2010 CB Draft: Southeast Division Press Conferences

[KCattheStripe]

BREAKING NEWS:

Rumor out of  Miami is that Phil Jackson has been flirting with the idea of implementing his highly secretive and experimental Rhombus offense during training camp.

principles of the Rhombus offense:

Every rhombus (offense) has two diagonals connecting opposite pairs of vertices and two pairs of parallel sides. Using congruent triangles, one can prove that the rhombus (offense) is symmetric across each of these diagonals. It follows that any rhombus (offense) has the following two properties:

1.Opposite angles of a rhombus (offense) have equal measure.
2.Steve Nash will eat Chris Duhon for lunch and dinner.

The first property implies that every rhombus is a parallelogram. A rhombus (offense) therefore has all of the properties of a parallelogram: opposite sides are parallel, adjacent angles are supplementary, it takes advantage of Lamar Odom's impressive ballhandling skills, and the two diagonals bisect one another.

Not every parallelogram is a rhombus, though any parallelogram with perpendicular diagonals (the second property) is a rhombus. In general, any quadrilateral with perpendicular diagonals, one of which is a line of symmetry, is a kite. Every rhombus is a kite, and any quadrilateral that is both a kite and parallelogram is a recipe for an NBA title.

Simply put - CHAMPIONSHIP!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTl-wOJvR2I

[KCattheStripe]

Steve Nash Kina looks like the Count from Seseme Street:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-Wd-Q3F8KM

[action781]

I've ranked my teams:

Washington (50 wins) - A well balanced team that if injuries are relatively minor, should be able to patch together a decent enough regular season rotation to win 50 games.
Atlanta (50 wins) - I think will explode on some teams offensively, especially ones who are poor or slow/lazy defensively like the '10 Celtics.  Will struggle to score against good, disciplined defensive teams.
Nashville (48 wins) - Great scoring 1-4, AK is a very strong 6th man.
Seattle (44 wins) - I don't think Gay is a winner and I'm still not convinced that Duhon is a good enough passer to get Amare playing like he did in Phoenix.
Miami (40 wins) - They'll win some games during the regular season, but they are just soooooo small.  And no way the triangle offense works with this group.

This division is strong, but I don't see a champion coming out of it.

Let me gues you think the champion is coming out of the......ummm wait.....no hints....the....ummmm......Eastern Conference Central Division?!?!?!?!

YUP!! 

Haha, just reporting it like I see it, Nick.  I did say I could see the champion coming out of the northwest.  Never said how many contenders there might be there either.

[Roy H.]

I've ranked my teams:

Washington (50 wins) - A well balanced team that if injuries are relatively minor, should be able to patch together a decent enough regular season rotation to win 50 games.
Atlanta (50 wins) - I think will explode on some teams offensively, especially ones who are poor or slow/lazy defensively like the '10 Celtics.  Will struggle to score against good, disciplined defensive teams.
Nashville (48 wins) - Great scoring 1-4, AK is a very strong 6th man.
Seattle (44 wins) - I don't think Gay is a winner and I'm still not convinced that Duhon is a good enough passer to get Amare playing like he did in Phoenix.
Miami (40 wins) - They'll win some games during the regular season, but they are just soooooo small.  And no way the triangle offense works with this group.

This division is strong, but I don't see a champion coming out of it.

Let me gues you think the champion is coming out of the......ummm wait.....no hints....the....ummmm......Eastern Conference Central Division?!?!?!?!

YUP!! 

Haha, just reporting it like I see it, Nick.  I did say I could see the champion coming out of the northwest.  Never said how many contenders there might be there either.

Just sayin'.

[StartOrien]

I've ranked my teams:

Washington (50 wins) - A well balanced team that if injuries are relatively minor, should be able to patch together a decent enough regular season rotation to win 50 games.
Atlanta (50 wins) - I think will explode on some teams offensively, especially ones who are poor or slow/lazy defensively like the '10 Celtics.  Will struggle to score against good, disciplined defensive teams.
Nashville (48 wins) - Great scoring 1-4, AK is a very strong 6th man.
Seattle (44 wins) - I don't think Gay is a winner and I'm still not convinced that Duhon is a good enough passer to get Amare playing like he did in Phoenix.
Miami (40 wins) - They'll win some games during the regular season, but they are just soooooo small.  And no way the triangle offense works with this group.

This division is strong, but I don't see a champion coming out of it.

Let me gues you think the champion is coming out of the......ummm wait.....no hints....the....ummmm......Eastern Conference Central Division?!?!?!?!

YUP!! 

Haha, just reporting it like I see it, Nick.  I did say I could see the champion coming out of the northwest.  Never said how many contenders there might be there either.

Just sayin'.

Can we hire someone to do a montage for our division?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IeXgCFF-rM

[indeedproceed]

Yes with my prediction of 4 teams from the Southeast making the playoffs and 3 from the Central that does only leave one Atlantic division team making the playoffs. And sorry Redz and Edgar that team from the Atlantic does not rhyme with For Tonto.

