Well i must say that i am very dissapointed in that CB Nation decided a team relying so heavily on 3 rookie big men and a 210lb., 22-career-starts-under-his-belt center would ultimately have the stones in the playoffs to dismantle a team with one of, if not THE deepest groupings of talented big-men in the league. It seems almost hypocritical since Riah's kings were left out of the playoffs for leaning so hard on a bunch of unproven rooks, yet Houston moves on to the second round.
Regardless, i had a great time over the past few weeks and hope i will be able to participate next year. Good luck to the teams still alive in the post-season.
I think you are so focused on some of the younger bench talent that you forgot about these guys for Houston:
Chris Bosh
Joe Johnson
Monta Ellis
Anthony Randolph
Grant Hill
Andres Nocioni
D.J. Augustin
Say what you want but Bosh, Johnson, Hill, Ellis and Nocioni make this an extremely formidable team. You, much like Portland, latched your star onto aging stars who's games have been faltering recently. It is not inconceivable to see major, major drops in the games of Kidd, Marion, Carter and Terry and you have some major knuckleheads on the team in Harrington and Smith. I think people perceived that Bosh's and Johnson's and Hill's and Ellis steadiness and likability was better than the possible decline of some of your players games and the volatility of the brain matter of a couple of your players.
Portland on the other hand had a lot of their age and possible declining players in big people who's games don't drop off as fast and who's games were better than your aging players who were guards and wings.
All that said, Portland should kill Houston in the next round of voting.
I can't agree with some of that logic.
Who's to say that Kidd and Terry, who had two of their better years, are more likely to fall off a cliff than 37 year old, injury prone Grant Hill? There's absoultely no grounds for that. Further, Marion is 6 years younger then Hill, Carter is several years younger, and neither have an injury history. Plus all four of these guys have proven, capable backups. Even if Kidd AND Carter both somehow simultaneously lost their ability to play basketball, Brandon Jennings is a more highly touted prospect then either Blair or Andersen, who will be asked to do FAR more then Jennings regardless.
We rag on Smith and Harrington for beeing "Knuckleheads," but at least they've proven they can compete at an EXTREMELY high level in the NBA. Randolph, Blair, and Andersen haven't even proven that they can play a full NBA season yet. Who's to say that all 3 will be good to go and play big minutes come playoffs? it's more likely that 1 or 2 of them may even be in the D-leauge come post-season.
If Houston wins it's because Ellis and Johnson put up 60+ points/game combined. It's possible, but i think we're a good enough team to keep that from happening 4 times in a series.
You seem to not have gotten the point that Houston has these two guys named Bosh and Johnson who are at the peak of their games and are both almost superduperstars, probably a step below.
Kidd on the other hand scored 9 points and had less than 9 assists a game, couldn't guard a stool never mind a chair that could move like a recliner and you call that one of his "better" years? Marion had a year of 13 and 8 and likewise he is really no longer able to guard small forwards. I have grass in my back yard taller than Jason Terry and you want him to guard the 6-7 Joe Johnson. Johnson will hit jumpers over him all day. It's like trying to have Eddie House guard Paul Pierce. The notion is ridiculous.
Name recognition on these guys(Kidd, Marion) says possible top 50-75 players ever and yet they are putting in mediocre years recently and those years are becoming worse and worse. People are recognizing this. Name recognition gets you only so far. Ask Atlanta about it as he was banking on Iverson and McGrady's names to carry him to the playoffs. There are some very smart basketball people at this site and they view this game as a game of stars. Your two biggest are aging and declining and putting in pedestrian years. Bosh and Johnson are younger and putting in superstar years.
Big huge gigantic difference there and the one that swayed my vote Houston's way.
Well i actually detialed a few of these points/counterpoints in my "Playoffs are here, hype your team" thread, if you chose not to read that before voting that's your prerogative - despite what your post says i think most people tend to make their selections off name recognition anways, which is why Houston made the 2nd round.
There i detailed that Terry/Jennings would probably see more minutes guarding Ellis while Kidd played most of his time on Johnson. Obviously, as i stated, Johnson and Ellis would get theirs, but that team is not deep enough to get much else.
I also understand that Chris Bosh is a borderline superstar, but you seem to be conveniently forgetting that i have David Lee on my roster - pretty important guy wouldn't you say?
Houston thinks so, Walker Wiggle even detailed his concerns over the matchup when he wrote:
"Why we lose: Should the ball bounce the other way, it was probably because of Kidd's leadership and expert passing. Or
because Lee battled Bosh to a standstill (in four match-ups last season Bosh's only notable advantage was his 6 blocked shots to Lee's 1).So no, i'm not forgetting about Chris Bosh, you just seem to be forgetting David Lee, who nearly cancels Bosh out in a head to head matchup.
looking at the numbers again, Kidd put up 11, 6 and 6 in the playoffs and shot 46% from 2 and 3. with 2 steals per game. Take it for what it's worth, but i also detailed how Kidd had the 6th best +/- in the NBA last year. Is he one of the better defensive PG in the game? no. But i love how you write off players because they're old without looking at the numbers and then accuse me of trying to get by on name recognition, haha.
Let's move on to Shawn Marion, who apparently can't guard "any small forwards anymore." Why is that, because he turned 30? then what is Grant Hill capable of guarding? he should of retired 10 years ago by your logic. I'm pretty positive that Shawn Marion is capable of guarding Grant Hill.
I know you're not a fan of my team, and i'm sure it relates to my opinion of yours, but let's be real, you're looking at Bosh/Johnson/Ellis and putting them in. And that's fine, it just means you don't value depth and experience. If you did you'd make note of the fact that (due to Lee battling Bosh evenly and Marions/Daniels ability to AT LEAST cacel out Hill/Noccioni) Houston would be heavily relying on Jonhson/Ellis to put up crazy points (as i already detailed).
Meanwhile, who is guarding Sam Dalembert when he's in the game? Anthony Randolph? are you kidding me? I don't care how raw Dalembert's game still is, he would put up 15/15 in 15 minutes against Randolph. Who's guarding Josh Smith or Al Harrington when Randolph is out? Dejuan Blair? HA. I don't think either Smith or Harrington could ASK for a more favorable matchup.
What it comes down to is do you think 2 stars and a cast of rookies (remember, Bosh and Lee play eachother even) can take a team past an entire rotation of experienced, reliable veterans. The answer is NO...but hey, name recognition goes a long way sometimes, right?
Topic: 2009 Celticsblog Draft: Voting Analysis : Team of the Future (Read 674372 times)