Contenders or Pretenders? (old thread)

[Taymelo]

PROJ. STARTERS Pos. Ht. Wt. AGE
Chauncey Billups G 6-3 202 30
Richard Hamilton G-F 6-7 193 28
Rasheed Wallace F-C 6-11 230 32
Nazr Mohammed C 6-10 250 29
Tayshaun Prince F 6-9 215 26

BENCH AGE

Antonio McDyess F 6-9 245 32
Flip Murray G 6-3 197 27
Carlos Delfino G 6-6 230 24
Dale Davis C-F 6-11 252 37
Lindsey Hunter G 6-2 195 35
Amir Johnson F 6-9 210 19
Jason Maxiell

I'm sorry, but that's not a contending lineup.

IMO, you've got 4 good starters, 1 throw in, 1 nice bench big, 1 aging defensive backup pg, 1 piece of hit or miss effort on any given night euro-trash (via Argentina, of course), a supposed backup 2/3 who isn't even tall enough to be a 2, is known for his scoring not defense, but shoots under 40% and wasn't offered more than 1.75 mil by ANY other team for some reason, an undersized center with no offense who should be retired but wants to piggyback real players for a ring, a big man who is basically a rookie, and a guy who never played any college ball, is switching positions from where he played in high school, and is basically a rookie.

[shags]

Of course we're not championship contenders. That ended the minute Ben Wallace decided to sign with the Bulls, and there was/is nothing Dumars could do to make us championship contenders THIS season.

We'll still be good, a 50 win team, maybe even win the division if we get some breaks, and probably lose in the 2nd round. But we're not winning the championship this season.

[Hermy]

I'll be rooting for whomever ORL plays.

[Artis Gilmore]

The Orl pick is top 5 protected.

[Higherwarrior]

the funny thing is, we would be no closer to a title if we had brought ben back.

i think people assume all too quickly that if ben came back we'd be ready to win another title. on the contrary, we would be prolonging the reshaping of this team (which we have now slowly started) and would be just as disappointed NEXT year.

we would then realise once again that ben is not half the player he once was, and that the way the game is being officiated makes him even less valuable and more of a glaring weakness on offense.

we are one good move away from being a true contender. in the meantime, here's to hoping we actually start to develop our bench and young players for the future, all the while still winning 55 games.

[Hermy]

The Orl pick is top 5 protected.

Mickey Mantle was a Yankee.

[Kstat]

the funny thing is, we would be no closer to a title if we had brought ben back.

i think people assume all too quickly that if ben came back we'd be ready to win another title. on the contrary, we would be prolonging the reshaping of this team (which we have now slowly started) and would be just as disappointed NEXT year.

we would then realise once again that ben is not half the player he once was, and that the way the game is being officiated makes him even less valuable and more of a glaring weakness on offense.

we are one good move away from being a true contender. in the meantime, here's to hoping we actually start to develop our bench and young players for the future, all the while still winning 55 games.

amen.

[UberAlles]

the funny thing is, we would be no closer to a title if we had brought ben back.

Don't buy that.

Letting Ben go meant that free agency was going to be an exercise in making up ground, not adding talent.

Say whatever you want about Ben, but he's still a top 10 center in the NBA and we lost that at the cost of the MLE to fill a roster spot. I feel pretty confident saying that Nazr might generously be top 20 and Davis top 30.

It's fun watching the team lose in the 2nd round if they are improving. Not so much when they are going backwards.

And the East isn't weak. Miami is still a force. Cleveland is coming on, NJ can be dangerous, Milwaukee might be better with Charlie V, and Chicago of course keeps getting better and better. That's not to mention that Washington and Indiana are decent second tier teams with Toronto and Atlanta improving. This is not the Eastern Conference circa 2004 with only Indy, Detroit and New Jersey.

[Kstat]

We were the most efficient offense in the NBA, and people forget that because we went cold late in the playoffs. Our offense was even better than Phoenix's on a per-posession basis. We were the best passing team, the best scoring team, and the best team in the league at taking care of the ball.

There's no reason to think we won't be even better than that next year, because we aquired two things we didn't have last year that opponents exploited in the playoffs: a dump-off option inside, and a slashing scorer off the bench.

The league is getting away from Ben Wallace. I don't think we'd be any closer to contending with a player than can be exploited so easily under the new officiating.

[UberAlles]

After the All-Star break, the team degraded performance wise up to and through the playoffs.

It was the initial hot start that set all of the statistical trends. Contrast that with 2004 and 2005 when the team got better as the season wore on and went into the playoffs with a lot of momentum.

Wise fans know that it's not how you start, it is how you finish.