Predict the Eastern Conference Standings

[closg00]

ah but the dwight trade giveth and the dwight trade taketh away. we're certainly ahead of the magic now.

Hmmm, dunno. If well-coached, is this an 8th seed team? probably not.

Nelson
Affalo-Reddick
Turkeyglue-Nicholson
Harrington - Davis
O'Quinn-Vucevic-Ayon

[GhostsOfGil]

^ That team looks atrocious..on paper at least

[fishercob]

*bump* I saw that most people had Philly out of the playoffs. Post-trade you have to put Philly ahead of the Wizards.

That may indeed be the case, but I'm not certain. Subtract Brand, Lou Williams, Vucevic, Iguodala, Meeks.

Add Bynum, Richardson, Nick Young, Wright, Moultrie.

I don't think they have a backup point guard. Evan Turner can't shoot and Richardson appears to be in steep decline.

If Bynum misses any significant time due to injury, they cuold fall apart pretty fast. That said, the blue print of Bynum, Holiday and shooters could work well. Health and improvement by Turner are critical.

[Ruzious]

^ That team looks atrocious..on paper at least

Looks can be deceiving.

But in this case, they ain't.

[Ruzious]

*bump* I saw that most people had Philly out of the playoffs. Post-trade you have to put Philly ahead of the Wizards.

That may indeed be the case, but I'm not certain. Subtract Brand, Lou Williams, Vucevic, Iguodala, Meeks.

Add Bynum, Richardson, Nick Young, Wright, Moultrie.

I don't think they have a backup point guard. Evan Turner can't shoot and Richardson appears to be in steep decline.

If Bynum misses any significant time due to injury, they cuold fall apart pretty fast. That said, the blue print of Bynum, Holiday and shooters could work well. Health and improvement by Turner are critical.

Turner showed signs he can be a big-time player - if given the opportunity. He wasn't going to get that opportunity the way the roster was structured before the trade, and now he will. He can also play the point in a pinch, and not having a backup PG isn't the end of the world. They can find someone to play 10 minutes a game. It's not a perfect roster by any stretch, but they were headed toward the bottom half of the East, and with that one trade, they're arguably top 4 and with some roster tweaks could go end up higher.

[fishercob]

*bump* I saw that most people had Philly out of the playoffs. Post-trade you have to put Philly ahead of the Wizards.

That may indeed be the case, but I'm not certain. Subtract Brand, Lou Williams, Vucevic, Iguodala, Meeks.

Add Bynum, Richardson, Nick Young, Wright, Moultrie.

I don't think they have a backup point guard. Evan Turner can't shoot and Richardson appears to be in steep decline.

If Bynum misses any significant time due to injury, they cuold fall apart pretty fast. That said, the blue print of Bynum, Holiday and shooters could work well. Health and improvement by Turner are critical.

Turner showed signs he can be a big-time player - if given the opportunity. He wasn't going to get that opportunity the way the roster was structured before the trade, and now he will. He can also play the point in a pinch, and not having a backup PG isn't the end of the world. They can find someone to play 10 minutes a game. It's not a perfect roster by any stretch, but they were headed toward the bottom half of the East, and with that one trade, they're arguably top 4 and with some roster tweaks could go end up higher.

Where did he show those signs? Look at his numbers through two seasons:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... eev01.html

Offensively he looks like a well below-average player -- Offensive Rating of 96 through two season is simply bad. He seems to rebound well but can't hit the broad side of a barn. He needs to get a lot better to be a player of consequence.

[nate33]

Philly is tough to predict. There's plenty of talent but not much basketball IQ or seriousness. Doug Collins will have his hands full with Nick Young, Andrew Bynum and Kwame Brown in the same lineup.

On the upside, Thad Young should be a match-up problem at PF. Bynum and Turner can make up for his lack of rebounding.

[nate33]

I don't understand why Orlando didn't simply take Bynum and be done with it. Why the convoluted 4-team trade where they get back 3 lousy draft picks? I guess the didn't want to pay Bynum that salary, and they wanted to tank for a year or two.

