The Official NBA 2010/2011 Thread - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

burning_acid1 · 10-05-2010, 07:19 PM

The preseason has started and the regular season is approaching quickly. What are your impressions so far?

octothorp · 10-06-2010, 03:41 PM

It's going to be a crazy season. I'm going with the popular pick of LA to win it all, although I don't think they finish first overall in the regular season. I also like Jazz, Mavs and Thunder in the west. Houston and Portland are both big wildcards based on their big-man injuries. And then there's the Nuggets, I think they're best-off taking the best-value offer that comes along for Carmelo. Phoenix probably gets back into the playoffs again, but probably no better than 6th.

In the east, I think the Heat have a good first year, at least in the regular season. I don't think they have the toughness yet to get to the finals. I actually think Chicago might get further than them. Orlando and Boston probably take a step back in terms of regular season performance, but still provide a tough matchup for the Heat. Hawks and Bucks are solid bets to get into the post-season. After that, it's pretty wide open. 76ers are probably the most talented of the remaining teams, but it's hard to believe that one of Indiana, New York, Charlotte, Washington, New Jersey, Toronto, Cleveland, and Detroit will make the playoffs. I wouldn't pencil in or count out any of those teams.

valo403 · 10-06-2010, 03:54 PM

I couldn't care less about the NBA, I likely won't watch a regular season game unless I score the sweet Knicks seats my company has. That said, I hope the Heat go 0-82 (or however many games they play). That would be hilarious.

PeteLFan · 10-06-2010, 08:49 PM

Go Lakers.

bluejays · 10-06-2010, 10:00 PM

I'm in for LA winning again, but I also think a team like Boston is still very solid. Those Heat, I really don't know. If Wade goes down, they're in trouble, but I hope they go down in flames. I think that's the biggest storyline driving this season. Will the Heat collapse?

burning_acid1 · 10-06-2010, 10:13 PM

I think the Thunder are definitely going to make some noise this season.

burning_acid1 · 10-06-2010, 10:14 PM

http://www.nba.com/2010/news/feature...ons/index.html

octothorp · 10-06-2010, 10:56 PM

Thoughts on the Raptors after 1 preseason game:
Hard to read, as Phoenix played last night and were obviously tired; Raptors aren't going to beat anyone by 51 points in the regular season, still lots of positives.

Evans - surprise starter, I had heard that he had a good camp, but wow, he looks about 30 pounds lighter and way more athletic. This is the guy I thought we were getting last year. Bricked most of his freethrows, but great energy, and really frustrated Lopez.
Johnson - Dude, we need you to eliminate the fouls. But good energy at both ends, very good job of getting after offensive boards, but didn't finish them well.
Anderson - Haven't seen much of this guy before, but a decent jumper and good defensive effort.
Jack - great tempo, but was lofting a lot of passes in to guys that were getting picked off.
Calderon - improved defensive intensity, but still getting lost on switches. Still, not bad. Definitely a lot slower and more deliberate than Jack, but his shooting looked pretty sharp, and he had a gorgeous alley-oop to DeRozan.
Kleiza - awesome finish around the hoop, nice threes. Couldn't have had a better debut, really.
Bargnani - decent defense, decent offensive boards, but not clicking offensively. Settled for too many jumpers. Definitely the disappointment on the team, although he was going good things away from the ball.
DeRozan - Not really noticeable in the first half, but did a great job in the third quarter; his range looks a lot better.
Weems - solid, had decent hands and shooting, jumper looked really good.
Barbosa - good defense, great speed in the open, but had some bad turnovers.
Dorsey - did really well in athe fourth quarter (a double double in about sixteen minutes of playing time) but that was mostly with Lopez out of the game. Still need to see what he can do against legitimate NBA 7-footers.
Rest of the team - Dupree, Banks, Wright, and Alibi all got garbage time. This third unit was pretty crappy, overall. Alibi looks like he's trying to use his reach to out-rebound guys, he needs to learn that position is the most important thing in the NBA. Wouldn't mind seeing him assigned to the D-league, although he could also probably learn a lot from battling guys like Dorsey and Evans in practice every night.
Coaching - the attention to defense and to offensive boards were both very noticeable. Transition defense was awful in the first Q, but got better as the game went along, possibly simply because of fewer turnovers.

