Q) Which team is the most well rounded in both conferences, overall?
BJONES: Well for me, the Lakers in the West and.....hmmm....I'm going to have to go with Orlando.
For me, LA was a no-brainer. D-Fish may be old and not really effective on any other NBA team, but he can run the triangle offense better than anybody else. Backing him up is Steve Blake, another pure point guard that can shoot it pretty well too. One of the best offseason pickups this year. At the two, we have Kobe Bryant. He's good. Backing him up is kind of interesting. The Lakers can go with speed in Shannon Brown, shooting in Sasha Vujacic or a mix of athleticism and lockdown D, coupled with size in Matt Barnes. Officially, I think they will go with Brown now that Blake can run the point off the bench. At small forward, Ron Artest will be entering his second year as a Laker. Backing him up will be yet another "how the f*ck did that they get that guy?!" player in Barnes. I could sit here and tell you how good Barnes is as a bench player all day, but you should know that already. At power forward Pau Gasol will yet again dominate most players at his position all year. Backing him up is the extremely talented, yet lackadaisical Lamar Odom. At Center, Andrew Bynum, if healthy, could have another solid season for the Lakers. Theo Ratliff was brought in to back up Bynum and is a major upgrade over DJ Mbenga and a former All-Star.
The Thing about the Lakeshow is that they can run so many different rotations and sets. Check it out
PG) Kobe PG) Blake PG) Fisher
SG) Barnes SG) Brown SG) Artest
SF) Artest SF) Bryant SF) Odom
PF) Odom PF) Odom PF) Gasol
C) Gasol C) Bynum C) Ratliff
Look at that first lineup. Kobe is a 10-Time All-Defensive team candidate, Barnes is regarded as a top 5 perimeter defender and Artest is mostly known for his defense (2004 Defensive POY) outside of his crazy antics. That's a perimeter three that can guard any back court in the league; including Miami.
As for Orlando, they get the nod in the East because, despite the movement towards the East this offseason, most teams are not very deep. The Magic have Jameer Nelson and veteran Jay Williams at the point. Not extremely talented, but two capable point guards. At shooting guard, Vince Carter is somehow still playing, but a more than capable JJ Redick is starting to come along and could be a real asset when Carter goes down. At small forward Mickael Pietrus will add a scoring punch and he will be backed up by shooter Quentin Richardson. Rashard Lewis will still be ineffective and weak at the four, but they could do worse. Ryan Anderson, another shooter, will come off the bench and we learned last year he's actually not too bad. Dwight Howard shoulders the load and leads the Magic as the starting center and backing him up is "The Polish Hammer" Marcin Gortat. I love Gortat off the bench. Teams were jumping at picking up the big man last offseason and Orlando threw a lot of money at him to keep him around. He's a good player and solid backup center.
Overall, the Lakers win. I would actually take the first five off their bench versus some of the weaker squads in the NBA, they're that deep. Orlando is strange. I often am puzzled by the amount of shooting they do instead of feeding Howard. Look at all their shooters! Seriously! Oh well, they are deeper than anybody else. Chicago actually has a weak bench, Boston's bench is second to Orlando in that they are mostly energy players, and Miami's bench is just not that good.
LUCAS: In the West, I gotta agree with JonesNutz on this one: the Lakers are being overshadowed this offseason, but they are the two time defending champs and cannot, will not be ignored. They are stacked, loaded, and LETHAL. They are led by the "Operation Five Rings And Counting" duo of Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher, to start off. Fisher is straight up clutch and Kobe will penetrate any defense. (Maybe a bad word choice). Ron Artest may be f**king crazy, but the dude proved himself to be a huge part of the Lakers title run this past summer. Pau Gasol pretty much doesn't need any hype for how well he'll do once tipoff commences; he's going to destroy. Other key players include Lamar Odom, Andrew "Can He Stay Healthy?" Bynum, Sasha Vujacic, and my personal favorite underrated Laker: Shannon "Holy Shit, How High" Brown.
Now on to the East, where I must admit, the Magic are going to be big, but I'm gonna be unorthodox and go with the Miami Heat. I know, right? Why would I go with the team who has added like 20 players to it's 12 man roster? Besides the obvious signings of a few young guns such as Chris Bosh or that Lebron fella, the Heat are starting to shape up into a very good squad. Leading off, you have the one pick from the '03 draft who has won a ring: D-Wade. It's still his team, so I still see him putting up monster numbers along with some very respectable numbers from the other two big guys. Now no team is complete without the supporting roles. They have added Juwan Howard, resigned Udonis Haslem (another ring), still have Mario Chalmers, and also signed the big Z from wherever in Europe. I honestly don't know exactly how all these guys will mesh, but I recall the Boston Celtics 3 years ago adding many players in one offseason and that team won a championship. I can only assume that the amount of talent will show, as a younger version of the 2008 Celtics. Speaking of that team, the Heat managed to sign a big part of that team as well. Now I'm excited to talk about my boy: Eddie House. Coming off a shaky year, House will be ready to come off the bench to hit as many threes as he can. He is capable of raining threes with the best of them. More valuable, he brings a coach-like attitude to the court. For as long as I've followed him, he's always communicating on and off the court, which in my opinion, makes this signing the SMARTEST move for Miami. Badda Boom.
