Who has the most pressure to win this year?

[BrooklynBulls]

Outside of the Lakers top 6, they have nothing.

So true. It's that 20 minutes a game that guys 7-13 get that will decide the finals.

[Basileus777]

Outside of the Lakers top 6, they have nothing.

So true. It's that 20 minutes a game that guys 7-13 get that will decide the finals.

Is that how many minutes Derrick Fisher will be playing?

[Free Rider]

It's without question the Cavs as a team and LeBron individually.

The Cavs need to win or otherwise risk losing the best thing that has ever happened to their franchise. They probably have the most pressure of any team in the history of the NBA. What other team has their entire future as an organization riding on a championship. Even the Bulls never had to worry about losing Jordan in his prime. The rest of the teams in the league can either afford to lose without risking their franchise player or weren't expected to win anyway.

As for LeBron he has the most pressure because he's been heralded as the best player in the world but he still has yet to win a ring. In previous years you could excuse him not winning because his teammate were abysmal and he was still very young. Now, however, he's surrounded with loads of talented, he's in his prime, he has the best team in the league, and will enjoy home court advantage throughout the league. There are no more excuses anymore. If he fails to win this year people will begin to question if he's as good as advertised.

Players like Kobe, Shaq, Duncan, KG, don't have much pressure because they've already proven they can win as the best players on their team. They've won all the important awards and accolades. If they lose this year it's certainly a disappointment but they're not going to have their careers suffer significantly.

[incontrol__]

I think the edge goes to Lebron and the Cavs slightly over Kobe and the Lakers.

Lebron needs to win it because everyone keeps proclaiming him as the best in the league, because he has the best team in the league with homecourt throughout the playoffs (for the second year in a row). The Cavs desperately need to win, obviously, to help their chances of keeping Lebron.

Kobe and the Lakers are second because if they get to the Finals again, they will have been to the finals the last three years, and if they were to lose their record would be 1-2. Which is, obviously, a bad record. It would look bad on Kobe's resume, especially. Kobe is also the one who decided to forgo surgery on his finger in worry that the Lakers wouldn't be able to get homecourt without him. Truth is, they kind of proved that they could have at least kept themselves in the top four while he was out for a month. If he's still not himself in the Playoffs and the Lakers lose -- that decision is on him.

[J the Drafter]

Still Orlando.
One bad performance and suddenly all the bad stuff gets magnified and most likely SVG gets the boot.

The Magic organization is not going to kick Stan out. He's played an important role in the team's development from 2007 to today.

They still have a poor roster for the playoffs

Vince, Jameer, Rashard, Dwight and Matt Barnes are a poor starting lineup? Or Gortat, Pietrus, Reddick and Jason Williams are suspect bench players? I know the team has invited questions on their management of the backup power forwards, and I know that Reddick has always had questions about his ability to play at the pro level (even if he's done a good job answering them), but that is hardly a poor playoffs roster.

and regardless of how every other top team improved, their GM still probably thinks he put his egg all in one basket so anything but a Finals repeat or beyond is going to make the entire organization look for who to blame and it might send them overboard and even start from scratch.

Um, even if the Magic don't win it all this year they still have very good long term prospects in Dwight, Jameer, Bass and Anderson. Barnes is thirty now, but he'll still be able to play for a few more years. Reddick has proven to be solid. The only that Otis, as a good GM, is going to try to do is continue to keep the Magic in the title hunt.[/quote]

You now have two huge contracts instead of 1 with VC and Rashard

And now I have reason to question how closely you've even followed the Magic. Vince's contract is only guaranteed for three more years at most, with the third year being a team option.

questionable chemistry

The chemistry has come around, but I'm nitpicking here.

potential for Gortat to be exposed

Gortat's proven his ability.

Dwight's post game

His moveset is simple, but it's evolving. Dwight is a hard worker.

and lack of rings tension increasing season by season

It takes a good deal of luck to win a championship, however skilled and talented your team is. i'm sure Otis and DeVos understand that, and will use their judgement if they decide to tinker with the roster again.[/quote]

pressure on the coach to play the other guys but not overplay the bench which is key to Orlando in their Finals run.)

I'm sure that Stan will look for the lineup that performs best, and i'm sure that the players will abide by his decisions.

[Scorpion King]

Who ever said Lakers are is either a big time homer and does not watch NBA. Looking at it from outside perspective.

