Don’t Sleep On The Gorilla…
Chris Young at the Toronto Star / JABS rounded up the ol’ Toronto Bloggin’ Crew — Scott from RaptorBlog; Ryan from HoopsAddict; Jeff, Adam and Dave from Raptors HQ; CY; and us — for a little NBA preview roundtable footstool edition.
You should — and can — check out the entire preview, but I figured I’d post a few of my predictions up here so you could kick and/or spit on me if you disagree with them.
Note: Bonus INCITES are italicized.
NBA Champ: Phoenix. A fantastic coach, the return of Amare and Kurt, Marion, Diaw, Raja, The Gorilla, and a point guard who could turn me into a 15 ppg scorer.
Yes, I still feel good about this pick even after last night’s debacle. It’s one game. As “Aaron” pointed out in the FD comments section this morning, the Suns play “…high risk, high reward basketball.” It’ll work out. With that said, whoever scheduled this 4-games-in-5-days bullshit should be burned…
Eastern Champ: Chicago. They look built for regular season success.
This team will win 55 games. Why? Because Coach Skiles looked genuinely pissed even though his team was up by 35+ last night? He’s relentless. Oh, I also loved that TNT graphic they showed on majority of the Bulls players being winners. (NCAA titles, Final Four appearances, etc.) And finally, Tyrus Thomas is a freak. Give him a mask. Let’s go.
Division Winners: New Jersey, Chicago, Washington, Utah, San Antonio, Phoenix
Why is the Washington O/U going down!?!? It’s at like 39 now! Honestly, what does Vegas know that I don’t? Is Gilbert leaving the L to battle it out in the virtual world? Is Caron Butler dead? Are those new gold jerseys made of actual gold? Seriously. There is no way this team can lose 42+ games…
Go-to NBA Blogger: True Hoop for updates, Free Darko for dreams, WizzNutzz for tears.
I’d also like to add Hard Wood for bobble-heads…
The Bloggers Footstool: NBA Preview [JABS]
Comments (5)Ep. 036: Predictions, Awards & Big News
The offseason is bland. It’s time for some spice.
The Basketball Jones — Episode 036
The NBA is back! In this 2006-2007 season preview episode, Skeets and I forsee the division champions, point out some breakout players/major story lines, and predict some award winners. (MVP, ROY, MIP, etc…)
We also explain this podcasting extravaganza that we’re about to kill ourselves doing.
Oh, all that, and plenty of DP action.
[Subscribe to The Basketball Jones Podcast via iTunes]
[Subscribe to The Basketball Jones Podcast via Odeo]
I’d Like to Buy a Banjo
If you’re a ball fan, you’ve got feelings about the upcoming season stirring inside you. You just know that a certain team is going to have a monster year. You can visualize another squad having major setbacks. Come on, you watch the games. You know the tendencies of the clubs you follow.
Thankfully, you can bet on these hunches.
Although Skeets and I will give you a winner versus the spread every night during the regular season, we’ll be firing some money makers at you during training camp. My 1st pick is on the over/under line for total wins this year by the Pacers:
Indiana – 44.5 – OVER
The silence in Pacer-land is sweet, sweet music. This team was a powerhouse only 2 years ago in 2004 when a well tossed beer ruined their chances of something great. They were coming off an Eastern Conference Finals loss to the Pistons and 61 regular season wins. Since the brawl, it has been very difficult for the entire organization to concentrate on the actual game. The distractions have been endless and I expect this group of talented veterans to come out focused.
The way Indiana handled the Ron Artest saga and major injuries to key players like Jermaine O’Neal and Jamaal Tinsley last season, it’s amazing Rick Carlisle squeezed out 41 wins. Carlisle is continuously underrated but remains a fantastic coach. He has won 60% of his regular season games and always seems to get the most out of his players. The addition of Marquis Daniels and the return of Al Harrington make this team much more athletic and they can both slash when J-O gets doubled. With O’Neal back in stellar form, Tinsley healthy, Danny Granger, Stephen Jackson and Sarunas Jasikevicius a year older, a rock solid Jeff Foster in the middle, and the ability to simply focus on basketball, look for this bunch to perform like they did pre-Auburn Hills incident.
A major downfall for Indiana is that they play in a division with the Bulls, Cavs, Pistons and Bucks. And yes, they lost Peja Stojakovic and Fred Jones to free agency. But this core group has excelled before and now all things have been set up for them to do it again.
Comments (5)About
The Basketball Jones is a NBA blog and podcast, written and recorded five times a week by J.E. Skeets, Tas Melas and Jason Doyle. Comments, questions and cold hard cash are always welcome and much appreciated. Contact us.
Podcast
Latest Episodes
- Ep. 329: Finals, Game 6 – Wednesday, June 18th
- Ep. 328: Finals, Game 5 – Monday, June 16th
- Ep. 327: Finals, Game 4 – Friday, June 13th
- Ep. 326: Finals, Game 3 – Wednesday, June 11th
- Ep. 325: Finals, Game 2 – Monday, June 9th