Scouts See Lakers, Cavaliers as Title Favorites

4 Responses to “Scouts See Lakers, Cavaliers as Title Favorites”

1. Tsunami Says:
   October 20th, 2009 at 12:55 pm

   I’d like to see scouts weigh in on all the things that GMs do – because those GM polls are borderline ridiculous sometimes.

2. Brandon Hoffman Says:
   October 20th, 2009 at 1:14 pm

   How so?

   ;)

3. Tsunami Says:
   October 21st, 2009 at 12:06 am

   More that zero GMs picked the Pistons to have a better record than the Cavs and the Wizards to have a better record than the Magic. More than zero GMs say Melo is a better SF than LeBron.

   Pau Gasol is criminally underrated in the best PF in the NBA.

   Kobe Bryant is the 4th best defensive player in the NBA? No, sorry. He “can” be a lockdown 1 on 1 defender, but that doesn’t make you the 4th best defender in the NBA. Some of the best on-ball defenders in the NBA aren’t even LISTED – Mhah a Moute, LeBron, Ginobili aren’t even on the list.

   Neither Cleveland, Boston, or Houston were given votes for best defensive team in the NBA.

   Mike Brown got no love for best defensive coach, nor did Nate McMillan.

   I have a huge problem with the “best leader”. Chauncey Billups runs a great game on the court, but in Detroit he couldn’t keep the Pistons from piling up Ts for years and melting down at crucial times. That’s what leaders do. In my opinion LeBron is the best leader in the NBA by a long shot but I’m biased. But I’ve never seen a group of guys stand behind their “leader” more than the way the Cavs play for LeBron. Kobe is an absolute joke as a leader – throwing teammates under the bus, questioning management…it’s easy to say he’s a good leader since he was the best player on a championship team, but frankly, despite his unbelievable attention to detail and neurotic tendencies, that doesn’t make him a good “leader”.

   I find it hilarious that Phil Jackson is the coach that is best at managing personnel and Kobe is the second best leader, and yet the Lakers had the whole Kobe/Shaq thing, the Kobe/Karl Malone thing, the Kobe/Smush Parker thing, the Kobe/Bynum thing, the Kobe/Trade me thing, and that’s not even any of the visible ON COURT chemistry issues. A few weeks before winning the title, some of the same announcers who would later gush over Bryant’s MJ-like series (yeah, right) were absolutely killing the Lakers lack of effort against a Yao/T-Mac less Rocket team. How does that work?

   Taking the shot with the game on the line?
   I’ll take Melo http://82games.com/gamewinningshots.htm
   or LeBron http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AELDBMX_huE
   or Hedo Turkoglu
   Not Kobe.

   Some pretty pathetic results if you ask me.

4. Tsunami Says:
   October 21st, 2009 at 12:07 am

   I meant, Cleveland, ORLANDO, or Houston, not Boston.