[Ruzious]

That may indeed be the case, but I'm not certain. Subtract Brand, Lou Williams, Vucevic, Iguodala, Meeks.

Add Bynum, Richardson, Nick Young, Wright, Moultrie.

I don't think they have a backup point guard. Evan Turner can't shoot and Richardson appears to be in steep decline.

If Bynum misses any significant time due to injury, they cuold fall apart pretty fast. That said, the blue print of Bynum, Holiday and shooters could work well. Health and improvement by Turner are critical.

Turner showed signs he can be a big-time player - if given the opportunity. He wasn't going to get that opportunity the way the roster was structured before the trade, and now he will. He can also play the point in a pinch, and not having a backup PG isn't the end of the world. They can find someone to play 10 minutes a game. It's not a perfect roster by any stretch, but they were headed toward the bottom half of the East, and with that one trade, they're arguably top 4 and with some roster tweaks could go end up higher.

Where did he show those signs? Look at his numbers through two seasons:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/pla ... eev01.html

Offensively he looks like a well below-average player -- Offensive Rating of 96 through two season is simply bad. He seems to rebound well but can't hit the broad side of a barn. He needs to get a lot better to be a player of consequence.

True, his stats were not good by any stretch, but that was predictable with him playing a supporting role with Iggy - playing off the ball - that was destined for failure as it played up his weaknesses and was foreign to him. Now, he's going to be playing with the ball - which is what he did extremely well in college. There were games last season that he flashed his ability - but again there weren't many opportunities. Will he be a star? Maybe not, but I'll be very surprised if you don't see those stats improve dramatically next season.

[The Consiglieri]

I had Philly in the third tier, grouped at slot 9 with Milwaukee (7), and Atlanta (8), I'd now move them ahead of both, knocking Atlanta out of the playoffs. After the trade I'd simply keep Orlando where I had them (14th). Still think there is very little chance we make the playoffs though we'll be relatively close (probably about 4-8 games out of the 8 seed).

I also don't get what Orlando did, then again that is a horribly run organization. Much like Cleveland, they got their player of the decade caliber draftee and then wasted him for eight years surrounding him w/a bunch of garbage. Not surprisingly, they completely mismanaged the last year(s) on his deal, and killed his market value, but they still seemed to take the absolute worst of the offers available amongst New Jersey, original L.A. offer, and Houston. I have no idea what they're thinking, and according to Bucher and others on espn radio, the whole league is shaking their heads, and the thinking seems to be that the were more interested in pulling an idiotic Leonsis/E.G. styled bird brained salary dump of some mediocre contracts (not even a horrible one).

Totally bizarre. Also mentioned something interesting, 9 of the 12 olympians play in 3 cities, massive media markets. The league is kinda screwed, CBA was supposed to address it but it clearly didnt.

[Kanyewest]

I don't understand why Orlando didn't simply take Bynum and be done with it. Why the convoluted 4-team trade where they get back 3 lousy draft picks? I guess the didn't want to pay Bynum that salary, and they wanted to tank for a year or two.

I take it that Bynum was not going to sign an extension with with Orlando.

[fishercob]

I don't understand why Orlando didn't simply take Bynum and be done with it. Why the convoluted 4-team trade where they get back 3 lousy draft picks? I guess the didn't want to pay Bynum that salary, and they wanted to tank for a year or two.

I take it that Bynum was not going to sign an extension with with Orlando.

He'd have to have left a ton of money on the table to not do so. Seems like a worthwhile risk given the crap they got back.

[gesa2]

Philly is tough to predict. There's plenty of talent but not much basketball IQ or seriousness. Doug Collins will have his hands full with Nick Young, Andrew Bynum and Kwame Brown in the same lineup.

On the upside, Thad Young should be a match-up problem at PF. Bynum and Turner can make up for his lack of rebounding.