This is Lebron/Cleveland easily. If they do win Lebron might resign an extension. If they do not he will bolt going to NYC this could change the landscape in NBA. Revitalizing one franchise and destroying another.

Lakers will have the same team next year albeit one year but they do not face the same pressure as lebron and the city of cleveland faces this year.

[Zin5]

i think its the cetlics. The window is closing very fast and this year is probrably the last chance (even small) they have for a title. Many people will quesiton whether 1 championship was enough? if they win 2 it was definantly worth it. Personally i beleive the one championship was definantly worth it. However a Rondo/west/green/jeferson/Perk future, including what they got if they had traded pierce could have been something.

While I think it's Cleveland first and Dallas second, I'd put my Celtics third. It's not just the window closing and whether or not it was worth it (I definitely think it was with that one), but it's also their demeanor this year. They've played terribly and way under expectations, all while saying their bored of the regular season and saving it up for the playoffs. Once it rolls around, they're going to have to prove themselves right.

[ClubLakers KB8]

Mo Williams and Antawn Jamison.

[farzi]

Boston. This is their last chance as major players. LeBron will have many more chances throughout his career

[Mamba Venom]

Lakers and Kobe and its not even close

Phil Jackson will come back IF the Lakers win it all.

Kobe is trying to get to 6 championships as option 1 or 1a on every team (ring chasing doesnt count). The Lakers need to win if Kobe wants to be in the conversation of best of all time (not top 20, Kobe's goal is much higher than that)

LeBron is 25 and has his whole career to win championships. Because LeBrons style of play he isnt chasing Jordan's ghost. He is chasing Big Os. If LeBron wins 3 championships many will consider him the greatest SF of all time. LeBron has the stats to back it up as a ball dominant SF. Kobe is in the triangle. Even though Kobes stats are nothing to be ashamed of, leading 4 championship teams in assist, Kobe needs 6 or 7 to complete his legacy.

Heck hes not even the best Laker unless he gets 6.

[kasino]

Lebron because after the Lakers get the repeat whats keeping him in a CAVS uni?
Then comes the Celtics: they are done just hope they just ride the wave and not ship people to horrible places to retire
Last I have to the Spurs because this is the end of Ducan as a contender(crazy isn't it)

[Hon-essim]

The Magic organization is not going to kick Stan out. He's played an important role in the team's development from 2007 to today.

That's one of the reason why he will most likely get the boot. I've said it earlier in the season and I'll say it today, Stan hasn't been free of criticisms compared to the other players and other names in that team.

Outside of the common Dwight hater, Stan is pretty much both what has led them to succeed but is also the guy that has attracted the most criticism.

With success, he's one of the most staple pieces and like many Coach of the Year candidates over the years, seem immovable.

But as the standard of success gets higher and as questions get raised if things aren't going well, he's the easiest scapegoat. Dwight and him haven't been exactly a perfect match attitude-wise and the only reason he's still there is because of his success at improving the team but eventually his rotation, his team's play style limits, all those things that get magnified with losing, he's the best candidate to boot if after minor adjustments Magic continues to not over-achieve with their roster.

Hell, when Vince was playing poorly and he played the bench more, he was still criticized as being too stubborn to adjust. Eventually if the rings don't come, it's still going to be Stan's fault for whatever reason. Teams like Detroit had one of the best play-off roster to win it all with their D and Larry Brown still got the boot. Then Flip got them to multiple Finals and then there was still a question mark. Orlando's roster is nowhere near Detroit's and even in last season's playoffs it showed but again the Magic just happened to match up well with last year's over-hyped Cleveland.

Vince, Jameer, Rashard, Dwight and Matt Barnes are a poor starting lineup? Or Gortat, Pietrus, Reddick and Jason Williams are suspect bench players? I know the team has invited questions on their management of the backup power forwards, and I know that Reddick has always had questions about his ability to play at the pro level (even if he's done a good job answering them), but that is hardly a poor playoffs roster.

That's mostly been on Stan or his staff. Rashard misused could easily have been a major mistake and even last play-offs, it didn't hurt them as much because he became their Robert Horry somewhat.

But he's not that clutch.

When he disappeared in the Finals, so did their chances. (even though, credit to Stan, the scores were close)

But the most glaring problem with this roster is their 3pt shooting/pass to Dwight play.

