Comments on: Season Preview: Eastern Conference

By: Woods Recruiting » The NBA season is underway

Woods Recruiting » The NBA season is underway — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:00:40 +0000

[...] NBA season is underway and do you really care right now? Keep in mind that we are halfway through a pro football season, [...]

By: xphoenix87

xphoenix87 — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:16:06 +0000

Murphy certainly isn’t a great defender, but he’s not that bad. He’s not going to block a lot of shots or wow you with anything, but he does a decent job playing straight up post defense and he grabs an absurd amount of rebounds (which is a big part of defense for a post player). As far as layups go though, I think you’re dead wrong. Murphy spends most of his time on the perimeter, but he isn’t bad at finishing inside. He hit 63% of his shots near the rim last year, and only 47% of those shots were assisted on. For comparison sake, the following players shot lower percentages around the rim last year, and more of their makes were assisted: Kenyon Martin, LaMarcus Aldridge, Dwight Howard, Yao Ming and Tim Duncan. Now, I’m not saying that Murphy is some great interior scorer, but I think you’re pretty far off the mark.

I’m a little worried about Philly, but I like Williams, and they’ve got a bunch of young, improving talent. It was time for them to let Miller go and give Williams a chance, and the rest of the team around him is good enough to give me confidence in them.

I’m not hating on Charlotte. I’m a North Carolina guy, I’d love to be able to write something good about that team. They’re a mess though. Could they squeeze into the playoffs? Yeah, sure they could, but that doesn’t solve the fact that the roster is terribly constructed, the front office has shown little proof that they know what they’re doing, and the team is stuck in mediocrity.

By: Erick

Erick — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 05:31:07 +0000

If Murphy had any idea how to defend, or could make a layup, he’d have more of a reputation. He’s a creampuff despite his activity on the glass.

I think Philly’s going to drop off the radar without Andre Miller. He made the Sixers go. He’d account for 10 points a game just from being able to dominate the break or make broken plays turn into points because of his vision. Philly’s going to struggle scoring with Williams.

And don’t hate on Charlotte! Since picking up Raja Bell and Boris Diaw, they played terrific second half ball last season. Scoring against them is going to be obnoxious and they’ll manage enough points to steal wins. They’ll challenge hard for an eight seed.

By: Tsunami

Tsunami — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:42:44 +0000

Those are some intriguing ideas.

I don’t think Utah would take on that Salary though, unless Korver/Harping/Miles are expiring contracts.

He would look very good in a Bulls Uni.

Also, totally agree about Sessions Pryzbilla and Okafor on your Western Preview.

By: xphoenix87

xphoenix87 — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 05:19:27 +0000

The Murphy thing really surprised me too. I knew his skillset was unique, but I couldn’t believe no one else had ever done that.

I’m not sure who would go for Redd, but I know the Bucks would love to get rid of his $18.3 mil salary in 2010-11 if they could pick up some expiring contracts. A couple intriguing ideas for Redd trades:

-Tracy McGrady for Redd and Dan Gadzuric
-Redd for Jerome James, James Johnson and John Salmons
-Redd for Kyle Korver, Matt Harpring and CJ Miles

I think Washington could very well be better than 8th, but I also think they could be worse. We still don’t know what exactly we’re going to get from Arenas, and there are a lot of wild cards on the roster.

By: Tsunami

Tsunami — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 03:59:01 +0000

Nice. Totally agree with just about everything.

I didn’t realize that about T Murphy. Excellent stat drop.

Who would benefit most from the Redd signing?

I think Washington might be better than 8th. I like that 82games reference to Lou Williams, but you just never know how a guy will run a team until he’s running it the entire game.

By: Raptors Link Latte Sept 29 | The AltRaps Blog

Raptors Link Latte Sept 29 | The AltRaps Blog — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:09:47 +0000

[...] Ballerblogger 9: Toronto Raptors – The Raptors are also working off the no-defense, all-offense model. In their efforts to persuade Chris Bosh to stick around, they’ve basically surrounded him by a whole bunch of players who can shoot and pass (and Reggie Evans, who does neither of those things). If it’s gonna work, Bargnani is going to have to give more than we’ve seen so far, and Turkoglu has to return to his 07-08 form, but there is talent here. [...]