shermanator · 10-06-2010, 11:06 PM

Basketball sucks!

octothorp · 10-13-2010, 10:35 PM

Big questionmarks about Bargnani continue. After shooting 5 for 25 in the first three preseason games, he went 6 of 22 tonight. So less than 25%. Just not taking the shots he needs. Everything is a couple steps inside the 3-point line, and everything is out of rhythm, after a jab-step or trying to draw contact. He took better shots in overtime, made some good shots, drew a foul, then missed both FTs and went back to bad shots. He's scored in double-figures the last couple games, maybe that will help his confidence. At least his defense looks improved.

OzSome · 10-13-2010, 11:29 PM

Toronto looked good on this first pre-season game in Vancouver. Everybody contributed and you can tell the difference. At that game, they weren't looking for just one person to win for them. I didn't see the 2nd game when they lost to Boston but I can see a little bit of changes for the better. I am not sure if it will be enough for them to make the playoffs though.

gizzo · 10-17-2010, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OzSome

Toronto looked good on this first pre-season game in Vancouver. Everybody contributed and you can tell the difference. At that game, they weren't looking for just one person to win for them. I didn't see the 2nd game when they lost to Boston but I can see a little bit of changes for the better. I am not sure if it will be enough for them to make the playoffs though.

there is improvement but i agree not sure they will have enough to make the play offs

GirlySports · 10-26-2010, 07:58 PM

The Heat SUCK!

Discuss.

Clever_Iggy · 10-26-2010, 08:45 PM

Looking sharp Bosh. 3/11 shooting. 8 pts, 8 rebounds. That's a single-single for those keeping score at home.

octothorp · 10-26-2010, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clever_Iggy

Looking sharp Bosh. 3/11 shooting. 8 pts, 8 rebounds. That's a single-single for those keeping score at home.

Yeah, I'm going to take some joy out of every Heat loss where Bosh's stat line looks as ugly as tonight.

moon · 10-26-2010, 09:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clever_Iggy

Looking sharp Bosh. 3/11 shooting. 8 pts, 8 rebounds. That's a single-single for those keeping score at home.

Those look like they could be season highs for bargnani this year and would have been dream stats for him in the pre-season.

I know that everyone is going to get giddy over Heat loses because they are bitter but not really that unexpected considering it was on the road to a decent team with some real home town reffing (as always happens with the Celts in Boston).

604flames · 10-26-2010, 10:02 PM

I'm kinda worried about this year, my Jazz are pre-season champs. Loving the new uniforms though.

Regorium · 10-26-2010, 10:03 PM

I'm way aboard the hate-wagon too. What a failure for a first game.

Can't wait till they play the Magic next week. That should be a good one too.

Clever_Iggy · 10-26-2010, 10:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moon

Those look like they could be season highs for bargnani this year and would have been dream stats for him in the pre-season.

I know that everyone is going to get giddy over Heat loses because they are bitter but not really that unexpected considering it was on the road to a decent team with some real home town reffing (as always happens with the Celts in Boston).

I'm not a Raptors fan either. Just laughing at Bosh being a 3rd wheel on the Heat.

I'm actually not bitter at all about James and Bosh going to Miami. In fact, I would cheer for them over most teams because of how much angst that causes people in Cleveland.

And I don't think it had anything to do with the Boston-area refs... the Heat were down big at half and struggled outside of James.

Montana Moe · 10-26-2010, 11:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by burning_acid1

I think the Thunder are definitely going to make some noise this season.

^Funny

I'm a Blazer fan, and I follow the Hornets as well. I'm optimistic about Portland's season, not so much about NOLA. I have a feeling Chris Paul will be gone sooner than later.

The Blazers are still looking for a quality center after years of trial and error (and injuries). Sounds like another team I know...

Oh, and I'm in the pro-Lebron camp. The guy took less money to get a title, or five. I didn't like his announcement, but I respect his desire to win. If he hadn't been such a boner with "The Decision" he'd be lauded as a "team guy" and a player who isn't in it for himself, etc. Guys take less money to chase titles all the time, but because of a bad PR move this guy is Benedict Arnold.