NBA Season Preview: Central

Indiana
MVP: Jermaine O’Neal
LVP: Jamaal Tinsley

Mr.EAST: I think this is Indiana’s year. I’m not alone in this analysis, but it just seems right. They are coming off a very trying year, where the franchise could have split and the team may have been very different entering the 2005-2006 season. Larry Bird held his cards and trusted that Rick Carlisle would put a focused and competitive team on the court again, and it seems he will. Ron Artest is a lunatic, but nothing that the league hasn’t seen before. Rodman was a different kind of lunatic, but he was as much of a disruption to his team as Artest is today. However difficult he is for his own team, his presence on the court is more disruptive to opposing teams and as long as he stays on the court the Pacers will be tough.

As much as Artest means to this squad, it’s still Jermaine’s job to carry the load. He’s injury prone and battles his knee, back, and assorted surprises throughout the year. If he stays healthy, the Pacers’ force down low is poised to vault his club into the top spot in the East and a likely Finals date. Injury is the only thing that will slow this club down. Hold your breath Pacers fans.

I’m picking on Jamaal Tinsley as my LVP for a number of reasons. I actually like his game, but I think he’s expendable. He’s injured so often that the Pacers have learned to play with a variety of subs at the point, and do so quite well. I’m a big fan of newly acquired Sarunas Jasikevicius and I think his championship pedigree and deadly shooting percentages will steal minutes and possibly the starting job from Tinsley by year’s end. With Jasikevicius off the pines, or in the starting lineup the toughness of a champion is added to an already deep club.

Mr.WEST: I agree with this, Mike. For once, you are not a blowhard wasting my precious hoops time. O’Neal is a stud, Artest is crazy cool, and Tinsley just does not have “it” to lead the squad from the point. I do think that Rick Carlisle is over controlling and suffocates his team too much which contributes to a brutish style of play that gets them hurt injury-wise. He needs to let the game flow more. But these new coaches are jerks, so nothing new there.



Detroit Pistons
MVP: Staring Five
LVP: Darko

Mr.WEST: With almost the same squad, man-for—man, as the past two years during which they mad Finals appearances, no one doubts the Pistons are one of the beasts of the East. What they doubt is how far they can go without Larry Brown. Oh, give me a fucking break already.

Larry Brown can coach but he is no hoops god; his style is equally as limiting on players as it is limiting on the opponents. Fact: Give Mike D’Antoni this same team and watch them win 65 games the past two years in a totally different system. Epitomizing the word “team” unlike almost all of their opponents, the Pistons have a starting 5 that covers all the bases from defense to shooting to passing to heady play to guts. It’s hard to pick the MVP of this team—Billups leads on the floor at times but Tayshaun does all the little trhings while Big Ben continues defying convention to dominate in his own way.

This is supposed to be the Year of Darko. Hmmm, I’ll take the Year of the Chicken instead. Brown basically suffocated this kid’s career and now he has learned to act like a prick to demand playing time in good ol’ American fashion. As Darko gets in the rotation (#8 man) all eyes will be on him. Expect not so much.

Mr.EAST: No argument on the Pistons. No holes either. The fight with Indiana that they had last year should translate into some of the best basketball the Eastern Conference has ever seen between two teams this year. There may be some pushing and shoving when they get together, but mostly you will be treated to something special. Who figured that Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton would turn into one of the best backcourts in recent memory? Hey West….if Artest fought Big Ben on pay per view, would you buy it? I would. No contest. Artest in a 3 round knockout. Wasn’t he a NYC junior champ or something?



Chicago Bulls
MVP: Ben Gordon
LVP: Tyson Chandler

Mr.WEST: Scott Skiles has this rag-tag group again ready to fight for a playoff spot. I gotta say the Bulls have my respect and even will get me to tune into their games because they play fucking hard and have many guys who contribute on different nights. Perhaps that is not ideal for a truly successful NBA team (I think having a clear 1 ,2, and 3 top players helps) but the Bulls do not have an all-star in any form.

“Better than everyone thought” is what sums up many of the players. Deng, Nocioni, Ben Gordon, Sweetney, and Hinrich all like to prove the experts wrong. Not so for Tyson Chandler, though. Why this bitch boy was kept in Chicago is more a matter of money invested than an expected return. Chandler has not learned how to become an NBA pro as a big man, instead wishing he could be a Garnett-type. I know Kevin Garnett, Tyson, and you ain’t him. Rather than bulking up, hustling, and becoming a force, he has become Camby-lite as he only rebounds and block shots yet does not disrupt opposing offenses enough.

Special tip for real NBA fans: tune in to gamesvs. The Pacers. Why? Just to see the tough andvicious Nocioni take on Ron Artest in what will surely land someone in suspension land at some point ion the season.

