Detroit vs Philly : Who Wins a Title First?

[Blkbrd671]

I agree that its incredibly unlikely that either team will be in the NBA finals the rest of this decade.

Detroit's only real hope is Dre developing into the best C in the league, with a will to win we just haven't seen from him. We'd need that to beat Lebron + multiple other all-stars in the playoffs at any point over the next 5 seasons... I think Lebron will get there every year for the next few years unless a big talent like Durant comes east.

Lebron is 29-30, in the next couple years he'll start declining. Additionally he's only signed for 1 more year in the east i believe

[Spider156]

It only takes 1-2 years of Playoff experience before a team becomes a contender. We can still win a championship within the next 5 years. Why not? The Hawks went to the Eastern Conference Finals and they weren't that great last year. What if Love and Irving were injured then? Would the Hawks have won the series? Who knows. Point is, in the East, you can become very good quickly specially when you have a great coach. The raptors don't have many veterans and that was their downfall. Veterans come in handy during the Playoffs. Wizards got veterans and they got better. Stan knows what veterans do for the team and that's why he gets them in the roster. However, this team will go as far as Reggie and Drummond will take them. The internal development of those two players is basically what'll get us so far.

BUT

It doesn't matter. Lebron will be great in the next 4-5 years. As long as his team is healthy and running, I don't think we have a chance. Unless we can pull off an upset. Anything can happen. They did it to us. We can ruin it for them too.

[BadMofoPimp]

This is easy. Pistons all the way. They have Stan Van Gundy!

[Redeemed]

This is easy. Pistons all the way. They have Stan Van Gundy!

^^THIS

SVG has the blueprint.

Our success going forward rest largely on internal improvement. Drummond must become the next great big. Jackson must become a credible outside threat and an efficient floor general. KCP has to become more consistent.

[The Penguin]

I agree that its incredibly unlikely that either team will be in the NBA finals the rest of this decade.

Detroit's only real hope is Dre developing into the best C in the league, with a will to win we just haven't seen from him. We'd need that to beat Lebron + multiple other all-stars in the playoffs at any point over the next 5 seasons... I think Lebron will get there every year for the next few years unless a big talent like Durant comes east.

Lebron is 29-30, in the next couple years he'll start declining. Additionally he's only signed for 1 more year in the east i believe

Lebron will be 31 in December (so for next year's playoffs). He'll be an interesting test case, he's 3.5 years away from being top 10 all time in minutes played and 6.5 years away from being tops all time in minutes. Most of the guys on the list are guys like Kidd, Garnett, Gary Payton who spent several seasons as shells of themselves tacking on more minutes. He's never had injury issues outside of a bad back, which isn't something that really gets better (especially carrying around as much weight as he is). The general consensus is he's got 4-5 more prime years, however with minutes played considered, there's a chance he hits the wall much sooner than that. His game should age well, but there's a chance that very soon the Cavs could be hopelessly capped out with little avenues for improvement and Kyrie dragging him around like he was with Wade.

This year and next year are the Cavs best chance. The East is already starting to put together some good young teams. There's rumors West FAs are eyeing the East as an easier title path. The Cavs are likely the odds on favorites for the next 2-3 years but people predicting a decade long run of dominance are vastly overshooting things.

[BadMofoPimp]

This is easy. Pistons all the way. They have Stan Van Gundy!

^^THIS

SVG has the blueprint.

Our success going forward rest largely on internal improvement. Drummond must become the next great big. Jackson must become a credible outside threat and an efficient floor general. KCP has to become more consistent.

Stan led the Magic to the Finals with a starting lineup of:

Jameer
Courtney Lee (A rookie at that time)
Hedo
Shard Lewis
Dwight

Doesn't look great on paper while Hedo and Jameer were not good defensively, but they had a top defense and made the finals because Stan was big on team offense and defense. He is a top X's and O's coach.

[bballnmike]

I agree that its incredibly unlikely that either team will be in the NBA finals the rest of this decade.

Detroit's only real hope is Dre developing into the best C in the league, with a will to win we just haven't seen from him. We'd need that to beat Lebron + multiple other all-stars in the playoffs at any point over the next 5 seasons... I think Lebron will get there every year for the next few years unless a big talent like Durant comes east.

Lebron is 29-30, in the next couple years he'll start declining. Additionally he's only signed for 1 more year in the east i believe

Lebron will be 31 in December (so for next year's playoffs). He'll be an interesting test case, he's 3.5 years away from being top 10 all time in minutes played and 6.5 years away from being tops all time in minutes. Most of the guys on the list are guys like Kidd, Garnett, Gary Payton who spent several seasons as shells of themselves tacking on more minutes. He's never had injury issues outside of a bad back, which isn't something that really gets better (especially carrying around as much weight as he is). The general consensus is he's got 4-5 more prime years, however with minutes played considered, there's a chance he hits the wall much sooner than that. His game should age well, but there's a chance that very soon the Cavs could be hopelessly capped out with little avenues for improvement and Kyrie dragging him around like he was with Wade.

This year and next year are the Cavs best chance. The East is already starting to put together some good young teams. There's rumors West FAs are eyeing the East as an easier title path. The Cavs are likely the odds on favorites for the next 2-3 years but people predicting a decade long run of dominance are vastly overshooting things.

As much as I enjoy rooting against Lebron, it sucks thinking about him starting to decline soon. Getting old is rough (him and me both lol)

[The Penguin]

Lebron is 29-30, in the next couple years he'll start declining. Additionally he's only signed for 1 more year in the east i believe

Lebron will be 31 in December (so for next year's playoffs). He'll be an interesting test case, he's 3.5 years away from being top 10 all time in minutes played and 6.5 years away from being tops all time in minutes. Most of the guys on the list are guys like Kidd, Garnett, Gary Payton who spent several seasons as shells of themselves tacking on more minutes. He's never had injury issues outside of a bad back, which isn't something that really gets better (especially carrying around as much weight as he is). The general consensus is he's got 4-5 more prime years, however with minutes played considered, there's a chance he hits the wall much sooner than that. His game should age well, but there's a chance that very soon the Cavs could be hopelessly capped out with little avenues for improvement and Kyrie dragging him around like he was with Wade.

This year and next year are the Cavs best chance. The East is already starting to put together some good young teams. There's rumors West FAs are eyeing the East as an easier title path. The Cavs are likely the odds on favorites for the next 2-3 years but people predicting a decade long run of dominance are vastly overshooting things.

As much as I enjoy rooting against Lebron, it sucks thinking about him starting to decline soon. Getting old is rough (him and me both lol)

Tell me about it. I'm just slightly older than him, I've now entered the stage where I've seen every current guy as a rookie and watched several guys whole (long & successful) careers.