2005 NBA Offseason Topic

[Blitz]

We'll there are at most, fourty-nine games left in the regular season. Although the NBA could head toward a lockout only three days after the NBA Draft, I'm pretty sure we will see an NBA season. If everything goes as planned in the lottery; the draft will play out like this.

1. Atlanta Hawks

2. New Orleans Hornets

3. Charlotte Bobcats

4. Utah Jazz

5. Portland Trailblazers

6. Milwaukee Bucks

7. Toronto Raptors

8. New York Knicks

9. Golden State Warriors

10. Los Angeles Lakers

11. Orlando Magic

12. Los Angeles Clippers

13. Charlotte Bobcats

Draft predictions? Trades that you might see happening? Where will Phil Jackson end up? Is Larry Brown up and done with the possible back-to-back champions? Will the Mavericks retool yet again?

There's many questions to answer this offseason, and I for one, hope we'll get to see every last bit of it.

Edited May 22, 2005 by Blitz

[Guest Wasted Youth]

The lottery never pans out how the odds are.

Edited May 22, 2005 by Wasted Youth

[Sabu]

It would be cool to see the Trail Blazers end up with the first pick in the Draft, I know it will probably be Atlanta or Charlotte, but still. With Damon and Shareef leaving, they need to get a Player in the Draft that will be able to contribute immediately.

[Blitz]

I have a strange feeling the Lakers will get a top five pick. If they get a legit college star to team with Kobe, they could be right back in the playoffs next year. If the NBA has their way, I'm sure they will have the Lakers and the Knicks both in the top five, seeing as if those two teams could become top-tier, the NBA would be better off in the two biggest cities in the U.S.

[Jester of Death]

Minnesota should be #14 on that list

Anyways, Ray Allen and Latrell Sprewell will be the storys this Summer if the CBA is signed and ready to go.

One thing the NBA needs is unguaranteed contracts, because players like Erick Dampier can play one good year at the end of his previous contract, get a new 7 year deal, and play crappy throughout the rest of his new deal. Maybe there would be more parody like the NFL that way.

EDIT: Knickerbockers and Lakers will be 1 and 2 this year.

Edited May 23, 2005 by Jester of Death

[Guest Wrestling_Man]

When is the NBA Draft lottery, I don't want to miss it.

[Typical Phenom]

I have a strange feeling the Lakers will get a top five pick.  If they get a legit college star to team with Kobe, they could be right back in the playoffs next year.  If the NBA has their way, I'm sure they will have the Lakers and the Knicks both in the top five, seeing as if those two teams could become top-tier, the NBA would be better off in the two biggest cities in the U.S.

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Edited May 23, 2005 by Typical Phenom

[Big Red Fury]

I don't care what happens, I just want the Bucks to get Andriuskevicius.

[Blitz]

Bogut could be the next big thing in the NBA. I think he has more potential to be a star than Okafor does. I think the lottery is tonight sometime. Around 7:30 maybe?

[Big Red Fury]

Tomorrow

[D-Extreme]

Lakers get the first pick? It sounds as good as saying the Hawks getting the 14th pick this year. But then again, its a lottery. The only thing Atlanta has over LA(lakers that is) is more lottery balls. If one of the Laker's two balls pop out first...than I'll be impressed. But thats still a longshot IMO. I do want them to get in a range where they could get a good point guard or a center, if Vlade will leave LA and retire the NBA next season.

For the Hawks, I think they just need a very good player and any position would do.

For the Knicks, yeah, they can just get anyone there. They already have the roster that could make it in the next playoffs, unless they blow it again.

Minnesotta, I guess they just need a player that could replace Sprewell, if he ever leaves during the off-season.

But, which team gave the bobcats their second pick in the first round? Was it the cavs? or is that from another team?

[Malenko]

But, which team gave the bobcats their second pick in the first round? Was it the cavs? or is that from another team?

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[Jester of Death]

8:30pm EST

Right before the West Conf. Finals Game 2

But, which team gave the bobcats their second pick in the first round? Was it the cavs? or is that from another team?

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The cavs sent almost all their top picks for the next 3 years around in trades. All they've left is the 2006, as both the picks they had for this season (which they had got through trades) were traded away.

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[Ron]

One and Done, 76ers Fire Obrien

PHILADELPHIA -- Maurice Cheeks is running the show again for the Philadelphia 76ers.

In a surprising move nearly three weeks following the end of their season, the Sixers fired Jim O'Brien on Monday after one season as coach and replaced him with Cheeks, one of the most popular players in franchise history.

"Mo is family. Mo bleeds 76ers. He bleeds Philadelphia," team president Billy King said.

Cheeks will be introduced as Philadelphia's 21st head coach at a Tuesday news conference.

Philadelphia is certainly banking on the former point guard to have a happier homecoming than O'Brien, a Philadelphia native who played for Saint Joseph's. O'Brien's stubbornness and seemingly unwavering belief in a system that didn't fit his players cost him his job despite a 43-39 record and a return to the playoffs.

"I just felt the direction we were going and the overall play wasn't where we wanted to go," King said.

O'Brien just finished the first year of a three-year deal that included an option and paid him about $4 million a year. O'Brien, though, was not very popular with his players -- most notably former All-Star Chris Webber -- who often complained about their roles.

