IP Ranks The Pick-Two Teams By Divison (All Divisions Are Up)

[indeedproceed]

Writing these properly (ie, actual research) is wayyyyy harder than I remember.

[StartOrien]

Writing these properly (ie, actual research) is wayyyyy harder than I remember.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DsPrEcvIvI

[Who]

I like how Jameer Nelson gets a chance to prove he's way better than we've recently been led to believe (how is he not rated better than Felton??)

Why should Jameer Nelson be rated higher than Raymond Felton?

[indeedproceed]

I like how Jameer Nelson gets a chance to prove he's way better than we've recently been led to believe (how is he not rated better than Felton??)

Why should Jameer Nelson be rated higher than Raymond Felton?

Because he's a former All-Star who has started in a finals series and is only 30 yrs old.

EDIT: Just seems nuts how far he's fallen.

DOUBLE NINJA-EDIT: Wait, was he injured for those finals?

[Who]

I like how Jameer Nelson gets a chance to prove he's way better than we've recently been led to believe (how is he not rated better than Felton??)

Why should Jameer Nelson be rated higher than Raymond Felton?

Because he's a former All-Star who has started in a finals series and is only 30 yrs old.

EDIT: Just seems nuts how far he's fallen.

DOUBLE NINJA-EDIT: Wait, was he injured for those finals?

Played brilliantly well in 2009 (by his own standards) but hasn't been able to repeat that level of performance ever since that injury.

Back to back underwhelming seasons immediately following that injury / season. And now this season, he is playing even worse than the previous two.

30 years old, undersized PG (barely six feet, no length, very undersized). In his early years and best seasons, Jameer used to rely heavily on his quickness (necessarily so since he is so undersized and isn't exceptionally talented to begin with) but that quickness is no longer there and is likely to only deteriorate even further over the next few years. Hence, harsh decline has either begun or is on the cards in the near future due to physical limitations.

Never much of a passer, defender or rebounder. Only above average skills were his scoring ability (which is no longer there due to physical decline) and shooting ability (which is M.I.A. but should be back).

I am not convinced Jameer Nelson is a quality starting PG anymore. Think he is a bench player at this juncture in his career and I am not sure how good of a backup PG he will be either. I am thinking middle of the pack backup PG.

[Who]

DOUBLE NINJA-EDIT: Wait, was he injured for those finals?

Missed most of the playoffs. Rafer Alston started.

Returned in time for the Finals but wasn't healthy enough to help his team.

[riah32]

Matchup 2: Spurs (1, H) V Suns (8, A)
Tony ‘Hardcore Parkour’ Parker V Darren Collision
Manu Ginobli V JJ Reddick
Richard Jefferson V LeBron
Chris Bosh V Carl Landry
Tim Duncan V Byron Mullens
-Key Bench-
Roddy Beaubois                 Steve Blake
Gordon Hayward   Vs        Shane Battier
Chris Wilcox                       Glen Davis
Randy Foye                        Mareese Speights

Key Matchup: Richard Jefferson V LeBron
Since R-Jeff has been in San An, he and LeBron have faced off 4 times. LeBron’s been shooting 52% (higher than career averages), 5.7 boards per 36 (below career averages), and scoring 25 points per 36 (below career averages). Or, to put it more simply, he’s been playing a little more efficiently, but not as many shots attempted etc… If this patter holds true here, that’s just fine with these Spurs.

Other Starting Matchups: The Spurs win every one of them by a country mile.

Bench matchups: Same, with the addendum that Battier allows the Suns have a shot at shutting down the perimeter by allowing LeBron to play either Manu or Parker, if one of them is torching the Suns.

How I think it goes down: Every inclination says itd be a sweep, and I’m sticking with that due to Mullens being the starting center.

I wouldnt start Mullens in the playoffs or for that matter the regular season. It would probably be some version of

PG:Lebron
SG:Reddick
SF:Battier
PF:Landry
C:Speights

or
Pg:Blake
SG:Reddick
SF:LEbron
PF:Landry
C:Speoghts

or for that matter move big baby to the 4 to start and put landry at the 5?

[indeedproceed]

I'll get the rest of them tomorrow. Sorry. Quite busy.

[StartOrien]

Been lurking for a while, had to jump in here. No way a LeBron team gets swept when no one on the opposing team can stop him from doing whatever he pleases.  Jefferson gets zero help defense from those bigs.

SA definitely takes the series, LeBron takes 1 game by himself, maaaaybe two.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_NBA_Finals

A lot has changed in five years, and while I respect the stats you showed displaying Lebron's - let's say lack of success - I still say he steals a game in this series.

[StartOrien]

The Celtics are an absolute nightmare match up for the Heat. It's asking a lot of Udonis Haslem, as I have no confidence in Derrick Favors being able to give even 20 solid minutes against Garnett & Varejao.

Still, at the end of the day I'd take the Heat in 7. Homecourt advantage and Dwayne Wade end up being just that much too much for these Celtics. I just don't have enough confidence in KG dominating consistently offensively.

[Roy H.]

The Celtics are an absolute nightmare match up for the Heat. It's asking a lot of Udonis Haslem, as I have no confidence in Derrick Favors being able to give even 20 solid minutes against Garnett & Varejao.

Still, at the end of the day I'd take the Heat in 7. Homecourt advantage and Dwayne Wade end up being just that much too much for these Celtics.

If two out of Nelson, Jackson, and Felton stop playing like hot garbage, I think the Celts have a legit chance here, as well.  All it would take are decent series from two of them.

I'm not gutsy enough to call the upset, but you're right, this is a bad matchup for the Heat.

[StartOrien]

The Celtics are an absolute nightmare match up for the Heat. It's asking a lot of Udonis Haslem, as I have no confidence in Derrick Favors being able to give even 20 solid minutes against Garnett & Varejao.

Still, at the end of the day I'd take the Heat in 7. Homecourt advantage and Dwayne Wade end up being just that much too much for these Celtics.

If two out of Nelson, Jackson, and Felton stop playing like hot garbage, I think the Celts have a legit chance here, as well.  All it would take are decent series from two of them.

I'm not gutsy enough to call the upset, but you're right, this is a bad matchup for the Heat.

I factored in Jackson playing closer to how he was playing two years ago, than he was now. Still, Wade's just too tough for him.

While Boston's got a yuge advantage at the 4, slight advantage at the 3 (I like Pierce better in the playoffs)  and a better bench, I think they make it up with an upgrade at the 1, big upgrade at the 2, and slight edge at the 5.

EDIT: I know Edgar's counter is that those two tall trees will make life really difficult for Wade, but I think he's good enough (and also good enough of a passer) to make up for it.

[StartOrien]

Also, I think  Nelson is who he is and I'm not confident in Raymond Felton's body being able to hold up through a condensed season and in a playoff series against Steve Nash.

[indeedproceed]

Executive decision: With Lamar Odom now ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial, and the Bulls in hindsight being a bit of an iffy proposition, I'm inserting the Pacers into the playoff discussion at the 6 seed, partly because they deserved to make the playoffs, partly because I feel bad about the whole 'coin flip' situation, and partly because SO talks a bunch and it might make my morning a little more amusing. Sorry Nets, you're still out.

[nickagneta]

Executive decision: With Lamar Odom now ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial, and the Bulls in hindsight being a bit of an iffy proposition, I'm inserting the Pacers into the playoff discussion at the 6 seed, partly because they deserved to make the playoffs, partly because I feel bad about the whole 'coin flip' situation, and partly because SO talks a bunch and it might make my morning a little more amusing. Sorry Nets, you're still out.

Another stellar decision from commish IP.