. Jefferson has missed some
time due to injury, Delonte West has also, Perkins has also, and he had
to play through his for much of the season(plantar fasciitis), which
severly limited his effictiveness. Theo Ratliff, the major accustition
of the offseason, played two games this year. This type of string of
injuries can’t continue, so next year lets look at the Celtics assuming
they are somewhat unridden by the injury bug, but also assuming Tony
Allen doesn’t come back since he suffered a major knee injury. The
Celtics are going to get either the number one or two overall pick,
or else they are probably going to use it in a trade for an all-star
player like Kevin Garnett or Jermaine O’Neal. Say they get O’Neal, a very
real possiblity since he is unhappy in Indiana and things are getting
worse there and it is going to continue for the forseable future. Celts
trade the first round pick, Ratliff’s expiring contract, Ryan Gomes to fill
O’Neal’s shoes a little bit, and Delonte West/future first round pick. A
reasonable trade for both teams. Indiana gets younger and frees up cap space,
and Boston becomes an immediate contender.

C – Jefferson
PF – O’Neal
SF – Sczerbiak
SG – Pierce
PG – Rondo
6 – Green
7 – Perkins
8 – Telfair

Now your telling me that team cant contend? Add in a 2nd round pick and maybe
a veteran signed during free agency and the bench is solid and this team is a
TITLE contender. Even if they dont do a trade and instead end up with Oden or
Durant, there lineup looks like this, again assuming Tony Allen is not able to
heal from his injury but Wally does heal.

C – Oden
PF – Jefferson
SF – Sczerbiak
SG – Pierce
PG – Rondo
6 – Green
7 – Gomes
8 – West
9 – Perkins

or

C – Jefferson
PF – Gomes
SF – Durant
SG – Pierce
PG – Rondo
6 – Sczerbiak
7 – Green
8 – West
9 – Perkins

Any of those scenarios is to drool over if your a Celitcs fan, so keep your
head up Boston, this year was a FLUKE.

Houston Rockets, the most underrated team in basketball.

You always hear about the Mavericks, Suns, and Spurs as the elite 3 in the west,
the teams poised to win a title and no one in the west besides them can do it.
But that is just dead wrong, what about the Houston Rockets? This is a team built
for the postseason, they are tough, they have great inside presence, they play
great defense, they rebound, and they have the best center in the league and the
best backup center in the league. That is the definition of a team that plays its
best in a grind it out seven game series in the playoffs. They are 47-26, despite
losing Yao Ming for for almost half the season in the tough western conference. Their
inside presence, Yao Ming putting up 25 and 10, and Mutumbo coming off the bench and
grabbing 7 boards in less than 20 minutes a night, is just flat out outstanding. Only
Shaq in his prime 4 or 5 years ago beats that tandem. They have a terrific scorer in
Tracy Mcgrady, who also is an underrated playmaker and defender, remember 2 years ago
when he shut down Dirk Nowitzki in the 1st round? Shane Battier is possibly the most
underrated defender in the league, he is in that elite group of on the ball defenders.
Hes not going to get 4 steals or block 3 shots, but when Dwyane Wade or Manu Ginobli
or Kobe Bryant looks up at the scoreboard and sees hes shooting 7-20 from the field
and the Rockets are winning, don’t think that will really matter. Have you ever heard
of Chuck Hayes? A 6′6″ forward, he grabs close to 7 rebounds a night, in 21 minutes.
Thats almost a rebound every 3 minutes, for a 6′ 6″ forward, talk about being tough
and outworking people. You have great outside 3 point shooting from Luther Head (42%
from 3), Battier(43% from 3), and Alston(37% from 3) to complement Mcgrady’s slashing
ability and Yao’s inside dominance. You have Bonzi Wells coming off the bench,(sometimes
when he actually is alowed to play, whether thats his fault or Van Gundys is your opinion)
another tough guy who rebound very well for his size and his offense comes from taking it
to the hoop and drawing fouls. He is a poor free throw shooter (55% this year), but put him
in a playoff game early in the 4th quarter when Shaq has 5 fouls and ill take missing 1 of
2 free throws when Shaq is kicked out with 6 fouls. If theres one weakness on this team, it’s
that they dont play much fast-break basketball, but everyone says you have to slow it down in
the playoffs to win, like the Rockets always do, so why isnt anyone giving Houston a chance
to go to the chosen land in June?