King said after the Sixers were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by Detroit that he planned to bring O'Brien back. After meeting with his players and other members of management, King had a change of heart and decided over the weekend he had to make a change.

Certainly, King knows a thing or two about making changes -- Cheeks will be the fifth Sixers coach in four years under his watch. Larry Brown left for Detroit following the 2002-03 season, and assistant Randy Ayers was promoted and fired 52 games into the 2003-04 season before he was replaced by Chris Ford.

"I knew this thing was coming, and it wasn't an easy thing for anybody," Brown said from Miami before coaching the Pistons in the Eastern Conference finals. "Knowing Billy, it's not easy to let a coach go. His relationship with Randy was pretty strong. I think it was hard for him to let Chris go. He was excited about having Jimmy, but I don't think it ever gets easy."

Cheeks was one of the most popular 76ers from 1978-89 and played on Philadelphia's last championship team in 1983. He also spent seven seasons as an assistant coach for the 76ers, was part of the staff under Brown when they went to the NBA Finals in 2001 and developed a strong bond with Allen Iverson.

Cheeks was fired March 2 after nearly four seasons as coach of the Trail Blazers. He had a 162-139 record in Portland, the fourth-highest win total in Blazers history.

Cheeks guided the team to the playoffs his first two seasons, but the players hardly made Cheeks' tenure easy -- on or off the court.

The team was nicknamed the "Jail Blazers" after several brushes with the law, many of them involving marijuana possession.

"If players have problems with Mo Cheeks ... then there's got to be something wrong with those players," King said.

But Cheeks' return to the city where he was a four-time All-Star shouldn't come as a surprise. The Trail Blazers turned down Philadelphia's request to speak to Cheeks as a possible replacement for Brown, but the former point guard always remained popular with Philly fans and was at the top of the Sixers' short list to take over for Ford.

Now, they'll get their wish.

"We do not want to change coaches [again]," Sixers chairman Ed Snider said. "We've seen enough coaches."

The Sixers will pay Ayers, O'Brien and Cheeks next season.

"I don't think it's something we're very proud of, but I don't think it reflects poorly," Snider said.

O'Brien is the son-in-law of Hall of Fame coach Jack Ramsay. He led the Sixers to a 10-win improvement from a year ago and they returned to the playoffs, largely on the back of a healthy, happy Iverson.

While O'Brien avoided public spats with Iverson, he did not have the full support of the rest of the team. Some of the younger players, like Samuel Dalembert and Willie Green, felt they did not develop like they should have under O'Brien and were unsure about their roles.

"In looking at the development of some of them, yeah, I wasn't pleased," King said.

The Sixers also failed to really understand O'Brien's defense, a sticking point even in the postseason.

"Some of the criteria on our defense wasn't there," King said.

Cheeks, who once famously came to the rescue of a 13-year-old girl who forgot the words to the national anthem before a playoff game, now hopes to bail out his former team and bring them another championship.

"Mo has played this game here in Philadelphia, won a championship here in Philadelphia, understands players, understands defenses, understands the way I think we want to play," King said.

[Sabu]

I too think Bogut will be big in the NBA, he's got the size and he can also shoot a jumpshot as well.

Edited May 24, 2005 by Sabu

[Blitz]

I've heard people compare him to Dirk, but I think that's stretching it a bit far.

[naiwf]

Bogut has no mobility, he's got the potential to be a major, major bust. Not quite a Shawn Bradley, but he's got a lot of Michael Olowakandi/Kwame Brown-ness in him from what I saw of him in college. Having said that, my Knicks will get the # 1 pick tonight and end up selecting him

[Typical Phenom]

Bogut has no mobility, he's got the potential to be a major, major bust. Not quite a Shawn Bradley, but he's got a lot of Michael Olowakandi/Kwame Brown-ness in him from what I saw of him in college. Having said that, my Knicks will get the # 1 pick tonight and end up selecting him

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[Quom]

Bogut played well in the olympics and that was a year ago. He didn't seem out of place on the floor with the NBA players. Having said that he actually looked undersized to me. I thought he was a 6'8 masquerading as a centre, but that probably has more to do with his posture than height.

[Jester of Death]

1. Milwaukee

2. Atlanta

3. Portland

4. New Orleans

5. Charlotte

6. Utah

7. Toronto

8. New York

9. Golden State

10. LA Lakers

11. Orlando

12. LA Clippers

13. Cleveland (To Charlotte via trade)

14. Minnesota

15. New Jersey (42-40)

16. Philadelphia (To TOR via DEN and NJN) (43-39)

17. Indiana (44-38)

18. Boston (45-37)

19. Memphis (45-37)

20. Washington (To DEN via ORL) (45-37)

21. Chicago (To PHO) (47-35)

22. Denver (49-33)

23. Sacramento (50-32)

24. Houston (51-31)

25. Seattle (52-30)

26. Detroit (54-28)

27. Dallas (To Utah) (58-24)

28. San Antonio (59-23)

29. Miami (59-23)

30. Phoenix (To NY via SAS) (62-20)

Ugh, the three most boring teams are the top 3

Edited May 25, 2005 by Jester of Death