NBA '08 Playoff Thread

True a lot can change -- but I think you can put a fork in some of the other "contenders" due to age -- Pistons, Spurs, Suns, Mavericks -- all of their windows have closed.

Cleveland could make a few moves to make it interesting in the East but as of right now, I don't see anyone in the East touching Boston.

 

Exactly. I think these two will be back mostly in-tact, though of course the Lakers will add Bynum which will only make them stronger. There's still the draft and some big trades to be made ('Melo to Detroit could shake things up), but I feel pretty strongly that these teams will at least enter next season as the favorites.

 

I don't really have anything to add, but heck yeah! {fanboy}

 

I guess the beautiful people of LA will have to snort their cocaine at home tonight in sorrow.

 

And those at the Boston Globe are now saying "we now return you to your regular sports section. All Red Sox, all the time, and damn proud of it." lol

 

{1985/}

 

Seriously. More sports fans should be like you.

 

When I think of mercenaries in the NBA, I think about Malone and Payton with the Lakers, Barkley to the Rockets ... guys who might accept contracts well below market value on the free agent market for a chance to win a championship.

Yeah, KG and Allen could be seen as mercenaries. But because it took some blockbuster trades to do it, I see it as more gutting a team that frequently failed for the chance to be relevant again. Let's face it, if the Celtics tried to build with free agents around their draft picks, that would never work, not with that dark cloud hanging over Boston. They had to make trades to become relevant again, it was their only chance.

 

I do....Gasol and Odom were frightened by the Celtics bigs on the low blocks.

And the Lakers having to rely on European players to defend.....it only made me laugh.

 

Definitely been fun discussing playoff basketball with most of you. Great postseason and the Celtics and Lakers will be their respective conference favorites at the start of next season.

But I'm still chuckling at the people who said before the series that Kobe, Odom, Gasol is better or equal to Pierce, Allen, Garnett. Odom and Gasol both showed occasional signs of dominance, but disappeared an alarming number of times. Gasol was pretty brutal last night. LA needs to add toughness (and that would include a lot more than Andrew Bynum) and stress team defense. Boston needs to keep James Posey, who I think is their only major free agent, but is a key player for them.

 

PJ Brown and Sam Cassell = mercenaries.

Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett = not mercenaries. The Sonics decided to go in a different, younger direction and traded Allen for a very high draft pick and Delonte West. KG and the Timberwolves were clearly not working and after a string of no playoff appearences, the Celtics jumped at the oppurtunity and traded away like half of their roster including the highly regarded Al Jefferson.

Ainge has to be given a ton of credit for surrounding his big stars with a few important character guys, namely Eddie House, PJ Brown and James Posey. He did get lucky with some late draft picks (Powe is a keeper, Perkins has worked hard to become a surprisingly effective option, Davis is decent). And perhaps most importantly, not giving Rondo up in that Garnett deal, which is what McHale initially wanted.

 

Pistons intrigue me if they can get something worthwhile for 'Sheed and if Stuckey can come along. Billups can still play well, Rip is an excellent shooter, and Prince is solid...they have a few more good, young players too I believe. They make a few moves and they can contend. If they felt like showing up, they would have likely beat the Lakers in the Finals IMO.

The other teams you mentioned have work to do...Cleveland's roster is a mess and the Mavs/Suns obviously fucked up with deals for aging stars. Spurs will always be around until the end, but the way the Lakers handled them this season even with Duncan going off, they'd likely lose to LA if matched up.