Mr.EAST: I still hate the Bulls. I can’t seem to get that bad taste out of my mouth from the Phil Jackson era. I see Hinrich, Gordon, and Chandler in the uniforms now, but all I can picture is Paxson, Craig Hodges, and Bill Cartwright. After MJ’s retirement anyone who wears a Bulls uni seems like a 13 year old kid trying to be cool on the playground. They ought to revamp the whole look. Somehow I feel like last year was a fluke. I feel like it was a bad dream that I’ll wake up from and find that Jerry Krause is still sitting in his skybox burping and farting and looking all bug eyed. That would make me feel better somehow. The Bulls had their run. They should stick to sucking. I guess they’ll make the playoffs this year. Why not?


Milwaukee
MVP: TJ Ford
LVP: Joe Smith

Mr.EAST: All the names that are getting bounced around as keys to the new and improved Bucks are just the leather interior and Alpine system in a sports car powered by TJ Ford, the engine. I know. You’re saying, “The guy played one year and then sat out with a spinal cord injury. How can he possibly be the MVP of the Bucks? He’s just lucky to be on the court again.” You may have a point, but I’m sticking by it. TJ Ford is an assist man with skills on defense and more than anything else he knows how to push tempo. The Bucks are full of players that specialize. There are plenty of players on the team that can hit shots and play without the rock. What they need in order to succeed is a guy who understands how to find them and put them in a position to succeed. That’s TJ.

Michael Redd is a great scorer on his own, but he can’t lift his team to a higher level. Bobby Simmons is an excellent complimentary player, but he needs help. Desmond Mason is a circus high wire act, but he needs a ringleader to play to his potential. Bogut is too young to make an impact, but he should force teams to think twice before doubling up on Redd. When I try to add up the pieces on this team I don’t get anything that knocks my socks off, but TJ Ford can change all that if he can stay healthy and push the tempo. No playoffs for the Bucks this season, but there will be Christmas this year in Milwaukee.

I almost don’t even want to mention him, because he’s such a non-factor, but Joe Smith is my LVP because he doesn’t matter. The former number one pick is simply an afterthought in Milwaukee. He puts up fair rebounding and blocks statlines, and occasionally drops a big number in the scoring column, but I’m not impressed. Give me Dan Gadzuric for 30 minutes and I bet you’ll see a bigger impact on the outcome.

Mr.WEST: The Bucks just don’t have the talent to scare anyone. Michael Redd is basically what Alan Houston could have been at a corral of stiff big men and re-constructed PG with no shot (TJ)) means wins in the 30’s. You gotta like Bobby Simmons and maybe even Bogut but making the Bucks a winner is years away.



Cleveland
MVP: LBJ
LVP: Larry Hughes

Mr.WEST: Oh, LBJ is now the king if you had any doubts. Danny Ferry (former Dukies make good GM’s?) assembled some role players for him that seem to fit: Ilgauskas at center, Gooden and Donyell at PF/SF, Larry Hughes at SG, and Damon Jones as a shooter. The only thing stopping us all from calling them a top team in the East is the great unknown: can LeBron make this team a real winner? Nah. Not 50-games, not beating the Pacers or Pistons. Check back next year or so.

Coach Silas is going to be strapped to figure out what is the best 4 to put on the floor with LBJ. Certainly Donyell seems like the best NBA pro of the bunch but can Hughes be counted on? Call me a playa hater but what Larry Hughes showed to those who did not watch him actually play was all good, right? He scored, got tons of steals and the Bullets made the 2nd round, right? Well, keep in mind that Larry thinks he is a stud, which he is not. And he takes too many risks to get steals that expose his teammates. Better watch his ass, I’m telling you. No fantasy box scores will tell you why the Cavs lost to the Bucks that night.

Still, the Cavs are all about LBJ. He is worth the price of admission up close.

Mr.EAST: Hey, West…Coach Silas may be wracking his brain about what the best 4 are to play with LBJ, but he’d be making his moves on NBA Live 2006, since Cavaliers Coach Mike Brown gets to play with the real guys. Jackass. The Cavs wasted their money on Damon Jones and Jones blew his only chance to be a relevant NBA player when he left Big Diesel in Miami. You can’t win with Drew Gooden. He’s a moron of a ballplayer. Donyell is on his last legs as good as he is when he’s on the court for 30 minutes a night. Ilgauskas is a very good center that people sleep on for all the injuries he used to have. I just don’t see this team making a deep run in the playoffs anytime soon. LeBron is the man, but the supporting cast doesn’t seem like a good fit. Watch him bolt to the Knicks in 2008.