2011 CB draft: How does my team look?/division rankings

[StartOrien]

I made a mistake with Atlanta, they should be last. I was going through an older roster.

[Edgar]

haha  I Know i am in your conference but this?

For my ballot only change Bucks for your team and I am done.

I'll admit that I really dislike Tyreke Evans. I think he's always going to be the best player on the worst team.

Outside of that, I don't like Brand and Love as a defensive front court. Undersized, and relatively slow.

I know you're deep, but those are two things I don't think you can really get over.

Well I thiny Gay will stink with both bigs and make them worst
Hes always injuried
So you dont have SF
ZBo was playing for contract
and Parker is done in the league

And BTW that the grizzlies were a one year lucky streak
So i am not even interested in their system more think it was just a matter of luck that they had a pseudo decent year.

And i dont know why people call them effective or succesfull after all they didnt win anything with their system.

And i dont know why if you dislike Tyreeke Pick Tyreekes poor man KEmba

 

[StartOrien]

I'll be honest here, and I'm sure this is something that's going to catch me a lot of flack about not being a good member of the Celticsblog Draft:

I didn't finish a single presser. I did my best to skim through them, and at least went through one paragraph on each one. But, if I'm being 100% honest with you guys - The Answer to 'Did I read your presser' is 'no.'

I know everyone puts a lot of time into theirs, so I'm somewhat sorry. But, I felt like I needed a cliff-notes guide to go through everybody's presser.

As opposed to hitting on some major points, I felt like people literally went through every aspect of their team. And while my job allows me to stay on the site frequently, it's incredibly difficult to read 24 long, extensive posts when really all I want to know about the chemistry of the team is 3 or 4 teams.

So take that for what it is:

I might be a bad member, but I might have a point.

Perhaps a little of column a, and a little of column b.

[action781]

Why 10th, please? Have you read my presser? Do you know how good a shooting team we are? How fast and explosive this team is? This team is going to shoot and fast-break opponents off the court, with Carmelo Anthony at the core, and they're tenth?!?

Sorry, I just don't get these rankings ... it's clear that many people made up their minds even before some of us even got the chance to answer questions, in fact most people didn't even ask questions, or read my Presser.

If they had, they'd have a much different view, because this team is a high-scoring, fast-breaking, explosive, athletic, and energetic team, with great chemistry, no overly-big egos, and an unselfish approach to sharing the ball.

Question for Bahku:

It's well known that in order to be a successful fast breaking team, a team's defense needs to secure rebounds (meaning first force missed shots) or force turnovers.  I don't see that as being a strength of your team, do you?

Another known (less effective, but employed nonetheless) way to get out on the break is by not fouling and  immediately getting the ball in off of made baskets, even if it means intentionally allowing opposing teams to score if they are in a position to possibly do so and getting a headstart down the court while the scored basket is being finished.

Fast breaks do need to be initiated some way, so how do you see your fast break being initiated and why?

(And no, I apologize I still haven't read your presser.  If this was answered in there, please tell me and I will read it.  I'm about to head out now, but I will check back and hopefully read it either way.)

[KCattheStripe]

haha  I Know i am in your conference but this?

For my ballot only change Bucks for your team and I am done.

I'll admit that I really dislike Tyreke Evans. I think he's always going to be the best player on the worst team.

Outside of that, I don't like Brand and Love as a defensive front court. Undersized, and relatively slow.

I know you're deep, but those are two things I don't think you can really get over.

Well I thiny Gay will stink with both bigs and make them worst
Hes always injuried
So you dont have SF
ZBo was playing for contract
and Parker is done in the league

And BTW that the grizzlies were a one year lucky streak
So i am not even interested in their system more think it was just a matter of luck that they had a pseudo decent year.

And i dont know why people call them effective or succesfull after all they didnt win anything with their system.

And i dont know why if you dislike Tyreeke Pick Tyreekes poor man KEmba

 

Rudy gay has played less than 78 games once, this year.

