This article will take a look at some pre-season predictions about the NBA season. Included in this article will be a look at articles written in the pre-season and at the 25-30 game mark. There are some things that have come true.
The main forecast was Cleveland winning not only the east but the NBA championship in 2010. During the pre-season there was a lot of talk about Shaq not fitting in Cleveland. The word on the street was the ego's would not be able to coexist. The other false hood was Shaq would hurt Lebron's numbers because he would clog the lane. Take a look at what was written by the truth in sports by MRJ during the pre-season.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Lebron,Kobe, Shaq Duncan the truth about the NBA season 2009-2010
Look for Lebron to have the best statistical season of his career and look for Shaq to be extremely productive in his limited minutes.
Tim Duncan and the Spurs will represent the west this season. They will be too much for the Ron Artest Lakers. San Antonio has really reloaded and with Duncan motivated and Ginolbli healthy this team knows how to get it done in June.
Getting Richard Jefferson was a hugh move that will pay big dividens for the Spurs come playoff time. RJ is a legitimate 20 point scorer and great team mate. Antonio McDyess is a big deal for the Spurs as well. He plays D, rebounds and will hit open baseline jumpers. When you add those guys to a healthy Spurs roster you have a title contender.
The up and coming teams who will make the playoffs that did not last year are the Memphis Grizzlies and Oklahoma in the west. In the east the Charlotte Bobcats will make their first playoff appearence.
There you have it folks. I will write more about the Lakers, Bobcats, and Memphis in my next basketball post.
The San Antonio part of this may come to bare but it's not looking good right now but everything else is totally on point. One thing I will stick with is the Lakers will not come out of the west.
The Cavs started slow with a 2-2 starts and the pundits and Cavs haters were ready to declare the Cavs dead and the the Shaq trade a big mistake.
Check out what was written at that time.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
The NBA is here it's early but the Lebron and Kobe show has started
. The season when Ben Wallace, Delonte, and Joe Smith came over it took a while for them to gel but when they did they came within a basket of upsetting the mighty Celtics in game seven of the playoffs. Shaq did what you want Shaq to do at this stage. Get 10 rebounds and 10-15 points most nights you will want 15. If this continues to happen the Cavs will win it all.
Then you have the Christmas day massacre. I know it's the regular season and the game doesn't mean anything but how many people pointed out how Cleveland played against the top teams in the league last year in the regular season. Those numbers were inflated because Cleveland lost went 0-2 to the Lakers and 1-2 to the Magic but split with Boston 2-2. The thing that people failed to realize is this Cleveland team pre Jamison trade is about twice better than last year's version.
Every player on Clevelands team is better this year except Z. Plus the additions can play defense against larger wing players and the big cactus can control the middle. It's good for Cleveland that some of the talking heads are still thinking this is the team from last year because of a similar record and positioning. Folks this team is scary good. Before Jamison! Check out the post back in December.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Cleveland is the Team to Beat and will be crowned 2010 NBA Champions.
I said it in my preseason pick and break down of the NBA season 2009-2010 and I am going to reinterate that point now. Cleveland is the team to beat in the NBA this season. Things are going pretty much just as I wrote then that Cleveland would have some challenges out of the gate but would come around once this team gets use to playing together.
After Cleveland started off with a couple of losses a lot of haters and pundits were asking the question if the Shaq trade was hurting the Cavs. This was about one of the craziest questions I have seen in sports. You can get Shaq on your team in a trade for Ben Wallace and Shasa ? Anyone who asked that question should be banned from commenting on anything related to sports.
Mike Brown is a better coach than most people will give him credit for and this Cleveland team will not start playing their collective best until after the allstar break. They have been playing well of late and have beat some pretty good teams including: Orlando, LA, Miami, Dallas, Portland, Houston, Phoenix, and Atlanta.
Mike Brown is starting to find his rotation and Mo Williams is finding out how to be a consistent 20 point scorer on this team. On the defensive end Cleveland has stepped their defensive game up and the new guys are learning how to play Cleveland team defence.
They are asking Shaq to match up when a team has strong bigs like LA, Orlando and Boston. They only need 10-15 points and 7-10 rebounds a game from Shaq in about 22 minutes of play during the regular season. I expect his minutes to go up to about 27-30 in the playoffs and him a Z seeing some court time together against bigger line ups.
Parker and Moon are defending perimeter players just as they were brought in to do. Parker is shooting the 3 better than anyone in the league and Mo Williams and Gibson are not far behind. The bench is learning how to run offence with Lebron out of the game. This is the only weak spot right now but that has improved over the last 8 games.
I have seen Cleveland and Boston live this year and when the Celtics are on their game their ball movement is impeccable but they are not playing with the same intensity on defence as years past. They still have one of the best points allowed and Cleveland is close behind them.
Where Cleveland takes the rest of the league is their bench and their bench will be even better by playoff time because Leon Powe will be with the team.
Lebron is the X factor and if this team doesn't win it all I would be shocked. He can make up for any holes on this team and there are very few.
Write it down the King will be crowned in June 2010 NBA champion!
I am going to end this with something for the rest of the league to think about. The Cavs new starting line up. Lebron, Mo, Jamison,Hickson, Shaq. Some people say they need a shooting guard but that's more or less Mo Williams Role. Lebron will be running more point forward with Jamison on the team and Williams spotting up for 3's. The bench Parker, West, Moon, Verajo, Gibson, and Z in 30 and Leon Powe! They still have Williams and Green as young up and comers.
Folks here it is my final perdiction. Lebron has a team for the first time. They will not have a playoff game including the finals that will go past 5 games with the Cavs winning it all.
As you can see I am not afraid to put it out there and in writing.
