Previous Picks

I don't know how to make this look pretty without taking up tons of time and space, so...

11.04.06

P West J
1.spurs 1.clippers
2.mavs 2.spurs
3.suns 3.suns
4.rockets 4.mavs
5.clippers 5.rockets
6.nuggets 6.nuggets
7.hornets 7.sonics
8.lakers 8.kobe

P East J
1.bulls 1.cavs
2.cavs 2.bulls
3.pistons 3.heat
4.heat 4.magic
5.sixers 5.pacers
6.magic 6.sixers
7.pacers 7.wizards
8.wizards 8.knicks

11.28.06

P West J
1.SA 1.SA
2.UTA 2.PHX
3.LAL 3.DAL
4.DAL 4.HOU
5.HOU 5.LAC
6.PHX 6.DEN
7.NOK 7.LAL
8.LAC 8.GSW

P East J
1.CLE 1.CLE
2.DET 2.CHI
3.ORL 3.DET
4.CHI 4.MIA
5.IND 5.ORL
6.MIA 6.CHA
7.BOS 7.PHI
8.PHI 8.IND

Jake's Picks

East

1.DET
2.ORL
3.NJN
4.CLE
5.WAS
6.CHI
7.MIA
8.IND

West

1.SA
2.PHX
3.UTA
4.DAL
5.DEN
6.LAL
7.LAC
8.HOU

Seed Predictions

At the beginning of the season, Jake and I decided to start making some predictions as to how the season would end up. We will continue to seed our thoughts and at the end of the season we will see how we did. The picks that are done earlier in the season will be weighted to be worth more since they were less certain. Here are mine at the 8th week of the season, a third of the way through.

Patrick's Picks

East
1 Detroit
2 Washington
3 New York
4 Cleveland
5 Orlando
6 Chicago
7 Indiana
8 Miami

West
1 San Antonio
2 Phoenix
3 Utah
4 Dallas
5 LA Lakers
6 Denver
7 Houston
8 Portland

6 weeks...

Its so sad. I really think the Rockets had a chance this year. I'm not sure they will even make the playoffs now.

One bright spot in that game where Yao got hurt. Battier had 28 points. Someone had to score something, but he did it so easily. I'm surprised at how good he is at posting up.

Anyways, I think the Rockets will have to play .500 ball in order to make the playoffs with Yao out. In order to do that, Tracy will have to get back on the floor an Bonzi has got to start playing with at least a glimmer of how he played last year. That...actually is another bright spot. Since he will have to take on more of the offensive load, maybe he will be able to pick up his game. I wouldn't be surprised if he moved into the starting lineup...not that he deserves to.

I love how Alston has been playing too. He's actually started penetrating. That is key.

Alas...20 games without yao and January is going to be extra tough. I expect they will lose 10 out of those 14 games.

He coulda been MVP

So sad...

an eventful couple of days...

for rockets and spurs fans, at least. within a span of 36 hours, we just saw:
1. The best game SA has played all year (argueably, since it was against NOK(11-15),but still a near perfect game for SA, no matter how bad NOK is.)
2. The worst game SA has played all year (against HOU, who played flawlessly(see #3) but that is no excuse for the lack of hustle and discipline)
3. The best game HOU has played all year (see #2) when they smashed SA. I think this game proves what patrick has been saying all year- that HOU has what it takes to beat anyone in the league when they bring their A-game. if it wasn't for big ugly, sad, terrible, #4
4. Yao broke his stinking leg. too early to speculate on the full impact of this on the rockets season.
5. PHX has the longest winning streak since 2000 stopped by a red hot gilbert arenas. WAS played extremely well, but it was arenas that beat PHX. i almost think he should be in the running for MVP ( if it wasnt for his %s) . but i have to agree with kobe on this one; arenas takes ill advised shots. i don't really see any other way to look at it. his attitude about shooting the ball reminds me of a young allen iverson; he doesn't mind taking crazy shots because he knows that he has just as good/ better chances than anyone else on his team. he was 21-37 in the PHX game and it was an impressive 57%. he made lots of off-balance shots and got a lot of difficult and-1s with raja bell glued to his face. if WAS gets him some help, we could all be in serious trouble.

get well soon, yao.

MVP Candidates

Here is a quick stat line of my MVP candidates at present.

Sorted by points per game...