[action781]

I'll be honest here, and I'm sure this is something that's going to catch me a lot of flack about not being a good member of the Celticsblog Draft:

I didn't finish a single presser. I did my best to skim through them, and at least went through one paragraph on each one. But, if I'm being 100% honest with you guys - The Answer to 'Did I read your presser' is 'no.'

I know everyone puts a lot of time into theirs, so I'm somewhat sorry. But, I felt like I needed a cliff-notes guide to go through everybody's presser.

As opposed to hitting on some major points, I felt like people literally went through every aspect of their team. And while my job allows me to stay on the site frequently, it's incredibly difficult to read 24 long, extensive posts when really all I want to know about the chemistry of the team is 3 or 4 teams.

So take that for what it is:

I might be a bad member, but I might have a point.

Perhaps a little of column a, and a little of column b.

I agree.  I have read probably 8-12 pressers in full and at minimum skimmed probably only up to 18 or so.  It's very time consuming.  I've been most likely to read the pressers of all my division rivals, some conference rivals, and some out of conference teams that have had high participation (with me particularly moreso than in general).

I spent a solid 2-4 hours on our presser, so I definitely understand everyone's desire to have theirs read and appreciated.  I have no idea how many people read ours though.

[Edgar]

haha  I Know i am in your conference but this?

For my ballot only change Bucks for your team and I am done.

I'll admit that I really dislike Tyreke Evans. I think he's always going to be the best player on the worst team.

Outside of that, I don't like Brand and Love as a defensive front court. Undersized, and relatively slow.

I know you're deep, but those are two things I don't think you can really get over.

Well I thiny Gay will stink with both bigs and make them worst
Hes always injuried
So you dont have SF
ZBo was playing for contract
and Parker is done in the league

And BTW that the grizzlies were a one year lucky streak
So i am not even interested in their system more think it was just a matter of luck that they had a pseudo decent year.

And i dont know why people call them effective or succesfull after all they didnt win anything with their system.

And i dont know why if you dislike Tyreeke Pick Tyreekes poor man KEmba

 

Rudy gay has played less than 78 games once, this year.

The year his team did better
Hope for the good of his team hes healthy enough to be traded
Maybe hes just a bad fit there

[StartOrien]

Here's my problem with the Heat:

I don't like Devin Harris as a point guard. To me, it's a telling sign that he's only been on the team since February and there's already reports out there that the team doesn't like him. I don't see how he's evolved since his days with Dallas.

And because of that I think he's a tough fit for Carmelo, who I think would be better off with a different style of PG, maybe someone in the mold of a Steve Blake / Kirk Hinrich, whose going to defer and hit an open jumper. And I question if those two will be able to defer to the post and capitalize on Lopez.

I do like Lopez, but I think combining him with Hickson is a nightmare defensively. Lopez has shown a bad knack for being out of position, and I think JJ Hickson has one of the worst basketball IQ's in the league (especially on defense).

[Roy H.]

The Heat and the Pistons were two teams that I wanted to put into the playoffs, but I had other teams rated ahead of them.  The concerns I had with Miami, in particular:

I worry about the defense on the Heat.  They're definitely an offensively-oriented team, but I don't see any defensive balance at all.  Also, at the head of this high-octane offense is Devin Harris, a guy who I just don't like as a point guard.  I don't like his fit beside Carmelo.  As alluded to above, I don't like the Lopez / Hickson combo up front, and the bench is young and mostly unproven.  I'd love to see some veteran leaders to pull everything together.

Ironically, I'd like this team much better if it still had Chauncey, do to the leadership he brings, and because he has shown the ability to defer to stars when necessary.  The current Heat seem a little rudderless compared to other teams, and that's why I rated them lower than I would have liked.

In terms of voting before all the questions were answered in the press conferences, we've been thinking about these teams for, what, 3 weeks now?  I know that I've been fiddling around with my rankings since roster deadline, and at this point, there's not a lot folks can say to move up or down significantly.  In the end, it comes down to a pretty subjective evaluation of fit and personnel, and I doubt many GMs will be able to change my thinking in terms of guys I do and don't like.