Q) Can the Heat win 70+ games?
BJONES: Jeff Van Gundy thinks so. I'm a little more skeptical. I think the level of competition within the top half of teams in the NBA is really good. That could stop them from hitting 70. On the other hand I don't see the Heat beating 30+ teams in a row. They will struggle a bit more out West and there's always a chance that a team like Boston, Orlando or Chicago feeds off hometown energy and slips by Miami. Either way, a team with LeBron James (Won 60+ games by himself multiple times), Dwyane Wade (championship and lead a terrible team to the playoffs) and Chris Bosh (lead a bad team to the playoffs) should destroy the East.
LUCAS: I can't see it happening. I can see 60 or so, but I don't see this being the 1996 Chicago Bulls or anything. That team may be the most stacked and balanced team EVER. The Heat will do well in the East, but the East isn't as weak as it was in past years: Orlando, Chicago, Boston will all play pretty well this year. Besides, who cares if they win 70? When the playoffs roll in, you start at 0-0. On paper, regular season doesn't matter. The Heat will make the playoffs, it's up to them how they do once they get there.
Q)Who will win MVP?
BJONES: I like Kevin Durant. If he picks up his rebounding, it's his to lose. Dwight Howard is kind of the dark horse I believe. The points, blocks and rebounds are hard to ignore and if he pushes Orlando to the first or second seed, he will be REALLY hard to ignore. It's hard to judge the Heat players as they will all be sharing the ball so much. LeBron could average a triple-double this year, so we'll see.
LUCAS: I'm glad Jones said Kevin Durant, because I'd REALLY like to see him win (which he will sooner or later) just so I can hear people here in the Sonicless Northwest complain some more. Seriously though, Durant is a monster. Then there's Kobe. Don't make me say why. You literally can not back up saying "Kobe sucks." NO. Shut the hell up and watch TV, you miserable Clippers fans. I'd say Lebron and Wade both have a shot too, but like Brandon said, it's possible that they will share more of the stardom. Not a bad thing, necessarily.
Q) Who can beat the Heat?
Bjones: Well, surprisingly I think there are a a good amount of teams that can beat Miami in a regular season game. The Lakers being one as they still have the size advantage and are very well rounded. Orlando is going to be tough because of Dwight Howard and strong outside shooting. Boston is a savvy veteran squad (more on them later) and Chicago is young and talented. Out West there is so much talent that I can't really write off whoever might be the top eight. In a playoff series it will be different.
For instance, Boston wants to win. They want to beat the Heat and I think that is more true for them than any other team in the East. Players in Boston have said that they are still the Eastern Conference champs and until they are dethroned, they are the team to beat. The Celtics have a win at all costs attitude and I think they could take the Heat to 6, but not beat them, based off these factors: Rajon Rondo would have to be the one to step up and his ability to take a game over is severely hindered by the fact that he doesn't have a jump shot. Paul Pierce can be locked down and will completely dissapear when another star is guarding him. Ray Allen can just be bad at times. Most times actually. So despite their great team attitude, when it comes down to crunch time, Boston doesn't have "it." I don't even want to talk about the impact of Tom Thibodeau leaving.
LUCAS: I say any team that should have a decent season this year can beat the Heat. Like I said, this isn't the most amazing team of all time because we haven't seen them play yet. Lakers, Magic, Celts, Bulls, should all have at least one win over Miami. Hell, I'll say that even the Nets and Knicks will both beat the Heat.
Q) Any trades gonna happen before All-Star break regarding contenders?
BJONES: Well if the Celtics are struggling, I want to say Ray Allen gets traded. Then again I can't see this happening because he just re-signed there and it seems like it could kill team chemistry if one of the big three gets traded. Otherwise, I know and feel something happening, but couldn't tell you. Maybe Melo' or CP3 gets moved.
LUCAS: Aw, Hell...I don't know much about this trading business. I only feel confident in saying: Yeah, there'll be some trades between contenders. Is AI still around? Trade him to whoever. Maybe some one will pick up Sheed or bring Scals back from Europe. You hear me, playoff teams? SCALS. He'll bring that needed championship cockiness to your team and he'll sit on that bench with the heart of an Irish Lion.