_________________________________PTS____FG%___RPG____APG___STG__BPG____TO__
14-09 Carmelo Anthony_31.6 50.3 05.6 04.1 1.5 0.4 3.82
14-09 Allen Iverson___31.2 41.3 02.7 07.3 2.2 0.1 4.40
11-14 Dwyane Wade_____28.6 47.6 04.7 08.0 1.8 1.0 4.30
17-09 Kobe Bryant_____28.1 48.3 05.1 05.0 1.4 0.4 3.48
15-10 Yao Ming________27.0 52.2 09.8 02.2 0.4 2.3 4.04
14-11 Lebron James____26.9 47.6 06.7 06.7 1.6 0.8 3.40
19-07 Dirk Nowitzki___23.4 49.5 09.5 03.2 0.6 0.8 2.38
19-08 Carlos Boozer___21.8 55.4 11.8 03.1 0.8 0.5 2.46
10-12 Kevin Garnett___21.7 49.9 11.8 04.0 1.4 1.8 2.45
20-06 Tim Duncan______21.0 57.2 10.1 03.6 0.7 1.7 2.88
18-06 Steve Nash______19.3 51.7 03.3 11.6 1.0 0.0 3.68

Is there anyone I missed?

Now who in that group strikes you as MVP material?

I would actually say that Steve does. While he is a full turnover above his average this year, his assists are fantastic and the Suns are likely to continue their winning streak tonight against the Wizards. Not to mention that in 5 of their loses, they were leading in the 4th quarter.

Damn Garnett fills up a stat sheet! What I like most about his are his TOs an his blocks.

You know if you give Timmy the ball you're gonna get some points...57%?!

I think its obvious that either Melo or AI will have to come off their points a bit...probably both.

Lebron is a triple double waiting to happen.

And I swear to god, Yao is really impressing me with his ability to hit clutch shots at the end of games. Averaging over 32 points in the last 5 games? If Bonzi starts playing well, Houston might not need Tracy to come back.

DWade is on a team that shouldn't even make the playoffs...cept he's in the east.

As much as I hate to say it, Kobe is still the best shooter in the league. Prettiest shot I've ever seen. I'm always surprised when it doesn't go in.

So...who would I pick? Thats a tough one cause I don't know what the criteria are. Like Jake said, its obviously not about stats. Is the question: Who is the most valuable person to their team? Or...if you could have anyone on your team, who would it be? I'm gonna go with the second question and say...

Yao Ming.

I know I know...I really didn't want to pick him! But seriously, who wouldn't want a 7'5" guy who can shoot 86% from the free throw line. He makes any offense easier. If you don't double him, you will lose...if you do double him and you have any kind of shooters you will lose. So why has Houston been losing? Cause they can't play without him! He goes to the bench and they fall apart.

Seriously though, I wanted to pick Nash...but thats an easy pick. Plus, I don't think its fair. Son of bitch has all kinds of help.

Furthermore, I think we need to define what MVP means. What does it mean?!


Side note: My goodness...I can't believe Dirk is playing the next game after that sprain. That shit looked really horrible. I need to figure out whats in that tape they use. I might not have needed surgury on my knee after all.

i dont question the answer, but...

i just don't think they will be able to get it done. there are too many question marks for me to feel confident about it. firstly, melo showed us all his true colors when he got into a fistfight on the court the other night. nextly, are either of those guys (melo, ai) going to be happy forfeiting 10+ ppg? are either one of these guys going to be able to be happy scoring 20pts a game and focusing more on each other? is nene going to provide sufficient inside presence? richard, do you think melo can stop eating hotdogs for long enough to pass ai the ball?
please understand, i'm not doubting anyones ability. i think camby is as formidable as they come down low, and ai is not only tough as nails, but has as much ability to score as anyone alive right now. melo has skills, no doubt, but my feeling is that he still isn't prepared to do what it takes mentally.
truthfully, i hope you're right, because i've always wanted to see allen win a ring. but i think the road ahead of him is a very long and uncertain one.

what is dallas going to do without dirk? that ones easy. lose to phx,sa,hou,den,det, etc. they'll be lucky to get past the first round of the playoffs. heck, without dirk, they may as well just ditch the rest of the season and go for a high draft pick.

mvp candidates, you say? im gonna have to hit the books on that one... but if i had to shoot from the hip, id say steves gonna 3peat. i dont know if thats been done before, but he seems to be doing the exact same thing he's been doing for the last two years and he won then. i mean lebron had like 30 7 and 8 last year and they still gave it to steve, so at this point im not real sure what one has to do to beat steve's 20pts 11ast or better that he gets every night. im gonna do some research and give you a more educated guess. whats your take? yao? you're so predictable.