It'll be interesting to follow Bynum in Philly. I wondered last year whether some of his antics were the result of playing with Kobe's hero ball, and knowing he could help more than he was being allowed to. There's nothing more frustrating as a big man than knowing you have a match up advantage but watching your guards jacking up off balanced shots instead of feeding you. On the other side, I can't see Collins tolerating any pouting from him.

[Kanyewest]

I don't understand why Orlando didn't simply take Bynum and be done with it. Why the convoluted 4-team trade where they get back 3 lousy draft picks? I guess the didn't want to pay Bynum that salary, and they wanted to tank for a year or two.

I take it that Bynum was not going to sign an extension with with Orlando.

He'd have to have left a ton of money on the table to not do so. Seems like a worthwhile risk given the crap they got back.

Same with Dwight Howard... IMO Orlando should have just Howard walk. The only plus side Orlando sees is that they get to tank a year earlier.

[fishercob]

While it's not so cut and dry, I think the new Bynumized Sixers are going to be a good measuring stick for the Wizards and a decent referendum on the OkaRiza deal.

If our frontcourt, of which Okafor will be a key part, can hang with and partially neutralize Bynum to the point where are are as good or better than Philly, I think the trade looks decent. If even with Okafor (to go along with Nene, Seraphin, Booker, Vesely), Bynum and Philly run roughshod over us, then the trade looks pretty pointless.

We should be able to -- we need to be able to -- hang with these guys. I am excited to see us match up.

[dobrojim]

I think the strength of KSera/Nene/Oke will matchup as well as most
EC teams with Bynum. And the fact that we have depth so it's not
like Bynum will be able to get one guy in foul trouble and then
have clear sailing.

Also, I thought Philly was looking at ThadYoung as being better
suited, and now able to, play SF, not PF.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

While it's not so cut and dry, I think the new Bynumized Sixers are going to be a good measuring stick for the Wizards and a decent referendum on the OkaRiza deal.

If our frontcourt, of which Okafor will be a key part, can hang with and partially neutralize Bynum to the point where are are as good or better than Philly, I think the trade looks decent. If even with Okafor (to go along with Nene, Seraphin, Booker, Vesely), Bynum and Philly run roughshod over us, then the trade looks pretty pointless.

We should be able to -- we need to be able to -- hang with these guys. I am excited to see us match up.

Washington will be able to match up and beat Philly IMO. They lost a lot of pieces. Bynum will be virtually on an island now, with no Kobe or Pau to facilitate his easy scores around the bucket, while those two keep defenses honest. The offense around Bynum with the Sixers is much weaker than the offense around Bynum with the Lakers.

[fishercob]

While it's not so cut and dry, I think the new Bynumized Sixers are going to be a good measuring stick for the Wizards and a decent referendum on the OkaRiza deal.

If our frontcourt, of which Okafor will be a key part, can hang with and partially neutralize Bynum to the point where are are as good or better than Philly, I think the trade looks decent. If even with Okafor (to go along with Nene, Seraphin, Booker, Vesely), Bynum and Philly run roughshod over us, then the trade looks pretty pointless.

We should be able to -- we need to be able to -- hang with these guys. I am excited to see us match up.

Washington will be able to match up and beat Philly IMO. They lost a lot of pieces. Bynum will be virtually on an island now, with no Kobe or Pau to facilitate his easy scores around the bucket, while those two keep defenses honest. The offense around Bynum with the Sixers is much weaker than the offense around Bynum with the Lakers.

You could be right, CCJ. Bynum is going to be the focal point of the offense now. He's going to get doubled routinely and is going to have to make the right pass to shooters (who are going to have to make shots). This year, at least, the Wizards could (should?) be better.

[queridiculo]

The Sixers team is going to be tough to play against, but I wonder where their scoring is going to come from.

I see a lot of scores in the mid 70s to 80s in the Sixers future.

[TGW]

The Sixers team is going to be tough to play against, but I wonder where their scoring is going to come from.

I see a lot of scores in the mid 70s to 80s in the Sixers future.

As bad as the Sixers are from that aspect, I think the Wizards will be even worse offensively.