Around The NBA 2.0

[LamarMatic7]

I think the Pistons have a decent rotation right now. My best guess would be this.....

Jennings (32) /Bynum (10) /Billups (6)
Billups (14) Stuckey (20) / KCP (14)
Smith (16) / Datome (16) / Singler (16)
Monroe (16) / Smith (20) Vilanueva (12)
Drummond (30) / Monroe (18)

They have some decent shooters to help space the floor at least in some of these rotations. I would expect them to struggle early in the year, and then slip into the playoffs as 7th or 8th seed and maybe give somebody a tough first round, but lose in 6 games.

I might be one of the few people who thinks that way but I liked the way Detroit handled Drummond's minutes last year and is bringing him along slowly. I expect it to be similar this year. His minutes will bump up to about 28 per game, but I still expect Detroit to start with a Smith-Monroe duo.

[fatlever]

that bucks team has a lot of shooters. they will destroy teams some nights when they get hot, but the nights they arent hot, it will be a mess.

[mrknowitall215]

What I don't understand is why people keep making dumb statements like "Drummond & Monroe are never going to see the ball now" because they replace Knight with Jennings. Jennings isn't a great distributor by a stretch, but he's superior in that department compared to Knight, not to mention a much better ball protector. Jennings have a career AST% of 28.0 to Knight's 21.1. Jennings career assist average is close to 6 per game while Knight has yet to average over 4.0 a game

To put it into Bobcats fans perspective, Kemba averaged almost a half assist more as a backup PG in his dismal rookie year than Knight has in his 2 seasons as the Pistons starting floor general. Detroit has definitely upgraded at the PG position. Knight's ceiling might be Jennings right now

[Liver_Pooty]

What I don't understand is why people keep making dumb statements like "Drummond & Monroe are never going to see the ball now" because they replace Knight with Jennings. Jennings isn't a great distributor by a stretch, but he's superior in that department compared to Knight, not to mention a much better ball protector. Jennings have a career AST% of 28.0 to Knight's 21.1. Jennings career assist average is close to 6 per game while Knight has yet to average over 4.0 a game

To put it into Bobcats fans perspective, Kemba averaged almost a half assist more as a backup PG in his dismal rookie year than Knight has in his 2 seasons as the Pistons starting floor general. Detroit has definitely upgraded at the PG position. Knight's ceiling might be Jennings right now

Isn't just Jennings, but Josh Smith as well. I look forward to watching them.

[MasterIchiro]

1-Heat
2-Pacers
3-Bulls
4-Nets
5-Knicks
6-Hawks

Those are givens imo. There are only 2 open spots imo.

The next 4 most likely imo

Toronto - .500 team with Rudy Gay, added Steve Novak
Washington - .500 team with John Wall, added Otto Porter
Cleveland - Irving for full season + Varejao + Bynum + Anthony Bennett
Bucks - 38 win team, Mayo instead of Ellis, Knight instead of Jennings

Which 3 of those teams will DET outperform?

I think they would be lucky to outperform one of them, thus they will finish 10th at the very best and could slip to 11th easily.

Overall the only teams clearly worse than DET are (6):

Bobcats, Celtics, Sixers, Magic, Suns, Kings

If the pick is 10th overall, you'd still have to find (3) additional teams who would finish worse.

I maintain, the pick will be around 10 imo

[fatlever]

im not sold on the hawks as a playoff team just yet. of course i say the hawks will miss the playoffs every year and every year i am wrong. one of these days i will be right.

guess at hawks depth chart

pg: teague, schroder
sg: williams (if healthy), jenkins
sf: korver, stevenson
pf: millsap, ayon
c: horford, brand

i don't know... that team just seems to have a lot of question marks and i could easily see them in the lottery if the chemistry isnt perfect or if they get hit with significant injuries to the starters. i'd put the hawks in the same group with the pistons, raptors, wiz, cavs and bucks - 35 to 45 wins

[HornetJail]

If you think about it, over the last few days, the Pistons have lost Knight and Daye, which we'll be saying a lot this coming season.