I think it's important to not get too wrapped up in the voting.  The question to ask yourself is, did I have fun?  Did I enjoy building my team, and did I enjoy talking about it?  If the answer to those questions are yes, who really cares if people underrate your team?  (Heck, I think my team should have won last year, but it fell short.  I still had a good time, and was proud of the squad I built.  It's all about the journey.)

[Kane3387]

Here's my problem with the Heat:

I don't like Devin Harris as a point guard. To me, it's a telling sign that he's only been on the team since February and there's already reports out there that the team doesn't like him. I don't see how he's evolved since his days with Dallas.

And because of that I think he's a tough fit for Carmelo, who I think would be better off with a different style of PG, maybe someone in the mold of a Steve Blake / Kirk Hinrich, whose going to defer and hit an open jumper. And I question if those two will be able to defer to the post and capitalize on Lopez.

I do like Lopez, but I think combining him with Hickson is a nightmare defensively. Lopez has shown a bad knack for being out of position, and I think JJ Hickson has one of the worst basketball IQ's in the league (especially on defense).

I think George Karl can make this work. He did a lot with a young Melo and old Iverson by winning no less then fifty games. Lopez will be good for Melo and I think Harris can lighten some of the load. Melo plays solid off the ball. He posts more then say LBJ. I think having a top 10-12 guy in Melo is a big advantage for Miami also.

[StartOrien]

Personally, I put limited to no stock into coaching. I think they're good for emphasis on your strategy / plan of attack, but past that I don't consider them.

That being said, and obviously Harris isn't quite as bad, but Karl didn't really work wonders with Iverson & Melo when they were together.

And obviously that's not to condemn Karl as a coach, just to point out that there's only so much a coach can do in basketball.

[RebusRankin]

Western Conference (goes HAM):

Kings
Jazz
Trailblazers
-----
Nuggets
Suns
----
Mavericks
Grizzles
Rockets? (Cavs)
---
Warriors
Thunder
Lakers
Spurs

Spurs last? Are you kidding me?

[nickagneta]

I think the 76ers and Blazers should get bonus points for making it to the top of their conferences the old fashioned way, without incredibly uneven trades.

Pacers and Kings should really be in jail at the moment.

Not only do I not agree but I would love to have pointed out the severely lopsided trades the Kings made

The Billups/Harris trade is fairly even and has been claimed to be so by many GMs here.

The Millsap trade was made with a very veteran GM of this draft and all in all was fairly even.

The trade to move up in the 2nd was a good trade for us but we were proposed the trade and only accepted it. Maybe the jump in the 2nd round doesn't equal the jump from round 4 to round 3 but we were proposing a different trade when that trade was proposed to us.

I was here for the other trades but they weren't especially unfair.

Did we get the best value we could in our trades? Yes. Could it be said we won our trades? That's up to others to decide. But we felt our trades were within any type of unfairness that would have necessitated a veto amd even stopped proposing trades to certain GMs for fear of wanting to take advantage of them and told several GMs and the commissioner about it.

We made good trades, we shouldn't be penalized for that.

[nickagneta]

Personally, I put limited to no stock into coaching. I think they're good for emphasis on your strategy / plan of attack, but past that I don't consider them.

That being said, and obviously Harris isn't quite as bad, but Karl didn't really work wonders with Iverson & Melo when they were together.

And obviously that's not to condemn Karl as a coach, just to point out that there's only so much a coach can do in basketball.

I agree unless the coach is Red Auerbach or just supremely horrendous and even then I give or take very very very very little from those teams because of coaching in this game.

How many here thought Doc Rivers a horrible coach in 2007?

Now?

[Kane3387]

Personally, I put limited to no stock into coaching. I think they're good for emphasis on your strategy / plan of attack, but past that I don't consider them.

That being said, and obviously Harris isn't quite as bad, but Karl didn't really work wonders with Iverson & Melo when they were together.

And obviously that's not to condemn Karl as a coach, just to point out that there's only so much a coach can do in basketball.

50 or more wins is a great accomplishment. The West was just super stacked at the time. That record earned the 8th seed in the West when it would have earned the 4th seed in the East.