Question: does having 4 other playoff capable teams in the division (you all kind of agree you're going to the playoffs) help or hinder the idea that the Southeast could field as many as 4 playoff teams?

EDIT: I don't know if I'm making this clear, but I'm kind of saying you all think (all 5 teams) can go to the playoffs. Does it help or hinder your cause to have everyone in the division allegedly have playoff talent?

[riah32]

I see only 2 teams in this division I would think would make the playoffs:

Hawks

Boxers

The rest just dont seem all that good.

[The Walker Wiggle]

I'd have to disagree and could conceivably vote through any of the division's five teams - three at least. Here's how I feel today. (Yes, playing catch up.)

1. Cuba Heat - Team is going to overachieve. No player has single-handedly changed the trajectory of more NBA careers than Steve Nash. And Phil Jackson is almost as good with journeymen vets as he is with outsized egos. Odom and Jackson are my new favorite yin yang pairing of borderline dysfunctional winners. Of course, Cuba isn't making it easy to get on board. With an emphasis placed on in-gaming dunking above all else at the wings and the unconventional frontcourt. Team is going to make plays defensively, block shots and force turnovers, but will also be responsible for a lot of fouls and head-scratchers.

2. Nashville Magic - Live by the BPA die by the BPA? Plenty of firepower. And Loch Ness deep. The second unit is indistinguishable from a lottery team's starting five. Will settle for too many long twos? And not enough basketballs? Practically elastic. But otherwise mediocre defensively. Lots of intriguing line ups coupled with a lack of separation. Willing passers. Lingering injuries are a concern. Off the ball movement will be key. Hang on, Josh McRoberts is at my front door...

2. Washington Boxers - Roster certainly boasts a-been-there-done-that vibe. Ginobili's showcase and victory lap. Creative scorers. Team has penetrators and low post offense. A notably strong top seven. Further down the bench, lots of wildly uneven performers with upside. Question marks at small forward? Strides by either Greene or Bayless would go a long way. Tough defense by the starting five. Steep decline to the second unit.

4. Atlanta Hawks - "The Good Guys" The easiest team in the league to root for is otherwise still somewhat impenetrable to me. The junior 2009-2010 Cavs? Underrated defensively. OK jump shooters galore, flanking the Association's premier scorer. Also sixth man Elton Brand, at one point the league's best lunchpail 4. 2006 Brand would solve most of this team's problems. But his comeback season is now two years overdue. Peerless character team. But who's driving to the hoop? Drawing fouls outside of Durant? A shallow bench comparatively. Fairly inefficient offense? Very little margin for error. But a flinty team.

4. Seattle Supersonics - I can't see the forest for the trees. Well balanced offensively. One of the league' s thinner benches. Point guard by committee? Defensively it's an unusual chemistry of yeoman defenders (Battier, Duhon, Okafor) with undisciplined top flight athletes (Stoudamire and Gay). Plenty of size in the starting five. Certainly not an easy out. But a lack of upside?

[jgod213]

thanks for the input, Wigg.  Nice to see someone recognizing the defensive capability of this team as well as the leadership that's necessary to manage a team through 82 games.

[nickagneta]

2. Washington Boxers - Roster certainly boasts a-been-there-done-that vibe. Ginobili's showcase and victory lap. Creative scorers. Team has penetrators and low post offense but a lack of three point shooting? A notably strong top seven. Further down the bench, lots of wildly uneven performers with upside. Question marks at small forward? Strides by either Greene or Bayless would go a long way. Tough defense by the starting five. Steep decline to the second unit.

This is the part I don't get. Lack of three point shooting?

Manu Ginobili is a 37.6% career shooter from three and shot 37.7% last year.

Raymond Felton is a 32.7% career shooter from three and shot 38.5% last year

Leandro Barbosa is a 39.8% career shooter from three and during an injury filled year still shot 32.4%

In his rookie year Chase Budinger shot 36.9% from three.

Donte Greene is a career 33.6% career shooter from three and shot 37.7% from there last year

That's five guys that are pretty dang good shooters from three land.

[The Walker Wiggle]

Well was using the question mark to indicate my uncertainty.  But clearly my off the cuff impression was - concern's about Felton aside - wrong. Consider it stricken from the record, Nick.

[indeedproceed]

With Scola I'll stick with the word good.

I like that word.

He's good.

Well since the difference between a rebounding rate of 9.2 and 15.5 isn't significant, expect me to ask why Washington is any good at all.

Since rebounding is your major strength and focus, wasted effort apparently...

I saw this and looked at some of the stats for your team, and I'm wondering...is rebounding a concern?

Neither Bynum, Scola, or Chandler are within the top 25 at their position at rebounding rate (rebounding rate is the % of available rebounds that a player grabs while on the floor), with Scola being the highest rated at 27th PF, Bynum at 32nd best rebounding center, and Chandler at 36th best rebounding small forward.

On your bench Haslem is a good rebounder (14th best rebounding PF), but he's the lone bright spot in the forwards/centers.

You'll get help from Manu Ginobli on the wings, he's a good rebounder for his position, and so is Raymond Felton, but I'm not sure those guys can make up for the lack of production up front.