All those guys' individual talents can't hide the fact that Stan led this 3pt shooting team last playoffs to a position most 3pt shooting teams never reach and even there Orlando didn't improve as much as the other teams this season and Pietrus surprised everyone with his consistency.

If they don't win a ring (and even if they do), they're the top team that's the worst off in the long term because they have an imbalanced roster that is partially answered by Vince playing well now but even Vince isn't Kobe in the playoffs even if you give some leeway for age.

His transition which seemed underrated in the off-season when you saw how he played with the Nets didn't turn out as good this season and you could only say he plays well now because he adjusted but the extra talent of Orlando didn't show how the Nets kept Vince from playing his best. If anything, it made it seem like Vince looked good on the Nets because everyone else didn't have the reputation of a star scorer who was taking the burden for his team.

All the other top teams are either developing themselves to be playoffs contender or are top contenders already. Even if the C's, the Lakers or the Cavs don't win, their roster does not quite have a problem like Rashard's play matching his contract and question marks on what to do.

The top teams if they have to blow up their roster already had the legacy of winning the rings for what is expected of them. Yes, it's going to be a major setback if they don't but that's true for every team even if the stakes are higher for some others. With Orlando though, they have to both prove last playoffs wasn't a fluke but also to go through top teams with huge upgrades that were better than theirs. Othewise they have to deal with being another Kidd Nets or Iverson 76ers in the sense that if their championship poor team doesn't match up with the competition, each season that passes there goes their "top contender" status and then you have to question whether Otis will adjust to the playoffs or force Stan to keep playing with this type of roster and if year in, year out they don't take that next step, their roster would legitimately have over-achieved last playoffs and there's no one person they can add to make that up unless Otis pulls a houdini the opposite way of signing Vince or signing Rashard. (hint: I'm thinking Wade but it's a long shot)

That of course doesn't matter if they maintain their threat as a team like last season but compared to other top teams they have the most what if and Cleveland is only more discussed because now bandwagonners have to wonder whether to stay as Cleveland fans or wherever Lebron goes to if he leaves or whine how their "King" didn't get his throne yet again so now they can't say he's better than MJ for another season.

[Um, even if the Magic don't win it all this year they still have very good long term prospects in Dwight, Jameer, Bass and Anderson. Barnes is thirty now, but he'll still be able to play for a few more years. Reddick has proven to be solid. The only that Otis, as a good GM, is going to try to do is continue to keep the Magic in the title hunt.

Bass and Anderson's hype have cooled down compared to when they were acquired. Here's a hint: it has something to do with how they played.

Reddick is solid but that's not a good thing in this case. If things don't turn out, could Otis turn him into another Courtney Lee for VC? If not, he's solid as an NBA player but he's no piece for a championship team either.

Jameer's injury has also called into question whether he's a good long term prospect or he has reached his peak as a player. He had one or two good season where he made huge strides in his game but this season, he hasn't met what is expected of him. He's still good but it's hard to say whether you can revolve your future around him especially when you have Dwight who can play well with even JJ passing to him.

That pretty much leaves Dwight. In fact, outside of Stan, Dwight pretty much carries this team and that's Orlando's long term plan. Dwight + 3pt shooters and it only looks bright now because they manage to play well now but early season woes can still come back to haunt them in the playoffs. Now if they don't get pas that, long term, he's the future but so is Lebron and other guys who could be further surrounded with teams that are more suited for the playoffs and then your hope is that Dwight becomes a Duncan who can carry a scrub team to a ring thus off-setting all the other players in the roster.

And now I have reason to question how closely you've even followed the Magic. Vince's contract is only guaranteed for three more years at most, with the third year being a team option.

3 years is big if the guy can't get you a ring and you're stuck with him while also having Rashard's contract.

The chemistry has come around, but I'm nitpicking here.

Neither am I. After all, we're talking about the pressure to win a championship. Something that even if everything turns out perfectly in the regular season could be all over in one play-off round or one wrong team match-up.

But Orlando has taken longer than expected and they still rely on teams not being able to shut down Dwight or the team's shooters getting hot. In the playoffs, it's still a big question mark whether the top teams don't have a blueprint for offsetting that kind of roster.

Last playoffs and I'm not trying to use this as excuse for Orlando getting far but it is still somewhat valid and worrying that Mo Williams didn't raise his game or the Celtics have their injuries or Orlando managed to get out of the 1st round against a lesser hungry team. This playoffs both favorites and underdogs are tougher match-ups. There's a good chance if everything doesn't turn out well that Orlando can be exposed as a 2nd round team and by exposed, I don't mean talent but when the shots aren't falling and Dwight keeps getting fouls. This team's "deep" roster can suddenly turn out shallow.