[mrknowitall215]

What I don't understand is why people keep making dumb statements like "Drummond & Monroe are never going to see the ball now" because they replace Knight with Jennings. Jennings isn't a great distributor by a stretch, but he's superior in that department compared to Knight, not to mention a much better ball protector. Jennings have a career AST% of 28.0 to Knight's 21.1. Jennings career assist average is close to 6 per game while Knight has yet to average over 4.0 a game

To put it into Bobcats fans perspective, Kemba averaged almost a half assist more as a backup PG in his dismal rookie year than Knight has in his 2 seasons as the Pistons starting floor general. Detroit has definitely upgraded at the PG position. Knight's ceiling might be Jennings right now

Isn't just Jennings, but Josh Smith as well. I look forward to watching them.

...and even Josh Smith averaged more assist than Brandon Knight

Josh Smith may be prone to taking unauthorized jump shots more than he should, but he's still a borderline all-star that actually plays defense

[Eoghan]

im not sold on the hawks as a playoff team just yet. of course i say the hawks will miss the playoffs every year and every year i am wrong. one of these days i will be right.

guess at hawks depth chart

pg: teague, schroder
sg: williams (if healthy), jenkins
sf: korver, stevenson
pf: millsap, ayon
c: horford, brand

i don't know... that team just seems to have a lot of question marks and i could easily see them in the lottery if the chemistry isnt perfect or if they get hit with significant injuries to the starters. i'd put the hawks in the same group with the pistons, raptors, wiz, cavs and bucks - 35 to 45 wins

I agree. This looks like a haphazardly assembled roster to me. Holy diminutive frontcourt.

[fatlever]

my best guess at the east standings by record for 2013-14

5 tiers with heat and sixers getting their own tiers.

1. heat ~ 60 wins
----tier 1----
2. pacers ~55
3. bulls ~53
4. nets ~50
5. knicks ~48
----tier 2---
6. pistons ~41
7. cavs ~40
8. wiz ~38
9. raptors ~36
10. hawks ~35
---tier 3---
11. bobcats ~30
12. celtics ~29
13. bucks ~28
14. magic ~24
---tier 4---
15. sixers ~18
---tier 5---

and just for fun, the west....

1. spurs ~57
2. thunder ~55
3. clippers ~54
---tier 1----
4. rockets ~50
5. warriors ~48
6. grizzlies ~47
---tier 2---
7. nuggets ~42
8. wolves ~41
9. pelicans ~40
---tier 3---
10. lakers ~37
11. blazers ~35
12. mavs ~35
13. kings ~33
---tier 4---
14. jazz ~25
15. suns ~20
---tier 5---

wolves have to make the playoffs this year or else that team will be broken up for good reason. no more excuses for that team.

and i doubt all that equals 2460 games, but whatever.

final ping pong ball standings
1. sixers
2. suns
3. magic
4. jazz
5. bucks
6. celtics
7. bobcats
8. kings
9. (tie) mavs, hawks, blazers
13. raptors
14. lakers

bobcats just miss out on blazers pick since it is top 12
pistons pick somewhere around 18-19

[EwingSweatsALot]

my best guess at the east standings by record for 2013-14

final ping pong ball standings
1. sixers
2. suns
3. magic
4. jazz
5. bucks
6. celtics
7. bobcats
8. kings
9. (tie) mavs, hawks, blazers
13. raptors
14. lakers

bobcats just miss out on blazers pick since it is top 12
pistons pick somewhere around 18-19

This makes me want to cry. Knowing that this draft could be a strong start to a big turn around. I hope it does not end this way for us.

[lmcguir5]

my best guess at the east standings by record for 2013-14

5 tiers with heat and sixers getting their own tiers.

1. heat ~ 60 wins
----tier 1----
2. pacers ~55
3. bulls ~53
4. nets ~50
5. knicks ~48
----tier 2---
6. pistons ~41
7. cavs ~40
8. wiz ~38
9. raptors ~36
10. hawks ~35
---tier 3---
11. bobcats ~30
12. celtics ~29
13. bucks ~28
14. magic ~24
---tier 4---
15. sixers ~18
---tier 5---

and just for fun, the west....