Hey, this is my first post everybody and I am an avid NBA fan, and at least once a week
I will write in my opinions and predictions of the NBA season and future. Please read
and enjoy, and maybe comeback for more .

The NBA season is coming to a close in a few weeks and the playoff race is heating up.
In the west the fight for the eigth seed is getting good with the Clippers finally
playing like we expected them to do this year, while finally showing some passion for
the game. Golden State is two games behind but playing well as of late also, while the
Hornets sit at the tenth seed barely clinging to their playoff lives due to the loss of
Peja.

NUGGETS FATE

Denver is a team to watch. They have been inconsistent and underperforming with Caremlo
and AI, but as of late they have played better and Carmelo is playing much less selfishly
than he did before coach Karl ripped him in the media. Since then he has averaged around 23
points a night, seven less than he previously did, but the Nuggets are 7-5 and are starting
to show signs of greatness. They dont play good defense, but Camby is a force inside and Nene
and Reggie Evans bang on the boards with Camby to clean up rebounds. Denver is a dark-horse
title contender, and they are capable of beating anyone, anytime, anywhere, period. I expect
them to up there game in the playoffs and push the Suns to at least six games, maybe seven.

CLIPPERS FATE

LA should take the final playoff spot and maybe take seventh too if they keep playing
with passion but they have not done that this year untill recently. Dunleavy has finally
given Corey Maggette the playing time he deserves and he is putting up 18.9 points a game
in March in 34.5 minutes. Not suprisingly, the Clips have won four out of five. Sam Cassell
has been out with back issues of late, and if the Clips make the playoffs and he isnt playing,
they will struggle to win one game. If Sam comes back though, the Clippers CAN challenge the
Mavericks in a seven game series, and I would expect them to win two games.

WARRIORS FATE

The Warriors are playing good ball as of late, but two things hold them back from being in the
playoffs, lack of defense obviously, and the terrible play of Jason Richardson this year. The
former 20 point a game scorer has struggled mightly this season, partly due to less isolation
plays for him this year with the emmergence of Monta Ellis and others, and also just due to plain
bad shooting. He has also been terribly inconsistent, often looking to snap out of his season long
funk with a 30 point game, then putting up a 6 point 1-10 FG night the next. If Richardson over the
last 11 games puts up 20 a night, the Warriors have a great shot to make the playoffs,
they are 5-3 when he tops 20 this year. The defense wont improve, they just dont have
any defensive players on the team besides Peitrus. The Warriors just look to out-score you,
so in the first round (if they make the playoffs) they will probably steal a game against the Mavericks,
but even though they have the Mav’s number and think they can beat them, you have to play some defense
and rebound a little bit to win a playoff series, and Golden State has not shown they can do either, AT ALL.

NEW ORLEANS FATE

The Hornets are a tough team, who somehow have stayed in the playoff race despite crippling injuries
this year, highlighted by Peja Stojakovic only appearing in thirteen games. The Hornets are tough
and will not give up, but they just don’t have enough scoring punch without Peja in the lineup to
make it. Chandler has risen his game to new heights though, putting up monster numbers in February
(13.2 PPG, 16.2 RPG), and March (12.6 PPG, 12.4 RPG). Chander is turning into a franchise center,
and with his emergence next year the Hornets will be a 50 win team if healthy. If the Hornets somehow
make the playoffs then they will play the Mavericks tough but will at most win two games just due to
lack of scoring. Unless, Chris Paul can elevate his game in the playoffs like Dwyane Wade, which we
don’t know yet.

KINGS FATE

Sacramento is a team in turmoil with the head coach Mussellman possibly not returning next year,
Artest causing many problems highlighted by his domestic assault arrest recently. He has even
talked about retiring after this year. Sacramento has almost no hope of the playoffs, all they
can hope for is that Mike Bibby plays like he did against Phoenix Sunday (37 points, 9-12 3’s)
or they are done. The Kings are a team that I see unfornatuely going on the downhill and possibly
heading for some real rocky seasons the next couple of years. Artest, who knows whats gonna happen
there, Bibby possibly on the way out, Brad Miller is declining fast, and the only real bright spot
is Kevin Martin. Kevin Martin maybe be the 2008-2011 version of Mitch Richmond for the Kings, lone
star on a bad, bad team.

(7)Denver 35-35
(8)LA Clippers 34-37 GB
——————————
(9)Golden State 32-39 2.0
(10)New Orleans 32-40 2.5
(11)Sacramento 30-40 3.5

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