His moveset is simple, but it's evolving. Dwight is a hard worker.

Yeah, I'm not one of those haters who rag on Dwight's improvement but I included that because this team is still mostly carried by Dwight and a lack of post game and drawing rather than receiving fouls is very important for a team who relies on shooters besides him already.

It has only been recently that the idea that a dominant center with no special partner can win a ring and Duncan was extra special but also had Robinson early in his career while Shaq had Phil but more importantly a young Kobe who would turn out to be one of the best players even then.

Orlando not only doesn't have that kind of roster but they're competing in an increasingly more competitive playoffs where this is supposed to be their time because they get past Cleveland last season but they also have to compete in how to develop their young players and how to subtly adjust so that their team's strengths is still the same but they have a VC type player instead of a Hedo one.

It takes a good deal of luck to win a championship, however skilled and talented your team is. i'm sure Otis and DeVos understand that, and will use their judgement if they decide to tinker with the roster again.

That can be said for all top team GMs but how many Finals Favorite team in the last few seasons alone didn't reach that coveted championship title because they had an over-achieving imbalanced roster who relied on one great star with a couple of good ones? (Even teams that looked to have a brighter future than Orlando relative to their Finals era like Detroit, Dallas, Cleveland and the 76ers end up blowing it up a few seasons later because their roster can no longer over-achieve. - Yes, Cleveland this season might not look a whole lot different until you realize they added an aging Shaq and a Jamison just to adjust to the competition.)

I'm sure that Stan will look for the lineup that performs best, and i'm sure that the players will abide by his decisions.

[/quote][/quote]

I'm sure Stan and any other coach will too. Problem is, few other coach has to contend with his star too. Sure it's become quieter but losing changes things.

[Jimmy Recard]

The Lakers or the LeBrons.

[canguy20m]

Phoenix and Dallas. how many more all star type years do Nash, Kidd, Nowitzki have left ? add to that A.Stoudemire who is a free agent. Neither team has won a championship despite being top teams for a while. the mavericks remind me of the 1991-2004 atlanta braves (braves did win in 1995 though).
San Antonio and Boston second. it might be best for the spurs to trade duncan and parker in the offseason (not sure about parker but I think this might be the last year duncan has great trade value).

[kingkirk]

Cleveland - The team has lead to back to back 65+ wins in 2 years. The role players in this have to step up for Lebron, they cant afford having 2 bad post seasons. Not to mention this team is stronger and more talented.

Lebron - MJ comparisions. He had one in 7th season, its Lebrons aswell. Most likely back to back MVPs, best records in the league whilst being the best player in the game. If they dont get it done, he cant escape the desereved heat.

Management - Gilbert and Ferry are praying this team gets it done in the post season, that way they know they have done everything to give Lebron what he wants, if not, they will take some serious heat. If they lose, they will be sweating hard during 2010 offseason.

So in short, it has to be Cleveland with all the pressure on various sectors of the organisations. No other team faces that across the whole board.

[Dupp]

yeah lebron and teh cavs, .....lakers also though because they are stacked with talent

[clipocketurs]

There's a lot of pressure on Phil and Kobe.

Phil Jackson told Buss that the Lakers needed Odom to win a championship. Odom is costing Buss $15 million this season including the luxury tax.

If the Lakers don't win this season, will Buss pay Kobe $25 million a year for the next 5 years?

There is also a lot of pressure on LeBron to win Cleveland it's first championship in 46 years.

[Gus McCrae]

I'd imagine if Boston, Cleveland or San Antonio don't win, they're blowing up their rosters.

teams like LA, Orlando, Denver or Dallas don't win it all, they'll look to add pieces, but not blow it up.

[Wile E. Coyote]

Kobe and the Lakers are second because if they get to the Finals again, they will have been to the finals the last three years, and if they were to lose their record would be 1-2. Which is, obviously, a bad record. It would look bad on Kobe's resume, especially.

If he had a 1-2 record in three finals, that would match Magic Johnson's 1-2 record in '88, '89, and '91. I don't think it impairs Magic's resume that much, so why would it impair Kobe's? If Kobe faced LeBron this year, it would be like Magic facing Jordan. One aging superstar versus another in his prime.