1. spurs ~57
2. thunder ~55
3. clippers ~54
---tier 1----
4. rockets ~50
5. warriors ~48
6. grizzlies ~47
---tier 2---
7. nuggets ~42
8. wolves ~41
9. pelicans ~40
---tier 3---
10. lakers ~37
11. blazers ~35
12. mavs ~35
13. kings ~33
---tier 4---
14. jazz ~25
15. suns ~20
---tier 5---

wolves have to make the playoffs this year or else that team will be broken up for good reason. no more excuses for that team.

and i doubt all that equals 2460 games, but whatever.

final ping pong ball standings
1. sixers
2. suns
3. magic
4. jazz
5. bucks
6. celtics
7. bobcats
8. kings
9. (tie) mavs, hawks, blazers
13. raptors
14. lakers

bobcats just miss out on blazers pick since it is top 12
pistons pick somewhere around 18-19

Kinda off track on the board but, I would hardly consider the Wolves getting the 8th spot, progress. They should have traded K-love to the Cavs when they had a chance.

[HornetJail]

East:
1. MIA
2. BRK
3. IND
4. CHI
5. NYK
6. ATL
7. TOR
8. WAS
9. CLE
10. DET
11. CHA
12. MIL
13. ORL
14. BOS
15. PHI

West:
1) GSW
2) OKC
3) HOU
4) LAC
5) SAS
6) MEM
7) NOP
8) DEN
9) MIN
10) DAL
11) LAL
12) POR
13) SAC
14) PHX
15) UTA

Lottery odds:
1) PHI
2) BOS
3) ORL
4) UTA
5) MIL
6) PHX
7) CHA
8) SAC
9) POR
10) LAL
11) DET
12) CLE
13) DAL
14) MIN

7th and 11th picks look good to me. We could combine them to get a top 4 pick, I think.

[chrbal]

If you think about it, over the last few days, the Pistons have lost Knight and Daye, which we'll be saying a lot this coming season.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/88986 ... ng-pistons
Updated: January 31, 2013, 12:37 AM ET
ESPN.com news services

umm...sure

[Liver_Pooty]

If you think about it, over the last few days, the Pistons have lost Knight and Daye, which we'll be saying a lot this coming season.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/88986 ... ng-pistons
Updated: January 31, 2013, 12:37 AM ET
ESPN.com news services

umm...sure

Daye signed with Raptors.

[chrbal]

and the pistons traded him back in january. a bit of a stretch for the joke.

[HornetJail]

and the pistons traded him back in january. a bit of a stretch for the joke.

I seriously had no idea Daye was even a part of the deal.

[mcaponi2]

East:
1. MIA
2. BRK
3. IND
4. CHI
5. NYK
6. ATL
7. TOR
8. WAS
9. CLE
10. DET
11. CHA
12. MIL
13. ORL
14. BOS
15. PHI

West:
1) GSW
2) OKC
3) HOU
4) LAC
5) SAS
6) MEM
7) NOP
8) DEN
9) MIN
10) DAL
11) LAL
12) POR
13) SAC
14) PHX
15) UTA

Lottery odds:
1) PHI
2) BOS
3) ORL
4) UTA
5) MIL
6) PHX
7) CHA
8) SAC
9) POR
10) LAL
11) DET
12) CLE
13) DAL
14) MIN

7th and 11th picks look good to me. We could combine them to get a top 4 pick, I think.

IF that was the case we would be in a golden situation. Now if it actually happens something really special could start the year the hornets return.

[JMAC3]

The League should make Oden sign with the Blazers for the league minimum for all the free money they have given him.

[chrbal]

and the pistons traded him back in january. a bit of a stretch for the joke.

I seriously had no idea Daye was even a part of the deal.

As a pistons fan (yes, i realize thats a swear word around here), it was more like the Grizzlies doing the Pistons a favor more than anything else.