The Answer is Questionable?

Jake, I'm gonna have to disagree with you on this one. I think with this trade, Denver has jumped to the elite. I know its early to make predictions...they haven't played together and all that...but Denver's offence is already geared towards AI's style of play. He's got 15 games to let his ego ride, then Melo comes back and this team will be unstoppable. I don't know about record-wise, but if this team doesn't get to the Western Conference finals, I would be shocked.

Oh...and the East sucks. I could list the ways, but they are too numerous. Orlando looks good, they even have a decent record against the West...and Howard is faaaantastic. All I gotta say is they better hope he doesn't get injured. Can you tell I'm feeling the lose of TMac?

Speaking of injuries...did you see that injury to Dirk? Oh my god! Some guy kicked him right in his ankle! So, the question I pose is...what can Dallas do without Dirk?

Next up: Some stats of MVP canidates...

oh yea, there's an eastern conference

watching det cle and although they are both great teams, i really dont think either of them could take a 7game series against any of the top 4 teams in the west. i think detroits chances hinge on filling that 5th man gap. these first 4 guys have proven to me that if they fire on all cylinders then they can beat almost anyone. of course losing ben wallace is huge, but if nazr mohammed can provide some consistency, and if this maxiell character turns out to be what detroit hopes he is, then i guess maybe there's hope.

i dont think bron is good enough to carry this year's cavs all the way, but if anyone is, its him.

i like chicago and orlando a lot, but i havent seen enough of either of them to make a sensible opinionated web rant about them, so that will have to wait.

what do you have on that, patrick?

for starters...

1.ai/denver-at first i was angry because i thought denver would be way too good after getting ai for next to nothing (thats right andre, i dont care how many dishes you get) . but after a little research, i have to agree with richard. i dont think they are a real threat, largely because melo is too soft. i mean, the addition of ai cannot, in my opinion, be overlooked or underestimated. he can still get 2 points pretty much whenever he wants to. and camby is no joke. but neither is sa. or phx (particularly, of course, if amare blows up. he claims to be playing at about 80% right now and he is consistently getting 20 and 10. what the f?!) anywho, i expect to see den make a late run and fall short against one of the 2 juggernauts.

2.yao/houston-it pains me to say it, mainly because i like playing devils advocate for patrick's precious rockets, but thanks to yao, the #1 center in the league (thats right, shaq gets no love from me. and until amare hulks out again, yao is too pretty to be ignored), i think the rockets have a real shot this year. of course, at this point, i have to throw in the tmac disclaimer, as i think he's a crucial part of a successful rockets team. unless, god forbid, they trade him for another monster 2guard that actually plays more than 35 games in a season( you need some ice for that burn, tmac?).

3.phx-to me, phx is the scariest team in the league. as a team, they score way too many points and shoot way too good of a %. i can never say enough about nash, but thats only the beginning. along with the best pointguard, they have potentially the strongest big man in the game. so that makes matrix (20ppg, 9 rpg) their 3rd best player?! holy moly. add that to leandro and raja, both of whom get 15+ ppg with above avg %s. if they dont win everything this year, im guessing it will be because they dont have a strong enough defensive presence. but they still scare me.

4.my spurs-its too easy to be a spurs fan, i know. they're too good. but i cant help it. i gotta respect the d. the only team w a better opp ppg is the rockets, and nobody has a better 3pt% than sa (of course, if brent barry and bruce bowen can keep up their insane accuracy all year remains to be seen). if the rest of the team is half as consistent as timmy, its a no brainer.

5.youngsters-props to dwade and brontosaurus. if either of em had a team, i would be concerned. but shaq's days are numbered. last year was a fluke. and who does dwight howard think he is? if he gets a team behind him, we may have a problem...

thats all i got for now

Tipping off our basketball blog

Well, Jake and I always talk about basketball, so I figured why not write it down. We are pretty informed and maybe some people will like to hear what we have to say...or maybe not.

I'll go ahead and admit it...mainly because it is going to be painfully obvious as soon as you read anything I have to say...I'm a rabid Rockets fan. All other teams must die. However, I am a fan of the players. So, I can appreciate great players, but I will never pull for any team other than Houston.

Alright Jake...what says you?